Comedian Roy Wood Jr. has been tapped to host the 85th annual Peabody Awards, which takes place June 1 at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. This reps Wood’s first time as Peabody host, and the second consecutive year the awards ceremony has taken place in Southern California.
News comes follows Wood’s recent stint as host of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Wood is probably best known as a long-time correspondent on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show”; he currently is host of CNN’s comedy talker “Have I Got News for You.”
“No higher honor than to be in the room as we celebrate some of our generation’s best
storytellers and reIlect upon the ways in which we can all contribute to bettering the times we
are in,” Wood said in a statement. “I am also there because there is a free dinner. At least I’m assuming there is dinner. There better be some damn food, that’s all I know.”
After several attempts — delayed by the COVID pandemic, and then by the Hollywood strikes — the Peabodys finally made their move to the west coast in 2024. Peabody, which is based at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia, honors programming in the categories of entertainment, documentary, news, podcast/radio, arts, children’s and youth, immersive and interactive media, and public service programming.
Nominees for this year’s awards will be announced on April 15 and April 17, while winners will be revealed on May 1. Bob Bain Prods. will produce the 2025 ceremony.
Last year’s winners included “The Bear,” “Bluey,” “Reservation Dogs,” “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,” “The Last of Us” and “Jury Duty.” Past Peabody Award winners include “Hill Street Blues,” “Murphy Brown,” “The Wire,” “Veep,” The Sopranos,” “Breaking Bad,” “The Office,” “Succession,” “Roots,” “Dopesick,” “Cosmos” and “Nova.”
Source: Variety
