Roy Wood Jr. (Photograph: M. Kelly Wilt)

Roy Wood Junior’s early success on the Daily Show is well-earned… his perspectiveis thoughtful and playful, and hecomes atsubjects from a curious angle. It was nice to get the chance to talk with him about the 17 years he put into comedy before he made it to TDS, and everything else.

Interestingly, as someone with a journalism degree (and unlike John Oliver), he considers his work at TDS a kind of journalism.

How Roy Wood Jr. Became the Latest Daily Show Breakout Star

Ellie Kemper (Photograph: Luke Fontana)

One of the perks of comedy journalism for me is talking to friends, transcribing our conversations and sending them along after trimming. In this case, I continued to ask my editor at Time Out, Are you sure? We’ve known each other for while. And his response was, Yeah, we already love her, and I’m sure your history will help the piece. We hadfun but I hope it’s fun to read, too…

Ellie Kemper talks furies, vices and wanting to play the next Walter White

Peter Dinklage and Cecily Strong (Photo: Dana Edelson/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

Happy to be asked to do SNL recaps for Vulture recently. Like any bit of writing, there’s a bit of art to it that I’m still figuring out… but my first few attempts are below.

April 3: Peter Dinklage
March 12: Ariana Grande
March 5: Jonah Hill

And oh mercy, staying home to watch the show on Saturday night, or catching up with all of it very early on Sunday morning, takes me back to being 15. That was my Saturday night: Laughing, eating snacks, quoting Sprockets, and being generally awkward and underaged.