Roy Wood Jr. dishes on the 'rules to war' — and the one politician off-limits — ahead of Correspondents' dinner

Nothing’s off-limits when Roy Wood Jr. takes the stage as the headliner at the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) dinner on Saturday, except, perhaps the Senate minority leader.

“The only thing that I know for sure that's off the list right now is Mitch McConnell,” Comedy Central’s “Daily Show” correspondent told ITK of the Kentucky Republican, who returned to the Senate last week for the first time since suffering a concussion in March.

“If he’s nursing himself and trying to get healthy, OK, let's put the Mitch McConnell jokes in our back pocket and in the meantime, let's hope that [Supreme Court Justice] Clarence Thomas stays healthy until April 29,” said Wood.

“The health of people — I think there's rules. There's rules to war.”

But Wood said virtually anyone else is fair game for roasting at the Washington Hilton hotel, even if certain lawmakers and political figures aren’t in the actual room.

“I feel like just because somebody isn't there doesn't mean you can't do jokes about them. Avoiding the event does not keep you from being held accountable — and accountability will be on both sides, for the record.”

“This isn't some Republican bash fest. I think it's fair to come into this with fair critiques about politicians, also the role media plays, but more importantly the blind spot that I think a lot of the American public have to the media,” Wood said.

The “Last Comic Standing” alum, who majored in broadcast journalism at Florida A&M University, said he’s solicited advice from previous WHCA dinner entertainers since he was announced as this year’s performer back in February. Hasan Minhaj, the 2017 entertainer, suggested he figure out the layout of the Hilton ballroom, and which high-profile guest is sitting where. Seth Meyers, who took the mic in 2011, doled out some pacing recommendations.

“Traditionally, with my stand-up comedy, I talk very fast and for some that makes it hard to understand me,” Wood, 44, said, adding he needs to slow down because “for a lot of these people, they only have two Black friends.”

“They're not used to all the different speeds of Black verbiage,” he said with a laugh.

Wood also planned to reach out to former “Daily Show” contributor Michelle Wolf ahead of the dinner. Wolf famously ignited controversy when she headlined the 2018 event, with critics saying her jokes about then-White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders went too far.

“I don't expect to be as controversial” as Wolf, Wood said, before adding, “I don't think Michelle Wolf expected to be controversial.”

Asked if he’s concerned about being “canceled” following his set at the Correspondents’ bash, Wood replied, “I'm not worried about anybody that's upset about a joke that I told. And I'm not worried about whatever opportunities and doors that may close because of it, because there's going to be doors that will open.”

“I am poised on Sunday morning after the Correspondents’ dinner to go to breakfast with my mama and my child. I do not have an apology drafted up in the Notes app.”

One thing Wood, who grew up in Alabama, said he does anticipate is for the targets of some of his wisecracks to fundraise off of his material.

“One thousand percent someone is going to take a joke that I said at that dinner and go, ‘See, they're attacking me. And they're picking on us. And you need to give me $12.'”

The closer he gets to taking the stage on Saturday following President Biden’s remarks, Wood said, the “more intense” he’ll feel before delivering one-liners in front of a famously stiff and buttoned-up room.

“I did ‘Showtime at the Apollo’ — nothing will ever be more nerve-wracking than a room full of 2,000 people ready to boo you. At least at the Correspondents’ dinner everybody's quiet. Except for maybe Marjorie Taylor Greene,” Wood said of Georgia’s GOP congresswoman, who shouted out during Biden’s State of the Union address in February.

“But I can deal with one heckler. I can't deal with 2,000,” Wood chuckled.

The comedian said he’s not planning for a purely partisan blood bath with his punchlines: “I think you have to take shots at lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, otherwise you're not honoring the job. I don't think that we can sit here and act like both parties have been perfect in their duties of serving the American people.”

“Republicans lie, Democrats over-promise,” he said.

But bigger than just jokes, Wood said, “I think it's important to understand just how the media works to try and get this right. And just how much budgets and fiscal limitations are slowly suffocating free speech, far more than any policy that's been put on the books by Republicans.”

“If you can get somebody from across the aisle to look at the other side, to look at another table and see someone laughing at themselves and vice versa, then it's possible there's a connection that can happen later on after the fact.”