-I have the odd distinction of being the first Black writer in a few writers' rooms.

It's a very weird thing, and it's one of those weird things that I feel like I always have to...state.

Because if I don't do it, nobody else will.

In history of "The Daily Show," there were only three writer/correspondents.

Only three in the history of "The Daily Show."

Most of the correspondents were just there, hired as correspondents.

But in the history of the show, it's Stephen Colbert, it's John Oliver, and it's me.

We're the three.

Uh, two of them, life is great.

I'll let you come up with whatever conclusion you want to about that, but... ♪♪ ♪♪ -So we just dive in, just starting in your childhood, like where you grew up and... -Sure.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

I was born in New York City.

My mother and my father split up when I think I was maybe around a year or so old.

My mother remarried.

My mother, my stepfather, and I moved to Texas when I was about 4.

I got to travel a little bit as a kid and see things... that maybe in some ways... I don't know.

I wonder now how that affected the way that I see... I see things.

Because yeah, growing up in Texas, I think it's very easy to see things as just from that perspective.

And I just remember going back to Texas after summer trips and being like, "Basements are the most amazing thing," 'cause we didn't have those.

And I was just like, "One day, I'm gonna have a basement, which is not a -- It's a very creepy goal for someone to have.

-I've watched a lot of your comedy, and you often talk about comic books and that sort of thing.

Was that something as a child you got into?

-As a child, I did get into comic books.

I grew up watching cartoons, and "The Super Friends" was one of those cartoons.

I gravitated towards Batman.

And I really connected with Batman, in part because he had lost his parents to murder and I'd lost my father to murder and I felt like there was a connection there.

As a kid just trying to make sense of something, I had this one thing that if I ever met Batman, I'd be like, "Oh, I see you.

That was my initial entry point into comic books.

And then... when I was in second grade, there was a kid who'd moved to town from Cleveland, Ohio, and his name was Brian Vaughan, and he and I were in the same class, and his mother had reached out.

She said, "Oh, would you like to come over?

My son has Transformers and comic books."

And I said, "Sure.

And so Brian became another entry point into comics for me, and his family kind of became a second family to me.

They were all really interested in, like, movies and things like that.

And so as they were interested in that stuff, I was also interested in that.

A lot of credit, I feel like, has to go to Catherine Vaughan, Brian and David and Molly's mom, who really was this... this sort of cheerleader for our imagination and our creativity.

And she made space for me as well.

And maybe I'd have gotten there on my own, but she definitely helped me see that it was possible.

And that extra support was support that I'm grateful for, because I do think it helped me realize, "Oh, if they can do it, then yeah, it's possible for me to do it too."

-Do you think that was the kernel of you wanting to do something in, like, the arts or performance at that young age?

Or do you think that was just, like, a positive experience that sort of shaped who you are?

-I think it was a piece of something.

I think having the influence of the Vaughan family was a piece of that kernel, of what would eventually blossom into "Oh, I want to make television and stuff like that.

As a kid, I remember seeing, you know, Eddie Murphy on "SNL" when it would run on Nick at Nite, and I remember watching "The Cosby Show" and thinking, "I think I want to be a doctor," and then realizing, "Oh, no.

I want to do that.

I want to be a performer.

I want to be a comedian," and then trying to figure out how to get there.

'Cause it's not like from Texas there was a straight line to that.

And I think a lot of it was seeing other Black people doing it.

"Oh, wow.

Okay.

Whoopi Goldberg can be in movies and be funny.

And I would see the promos for her with Billy Crystal and Robin Williams, and it felt like, "Oh, there's space for her, so maybe there could be space for me."

Or I'd see Eddie Murphy or Richard Pryor or any of these people that told me I might be welcome here.

-So getting into where you decided you wanted to do comedy or that side of things... -Yeah.

...maybe you could talk a little bit about the beginnings of you wanting to be a performer, being interested in comedy and that sort of thing.

-Sure.

I didn't go to college because I had big dreams of going to college.

I...I went to college to escape home, plain and simple.

It was -- I'd wanted to run away since I was 12, and I just didn't have the courage to do it.

And then college became the way to run away.

And so the furthest I could get away from home was where I tried to go.

Initially I wanted to go to Syracuse, and I settled on the University of North Carolina, in part because I was able to get in-state tuition and it was far.

But...I always knew at that point I wanted to perform.

And I think at that point, seeing Eddie Murphy, he was someone that I thought, "Oh, I'd love to do -- I'd love to follow a path like his."

And I knew that he had gotten "SNL" at 18 -- 17, 18.

And so by the time I got to college, I was actually kind of disappointed in myself,M because I was like, "I haven't done it yet."

I'm behind."

And I was trying to figure out how -- "How am I gonna get to 'SNL'?"

And that was the goal.

That was it.

That was what I'd had my sights set on.

I wanted "SNL" like Eddie Murphy, but I also wanted to do "Weekend Update."

That was something that I thought would be really cool.

I wanted to host "Weekend Update."

And so I wrote a bunch of sketches and I wrote a cover letter.

And I sent it to "SNL," and I said, "Hi.

My name's Wyatt, and I'd really like a job as a writer and a cast member on your show.

Here are some sketches.

And that summer, they sent them back, and there was a note that said, "We can't read these legally."

And I didn't understand it.

And, you know, it was a whole thing about, like, copyright.

And they were like, "Look.

You said you were interested in an internship.

If you're really interested, this is the person you should talk to."

And I'll never forget the person who reached out to me.

His name was Matt Enstice, and he was one of Lorne's assistants.

And then I went to New York and I interned at "SNL."

And because I wasn't in school, I could be there every day and all the time.

And I lived with my grandmother, and it was great.

It was a really wonderful experience and was... ...this experience of, "Oh... I can do this.

I'm closer than I ever was.

This didn't feel fully attainable when I was in Texas, and now here I am."

And everyone I went to school with, my friends, when I left, they were like, "Oh, you're not coming back.

You're gonna go, and they're gonna love you, and, yeah, we'll see you on TV."

And so, you know, it was very much like... local ne'er-do-well doing well and proudly going to New York and... Yeah.

I thought, "All right.

I'm back on track.

I'm on the Eddie Murphy track."

And I did my internship.

When it was over, needless to say, I went back to school.

I was not... If you're wondering why you never saw me on "SNL" except for one time in a holiday episode as an extra, that's why.

I had to go finish school.

But then,m a few years later, after I graduated, I threw myself into performing.

And I was like, "I have to be the best at this."

I started to get back into stand-up again.

Then Second City opened up in L.A., and I started doing stuff there.

And they wanted to have, like, a troupe that would do, like, best-of-Second City shows.

And I auditioned for that, and I got into that.

and started taking classes at Groundlings, and I was really working my way up.

I'd gone through, like, levels one and two and three at the Groundlings.

There are four levels, and there's a wait list for level four, and I was on the wait list, and I was doing this best-of show at Second City, and I was on an improv team at ImprovOlympic that was considered one of the top improv teams there, that had, like, a standing Friday time slot.

And then I was writing sketch shows and doing sketch shows and just trying to do as much as I could.

And so I really just threw myself into that.

And every year -- Once I started doing stand-up, there was a guy who worked at Comedy Central.

His name was Bart Coleman.

And Bart would always go to stand-up shows, and it was just like, "I got to have a good set.

Bart is here."

Bart saw me one time, and he was like, "You should do, like, 'The Daily Show.

I feel like you would be good for 'The Daily Show.'

I was like, "I would love that," because at that point, "The Daily Show" was like, "Oh, that's 'Weekend Update.'

That was that thing I wanted to do."

And he was like, "Yeah.

I want you to audition."

And every year there would be auditions for "The Daily Show," and every year I would go, and I wouldn't get it.

But my manager was like, "You should do it.

This time is different because they want you to write something."

And I was kind of like, "I don't know.

I don't want to write anything.

I don't give a... about politics."

And I got to give my manager at the time, Dave Rath, a lot of credit for this.

And he was like -- 'Cause, you know, the primaries were going on.

I was like, "I don't give a... about the primaries.

He was like, "Write about that," And I was like, "Okay."

And so I wrote about, "Yeah, I care more about what's on television right now, and 'Lost' is the big show, and these primaries, they need to compete with 'Lost.'

'Lost' has a polar bear.

Where's the polar bear?"

And so that's what I wrote.

And I went in, and I auditioned with that.

I auditioned with Jon, and I think I improvised something and he laughed.

And when it was done, he was like, "When can you start?"

And I was like, "Ha, ha.

funny joke."

And then a week later, I was on "The Daily Show."

-You were the first Black writer at "The Daily Show" and probably amongst many of those late-night shows.

-That's right.

-Talk about what it was like being in the writers' room for that show and for other shows.

-Yeah.

"The Daily Show" had won an Emmy for best writing, and Jon's acceptance speech joked about diversity and the lack of diversity and made what to me feels like a really...joke where he was like, "People talk about, you know, the lack of diversity.

But, you know, I've got tall Steve and short Steve and there's that Steve over there and this other Steve."

And whether that was a self-deprecating, like, "Oops.

I know I'm not doing as well as I should when it comes to this," or "I don't really give a... about diversity," it's still... it's still not doing the work.

And so I... So yeah, I got hired maybe a year or two after that.

When I was hired and brought into the room, I was told, you know, "We want you for your voice, and you are a correspondent who is Black --" And I wasn't just the first Black writer.

I was technically the first Black correspondent -- like, full-time correspondent.

Larry Wilmore was a contributor.

You know, before that, William Stephenson is technically the first Black correspondent/contributor on the show, but that predated Jon.

And so yeah, Larry was a contributor who would just travel in.

I relocated there.

I was there every day.

And so I held this distinction of being the first Black correspondent and the first black writer.

At that point in my career, I'd had one other big professional job.

I was a writer on the animated series "King of the Hill."

When I got hired at "King of the Hill," it was shortly after the NAACP had done a study about the lack of diversity in Hollywood writers' rooms, and they'd put a lot of pressure on the studios to...change.

And so the studios' response was to go to these shows and say, "Hey, you need to do better.

These rooms shouldn't just be all white dudes and, you know, maybe a woman, maybe one person of color."

And to incentivize television shows to do better, the studios said... ..."If you all can hire a person of color, we, the studio, will pay for their salary.

It won't go against your show's budget.

It'll come out of the studio's pocket."

And even with that, most shows still couldn't be bothered.

I knew this because one of my bosses made a point to tell me this all the time.

To tell me that I was a free writer, that I cost the show nothing.

And I think for him, he saw it as this amazing thing, that I was some sort of coupon and that it was to be celebrated.

What it felt like was... I'm not really a part of the show.

I'm only here because someone else is paying for me to be here, that you're not that invested in me.

I have a value.

And if you don't see my value and all my value is to you is that I don't cost anything, that I'm free labor to you... ...that doesn't feel good.

And it doesn't feel particularly good as a Black person to have someone -- to have your white boss say your greatest attribute is that you're free labor.

-Maybe you could just briefly explain, like, what happened at "The Daily Show."

What made you feel bold to come out and tell that story?

-Jon had done something on the show that I found offensive.

And as it happened, other people found it offensive, too.

But it was one of those things that Fox News kind of ran with.

And in his defensive posture... ...Fox News was saying, "Hey!

This, you know, liberal icon isn't as..." You know, "He isn't as progressive as you thought he was."

And I think that was getting to him.

But there was a part of it that was like... I don't know that they really believe what they're saying, but this thing did bother me, because you're also the same white guy that's always doing rap hands and kind of mocking the music I grew up with in this way that you think it's funny and doing, "Yo, yo, yo," using Black vernacular as a way to make a comedic point... ...with no respect and appreciation for it and not recognizing that, oh, what you're actually doing is you're making fun of me and you're making fun of my friends and my family and the people I grew up with, and you don't care.

And I'm in the room, and you're doing it to me and you're doing it around me, and it's never... it's never resonated with you.

And I've watched you do that a lot, and I've watched you do a lot of other things, and I've watched this show do a lot of other things where it's felt like... ...my race or the races of other people, the cultures of other people have become a punch line in this ironic way.

And it was a time when -- That was also a particular moment in time when ironic racism and ironic sexism was the -- you know, it was the soup of the day.

You know, there were a lot of white comics who felt they could say the word... because they were like, "You know I don't mean it."

And I think to me... I personally found myself feeling sick of it.

And not just as it related to Black people, but across the board.

I didn't really enjoy seeing straight white dudes make jokes about gay people.

I didn't enjoy seeing them make jokes about women, about, you know, Asian people.

Like, it all started to bother me.

And the bit that Jon wanted to do was this bit where his response to it was that "Everything I do is racist."

And it just felt like, "This is not... I don't think this is the answer."

And so I voiced a concern.

And in voicing a concern, Jon got really defensive.

He lost his temper and started to say, "What are you trying to say?"

and, "There's a tone in your voice, and started picking out things like that.

"There's a tone."

And as I tried to... You know, I tried to be diplomatic about it and eventually was kind of like, "Look.

It bothers me.

When I heard you do the bit, it bothered me.

It sounded like Kingfish.

It sounded like 'Amos 'n' Andy,'" to which he -- 'cause he was doing an impression -- to which he got up and was like ...off.

I'm done with you."

Stormed out of the room.

Repeated ...off.

I'm done with you" a few times.

I, in that moment, didn't know if I'd been fired or not.

I thought I'd been fired, and I didn't know what to do.

And everyone's just stunned.

And I followed him to his office 'cause I was kind of like, "If I've been fired, I need to find out."

And... ...he then screamed at me for a while, and I tried to defend myself as best I could and... But he sort of attacked me in these ways of, like, "You've never had a problem with my Chuck Schumer voice."

And I was like, "I don't know what you mean.

Like, we're talking about this and you're now bringing it to something else."

And it was kind of like, "Well, I'm not... I'm not Jewish.

I don't know.

If you're..." Like, "I can only represent the community that I represent."

And he was kind of like, "I don't give a... about your community."

And I know he was coming from a weird, defensive place, but the reality is that defensive place was a place he'd been in for a long time.

Because so much stuff that happened at the show, that, like, maybe under the surface he was feeling anxiety about, and this thing keyed in on it.

And then me as, you know, the one Black person that is in the writers' room that he sees on a daily basis, that I... that it's bothering me -- He's not seeing my pain.

He's just feeling his own because I'm perhaps both a symbol of him trying to progress and a reminder of how little work he's done.

"The Daily Show" was a dream job to me.

I hadn't looked beyond that.

I was kind of in my head, "Oh, this is it.

This is where I wanted to land.

This is 'Weekend Update.'

This is the thing I wanted to do.

I'm happy here.

And I think in my wildest dreams, I thought maybe one day Stephen decides to move on and maybe I could take over that desk.

And so I think at that moment when I left the show... ...I think there was a part of me that felt lost, that...that wasn't, you know -- that like, "Oh.

Yeah.

That didn't... That's not what happened," and I think a part of me that wanted to... ...maybe help explain why.

I think to some people, they saw it as... ...me against Jon.

And I think for me, it was more... ...me pointing out a culture that... ...isn't a culture to be emulated and... ...that this world that I love, making television and comedy, and late night, that the reason that I'm not there doing the thing I love is because this culture is...up.

And it's this culture that... ...made it untenable for me to be there.

A lot of those late-night shows, it's one person who is the face of it.

It is their vision.

You know, at its best, it's a benevolent dictatorship.

But it is still a dictatorship.

And there are some people who maybe lose sight of that and get very comfortable with the dictatorship element of it.

And so I think in that way... ...whatever change there is, like, it's not just about one person.

It's about the industry, and it's about everybody who walked through those doors.

And it's about looking inward and saying, "Okay.

How do we build something better so that even if those moments happen... ...yeah, that we can do better by one another.

♪♪ ♪♪