Roy Wood Jr.’s #FatherFigure Trended on Twitter
On a pretty big night for comedy fans that included the HBO premiere of Pete Holmes’s “Crashing”, Roy Wood Jr.’s Comedy Central special “Father Figure” exploded onto social media. Woods is a veteran stand-up known more commonly for his segments on “The Daily Show”, and it’s the satirical show that fueled an interesting problem within Wood; he credits “The Daily Show” for expanding his writing past jokes and punchlines to considering what he’s really saying with his comedy, but also the segments aren’t long enough to say everything he wants to say. “Father Figure” is the Southerner’s first hour comedy special and while it’s broadly intended as a love letter to his infant son, it’s a hilarious mixture of observational comedy and racial insights into something empowering and enlightening, depending on where you fit along America’s racial spectrum.
This is a long way of saying that “Father Figure” is exactly what a great deal of America has been craving, and Twitter was on board for the ride.
#FatherFigure began trending late Sunday night, and the responses range from earnestly appreciative to “that’s what I’ve been saying-thank you”.
https://twitter.com/cruzchristian88/status/833537997949792256
Me after watching #FatherFigure pic.twitter.com/bGiHPkpYrX
— T to the I to the M (@ShinTakuma77) February 20, 2017
Q. What is your favourite song?
A. Roy Woods_Why— OdysseyRushSZN ?? (@iAmNathanQ_Jr) December 3, 2016
"At the end of the day, we should focus more on what people protest, than how people protest" @roywoodjr #fatherfigure #resist
— Kat Fitzpatrick (@KatFitzpatrick) February 20, 2017
https://twitter.com/robinthede/status/833541124732039168
That last tweet’s an oldie (for tweets), but a goodie. Wood was obviously aware of his comedy’s place in the zeitgeist and kicked things off with a special request for a lil’ old retweet.
https://twitter.com/roywoodjr/status/833525535259045888
Not all of the tweets were even inspired by racial material. People were just responding to very good material.
"People won't shut the hell up about their wedding but their divorce is none of your business." #Fatherfigure HAHAAH
— M’BlockU (@rodimusprime) February 20, 2017
"Titanic is a movie about a lady who got some ? so good that she went back out into the ocean to say goodbye to it." #Titanics #FatherFigure
— April (@ReignOfApril) February 20, 2017
To cap off the night, Wood went the extra mile and retweeted his favorite tweets, responding to some.
https://twitter.com/roywoodjr/status/833543782113030144
https://twitter.com/roywoodjr/status/833548707790348289
It was just an awesome night of appreciation from fans and Wood alike. Congratulations to Roy Wood Jr. on a great debut.