The Time I Auditioned For "The Daily Show."
I Thought Everyone Knew This Story.
For my birthday this year, I wanted to do something a bit different here on the Sandwich. I wasn’t sure what, but it was a chance encounter in Birmingham at this year’s East-West Classic: Tribute to the Negro Leagues game that inspired this post. (I actually wrote about this on the Black Baseball Mixtape page.) Walking the grandstands over at Rickwood Field, I caught up with Mixtape founder Cheats as he was in the middle of having a conversation with standup comedian (and Master of Ceremonies for the afternoon) Roy Wood Jr. Roy actually remembered me from my stand-up comedy days (I think), and that was oddly validating in a way. After saying a few words, Roy went off to handle some of his emcee duties. I turned to Cheats and let him know that both he and I had auditioned for the correspondent’s job at The Daily Show. And hey, why not celebrate my birthday with me this week while I tell you that story? But first…
The year was 2015 and the then-current Daily Show host Jon Stewart was leaving the program to do other things. Trevor Noah, (a guy I had followed for years before this big break of his career) got the job. And so, the show was going to be revamped to accommodate the new guy in the hosting chair. There was a nationwide call for comedians far and wide to try their hand at auditioning. Typically, I never get wind of these auditions. Unlike most of my peers, I never went the acting route or had representation, so I would hear of things like these way past its expiration date. A producer friend intercepted the message on a job board and sent it over to me.
Let me stop here, for a sec.
Spoiler alert. Of course Roy Wood, Jr. got the job. Also in my case, it wasn’t close. I recorded myself reading the script (sometimes called a “self-tape” in the biz) and sent it to my friend. When she said it was awful and to re-record, I did just that and sent the tape off. And then, I didn’t hear a word from the show. No phone calls. No callbacks. I say this not for pity, but just for clarification. Why? Because when I would jokingly say “Roy Wood took my job,” I never actually believed this.
I also have to say that my whole life I have been OBSESSED with late-night TV. I wanted to do my own late-night show for years. I’ve read both The Late Shift AND the War for Late Night books about late night’s shifting landscape, and I know practically all of show theme songs like the back of my hand. One time, I even bought a shark skin suit JUST BECAUSE I thought it looked “more Tonight Show.” Like there was a clear manifestation rattling in my head of nailing this thing.
So the tape went off into the ether the first week of June 2015. And by the time the first Daily Show with Trevor Noah aired on September 28th. 2015, I knew my fate. And by January 2016, the second version of the intro dropped so I knew I had no chance.
It’s a cool anecdote though, and it was kind of cool to see someone like Roy Wood, Jr. ‘glow up’ as the kids say. For years I never worked up the courage to look at my audition tapes but because I feel a bit frisky today, I’ll post them here for you. Well, some of them; I had to make four clips but I’ll post two here. In one, I’m performing a character that was originally performed by comedian Michael Che. And the other, I’m performing as myself. First, Che:
And then ‘myself.’
First of all, I forgot what I looked like pre-BeardGang. Second, I can’t stop cringing. Sure, most audition tapes aren’t good and I should be proud of how far I come but sheesh, 2025 me would’ve sent 2015 me back in the lab to try it again. Remember how I said I had to record and re-record my audition? Well, as you can hear on the tape I had my buddy help me out and I knew on the second day that I didn’t want him to tend to me for too long. No matter what the result was going to be on that second day, it would have to be my final attempt.
The late-night dream didn’t happen, but these are the receipts. So yeah, I can say with 100% honesty that both Roy Wood Jr. and myself had auditioned for the same role at the Daily Show. I will say that during the pandemic I got to do a Late Night Show from my bedroom, “Wassup Flobo?: After Hours.” Now that was a trip. Here’s a sample episode with special guest Vanderpump Rules and Love Island star, Ariana Madix: