Roy Wood Jr. and Mayor Randall Woodfin - Sons Of Birmingham

Dive into an inspiring episode, as host Marina Franklin talks with Mayor Randall Woodfin and Roy Wood Jr. on Friends Like Us! From community empowerment to leadership and Randall Woodfin's new memoir, "Sons of Birmingham,".

Hear how these sons of Birmingham are making waves. 

Randall Woodfin was born in Birmingham, Alabama, and after four years in Atlanta earning his degree from Morehouse College, has lived in Birmingham ever since. He worked at City Hall (in jobs for both the Mayor and the City Council) and for the Jefferson County Committee on Economic Opportunity, attended Cumberland School of Law at Samford University and, after obtaining his law degree, accepted a job in the City of Birmingham Law Department. As an assistant city attorney, he also became an organizer, working on campaigns at the local, state, and federal level. After serving on the Birmingham Board of Education, he ran for mayor in 2016 with endorsements from President Joe Biden, Senators Bernie Sanders and Cory Booker, and Stacey Abrams. Woodfin won an upset victory in a runoff in 2017 and earned a featured speaker role at the 2020 Democratic National Convention. He is seeking his third term in 2025. Buy his new memoir: "Sons Of Birmingham".

ROY WOOD JR. is a comedian, an Emmy-nominated documentary producer for the PBS documentary The Neutral Ground, a correspondent on Comedy Central’s Emmy-nominated The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, and host of Comedy Central’s award-winning podcast, The Daily Show: Beyond the Scenes. Spring of 2023, Wood guest hosted The Daily Show and headlined the White House Correspondents' Dinner to its highest ratings since 2017.

Wood co-starred alongside Jon Hamm in Paramount Pictures' long-awaited Fletch remake, Confess, Fletch (2022), and has guest appearances in ‘Only Murders in the Building’, ‘Better Call Saul’, ‘The Last O.G.’ & ‘Space Force.’ As a writer and executive producer, his development deals have included a first-look deal with Comedy Central for ‘Jefferson County: Probation,’ an HBO Max project, ‘1% Happy,’ an untitled medical field comedy for NBC, and an untitled single-camera comedy about the National Guard for FOX. Wood’s first Comedy Central one-hour stand-up special, Roy Wood Jr.: Father Figure, debuted in 2017, the same year he was named the new host of Comedy Central’s storytelling series, This is Not Happening. Debuting in 2019, his second Comedy Central special, Roy Wood Jr.: No One Loves You, remains the network’s highest-rated original stand-up premiere. In 2021, his third Comedy Central special, Roy Wood Jr.: Imperfect Messenger, aired hyper-recent material just two weeks after taping. Forbes declared he is “One of comedy’s best journalists,” Entertainment Weekly has described his thought-provoking comedy as “. . . charismatic crankiness. . .” and Variety Magazine named him “One of 10 Comics to Watch in 2016.” Wood began his comedy career in 1998 at 19 while attending Florida A&M University. In 2006, he debuted on network television on The Late Show with David Letterman. In 2008, he appeared on HBO’s historic Def Comedy Jam and was selected by America as one of the top three finalists on Last Comic Standing on NBC. He has appeared on Late Night with Seth Meyer, Conan, The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.  He also performed on numerous USO Tours for our Troops stationed everywhere from Guam to Iraq to the Philippines.  At the height of the pandemic, Roy raised money for the displaced staff of comedy clubs through tipyourwaitstaff.com and Laugh Aid. In his hometown of Birmingham, Alabama, his philanthropic endeavors include supporting Workshops, Inc., which enriches lives by helping people with disabilities and other employment barriers achieve their vocational potential. The DUBS Baseball Academy is an investment in sports to change lives. STAIR of Birmingham, where tutoring empowers students to read better and dream bigger. Also, I See Me, Inc., where the mission is to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline by increasing the literacy rates in children of color by engaging them in literature that reflects their culture and image.

Always hosted by Marina Franklin - One Hour Comedy Special: Single Black Female ( Amazon Prime, CW Network), TBS's The Last O.G, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Hysterical on FX, The Movie Trainwreck, Louie Season V, The Jim Gaffigan Show, Conan O'Brien, Stephen Colbert, HBO's Crashing, and The Breaks with Michelle Wolf. Writer for HBO's 'Divorce' and the new Tracy Morgan show on Paramount Plus: 'Crutch'.