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"Anchors being funny is my favorite sh**. I love it. It's like when someone gets up and sings a karaoke song, and they mean it, but it sounds bad, but you can tell it makes them feel good. It's like that. Seek your bliss."
A late-night comedy show on CNN? Yes, and it's a game show, too. Have I Got News for You, hosted by Roy Wood Jr. with Michael Ian Black and Amber Ruffin serving as team captains, tests players' knowledge of the news. "On regular late-night shows, you have to teach the audience what the news story is and then you can talk about it," Ruffin says. "But here [on CNN] there's way less learning. You're all people who love knowing what's going on in the world, so it is a lot faster moving." For Ruffin, coming up with material on a news cycle is the exciting part. "You are just you, and however it hits your ear, and it makes you say whatever comes out of your mouth." Considering the show is all about reacting to the news, what's Ruffin's reaction to the presidential race? "I suppose Vice President Harris is going to win by a lot and Trump is going to pivot to even crazier old coot, and we'll all live happily ever after.... But it has to be said that I am a severe optimist, and the night Hillary Clinton lost, I was shooting a big, beautiful video about her winning." [laughs]
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Editor's Note: This conversation has been edited and condensed for publication.
The idea of a comedy game show on CNN might inspire some to think...comedy on CNN? So where did the premise for the show come from?
Well, the premise is loose as hell, but it is a game show to see which team knows more about current events. It will be my team versus Michael Ian Black's team. Roy Wood Jr. [hosts]. I'll have a guest. Michael will have a guest. Roy will dole out the points as he sees fit. That's the loose premise, right? But the real thing is, we're just sitting around yapping about the news. It's just like hanging out with any of us.
When you're dealing with news, it can be a thorny area to try and make funny. When you watch an event like the presidential debate, how do you process it?
You don't come up with any material. You are just you, and it happens to hit your ear however it hits your ear, and it makes you say whatever comes out of your mouth. But I mean, and that's all comedy is, right? It's just how you are processing it, and the anchor is your personality and who you are. But it is just like your reactions will feel good to my ear, because I also had big reactions to it, you know what I mean? Trump puts you in a very specific position where he is such an odd guy that instead of analyzing, you're just like, everyone becomes an amen corner. It's like, "Yeah, man, it's bananas. Wasn't that bananas? Yeah, dude, can you believe it? No, I can't."
With an event like the debate, something everyone is talking about, does it excite you to then get in front of a camera and find the funny. What about that excites you to be on a show like this?
Discovering what's funny is just an odd way to say it, because it's really like you're all working through it together. Seeing what hit Michael as being strange then makes you come to this conclusion, which Roy agrees with to an even more extreme degree. So then he'll say some sh** you ain't never thought of. So it really is like everybody using their flashlights to look at a giant picture, because we all overlap, we really do. But we're a very cute team because we have a lot of overlap, but we're also quite different.
News anchors being funny is such a fun concept, because they often are not. So being on CNN, it's like setting you up for a lot of news people trying to be funny. Did you have a similar reaction to it being on CNN?
Anchors being funny is my favorite sh**. I love it till I die. I love it. It's like when someone gets up and sings a karaoke song, and they mean it, you know they're really doing it, but it sounds bad, but you can tell it makes them feel good. It's like that. Seek your bliss.
What about the CNN of it all makes it stand out?
It's the next step in the inevitable collision of comedy and news, because a billion years ago late night shows were not talking about topical news to this degree, right? The cable late night shows popped off and that was considerably more newsy. But now there's been an even newer shift in network late night shows becoming extremely newsy. They've realized that news networks can hold comedy and their audiences are perfect for it, because they are up on all of the latest news. On regular late night shows, you have to teach the audience what the news story is, and then you can talk about it. But here there's way less learning. Everybody is on the same page. You're all people who love knowing what's going on in the world, so it is a lot faster moving.
We certainly are a polarized country, so in those moments where the news is depressing or polarizing, how do you navigate that?
I feel like anyone can step in it at any point in time. And lots of times you can say an extremely innocuous thing, and then the right group of people who's angry at the right time in the right order, can blow it up. And then you have to apologize for some stuff that never happened or was taken out of context. But I think if we all know that and if we all live in the world where that happens, then what you gonna do? You might as well just be saying exactly what you feel is true. And I also think that's less likely to happen to you if you are happy and nice and a comedian. I think a lot of people are really angry and mad, and their comedy is sh****** on people. And then you say you have a tough time. It's like, "Well, yeah man, all you do is dunk on people."
Totally. If you come from a place of being a good person, then you have nothing to worry about. Like it's OK to apologize if your intent is good and you're open to being wrong. You know?
Lots of times when I hear something racist, I just look at the person and I go, "Oh, these are the last words I'll probably ever hear them say." I just don't argue. I'm not trying to drag you into the sunlight, so when people take the time to drag me into the sunlight, I'm eternally thankful, because I don't just want to be friends with my little group of people. That's all I do. But I want to be able to be friends with everyone, I want it to be a safe place for you to come and talk. I think that's the funnest part of being a human being, and if you cut that part off, well, what have you done? Let's all hang out, right? Unless you're a Trump voter, then eat it.
Even with that, I've always found this with your comedy in particular, and how you approach comedy, you create a space where you're there to have the conversation. And sure, maybe you don't always agree, but there's still room for that middle ground.
I think that that is true. I also think people are trying to protect their dollars by keeping the doors open. But I just don't know, I feel every last way about it. I just think at certain points I could be like, there's a whole bunch of people who I very publicly and happily will and have said, "Eat sh**. Don't ever talk to me. I don't care what happens to you. Suck buttholes." So I don't know. I don't know exactly how deep I am in that and how willing I am, because I feel like, look, once you denied my rights as a human being, you f****** die slow. I don't give a f***. But also, I'm like, "Okay, are you or have you been taught something that you repeated and can unlearn?" That's a different thing.
That's the part that I find interesting. I mean, there are certain monsters out there that you can agree to be like, "Okay, bye, go away." But I feel like, even with some of my family members, particularly some of my family members that I don't agree with on things, I get where it's coming from, and I can maybe work with it while at the same time avoiding their phone calls. You know?
You're right. It's a spectrum, because everybody has it, you have those people where you're like, "Oh my God, everything you say and do is terrible, never talk." Then there's people where every once in a while, they'll be like...let me not give an example. [laughs]
I don't think this is the place to give an example.
My dumb a** about to give an example. [laughs] I cannot be trusted.
Since the show is about reacting to the news, I wanted to get your reaction to a couple big stories. The race between Trump and Harris. What in general, do you make of it?
I suppose Vice President Harris is going to win, and she's gonna win by a lot, and Trump is going to pivot to even crazier old coot, and we'll all live happily ever after. That is what I honestly think is going to happen. But it has to be said that I am a severe optimist, and the night Hillary Clinton lost, I was spending billions of dollars from late night shooting a big, beautiful video about her winning. [laughs]
I guess the lesson from that is, don't pre-record anything. [laughs]
That is how sure I was.
What do you make of celebrity endorsements? Do they do anything at all?
Yeah, I think celebrity endorsements do a lot. And I think I can almost respect not choosing to endorse a candidate. I can almost respect it. I mean, ultimately, I can't, but I can almost respect it because it does do a lot, and it does put a lot of weight on you, and it kind of changes your status in entertainment, right? Then you slowly make the journey of becoming, you go from pop star to activist, pop star to advocate to activist, really. And then it changes everything and then you have all this extra weight on you, and every bad thing that happens, they're like, why haven't you said anything? The silence is deafening, and then you just ruined what you thought was going to be like a fun concert. Now you got to give a speech.
You recently came out. I want to know what it means to you to come out at this point in your life and your career and everything?
Well, first off, I was like, "Well, coming out is stupid. I don't think anyone does it anymore, and I'm not gonna do it." But then I thought so many people were like, well, now that you're divorced, you got to get yourself a new boyfriend. And I was like, "Oh, I can't. I feel like a little bit lying, because I know for a fact that if you thought I was queer, you wouldn't be talking to me like this." So, yeah, I had to do it because I just felt like it was a lie.
