Yahoo Lifestyle Society Has Lost Its Will To Connect. Roy Wood Jr. Has An Urgent Reminder For Us.
What ever happened to connection? The act of fostering community with face-to-face interactions, casual chit-chat with strangers, first-name basis conversations with neighbors, or regular check-ins with loved ones outside of birthdays and holidays. In such divided times, where is society’s will to connect on a deeper level, human being to human being?
“It’s gone,” Roy Wood Jr. states frankly at the top of his new comedy special.
The comedian’s bleak declaration may sound like an exaggeration, but it’s actually an unnerving revelation about the unhealthy state of our hyper-avoidant society. People may not be ready to face that truth yet, but in “Lonely Flowers,” Wood Jr. is the messenger determined to open our eyes to what has gone ignored (and untreated) for far too long.
Filmed against a sunset backdrop of a single silhouetted flower at the Lincoln Theater in Washington, D.C., Wood Jr. holds court about society’s lack of interrelatedness in his hour-long special, which premiered on Hulu on Jan. 17. With a collection of humorous small-bore observations, the former “Daily Show” correspondent thoughtfully takes stock of how we as people have lost touch in the unlikeliest of ways — from the decline of customer service in retail and the lost art of small talk at grocery stores to our ludicrous irritation with phone calls on cellular devices that “were invented for talking.”
Occasionally, Wood Jr. pivots from everyday jokes about our antisocial climate to crack wise about slightly related topics, like rude employee “overlords” at self-checkout lanes, the discomfort of making new friends at 40, and how the backlash against “the first Black woman mermaid” spurred more protests and racial divide than it should’ve.
All these instances circle back to Wood Jr.’s through line about modern detachment and the importance of connection, overarching themes that define “Lonely Flowers,” an apt metaphor for the tragic beauty of humanity.
“We’re the lonely flowers,” Wood Jr. explained of his special’s title to The Wrap. “Like, a flower by itself is one of the saddest things you can see, but a group of flowers together is one of the most beautiful things you can see.”
That image is, ultimately, what Wood Jr. is seeking in his special, as he intensely repeats the notion that, once upon a time, “We was connected,” but not anymore. Such a harmonious state seems much harder to return to now in a “post-pandemic” world, which the comedian acknowledges, but he’s not yet lost all hope.
“I feel like there’s a serious disconnection in our society, and so we’re more beautiful if we come together. Much like flowers,” the comedian proposed in an interview with Essence. “A flower by itself, it’s nice. But if you’ve ever seen a group of flowers together, you go, ‘Oh, that’s nice.’ We need to bring back bouquets of people.”
Togetherness is the North Star that makes “Lonely Flowers” a compelling examination of a fractured and fragile society. That becomes acutely clear in the few moments Wood Jr. lays humor aside to offer perspectives about our lives worth considering.
The comedian does so expertly when he recalls the time he “accidentally hired a white photographer” for a gig. This innocent mix-up, he says, turned into a big opportunity for a veteran who struggled to find work after serving in the army. After recalling the gentleman’s heartfelt thank you, Wood Jr. delivers a sharp punchline that brings the encounter back into comedic focus.
“I was like, ‘Wow.’ He was about to kill some people,” he concludes to audience laughter.
The joke expounds on a similar message the comedian shares earlier in the special, pointing out how even the most mundane exchanges — like a grocery store checkout conversation — can save a person from a mental breakdown, or worse.
The urgent connection message arises in yet another reflective moment for Wood Jr. after taking a dig at his unexpected “Daily Show” exit ― news he sadly broke to his mother after hopes of retiring her. The somber memory later allows the comedian to reflect on their tight-knit relationship and how it supported him during his early comedy days in 1998.
Wood Jr. revealed that, back then, he had a habit of sleeping in bus stations of the cities he’d perform in before his mother put a down payment on a car (which he’d also sleep in). Part of that deal meant he had to call his mother every Monday to ensure he made it home safely from his shows, which later turned into a decades-long routine of “calling my mom and telling her what’s going on in my life, my career.”
“It’s the one guaranteed day every week that we catch up and actually talk about what’s going on in the world,” Wood Jr. tells the audience, “and it’s brought us closer.”
As many of Wood Jr.’s anecdotes suggest, connection is always within reach if we’re disciplined enough to seek it, whether one joins a hobby club or accepts an invitation to a Puerto Rican sex party — an outrageous true story, according to the comedian.
His candid message explains why, now more than ever, we should take the first step toward building connection, especially if it pushes us out of our comfortable bubbles of isolation.
Ironically, the climax of Wood Jr.’s special unfolds into a sprawling 14-minute finale centered on bubbles — or, more accurately, a long story about the comedian taking a mom and her child to an extravagant children’s bubble show (which, he repeatedly notes, cost $74 plus fees). At its core, though, Wood Jr.’s tale delves into the suffocating loneliness that fuels fear, particularly in the struggle to find romantic connections.
“Connection is hard, even in trying to meet someone to love,” Wood Jr. muses in “Lonely Flowers.” “You find yourself with the wrong person, and you still gonna be alone.”
The comedian’s final elaborate story brilliantly illuminates his special’s subject, not just as a universal topic, but also as something so complex that even he sometimes struggles with it.
That’s where “Lonely Flowers” succeeds.
By speaking from experience, Wood Jr. turns hilarious and vulnerable punchlines into a cautionary tale, because he’s seen up close the consequences of disconnection and where society could be headed. He’s also seen how beautiful things can be when people come together.
“Lonely Flowers” ends the same way it begins, with the pessimistic statement, “We ain’t gon’ make it.” That statement is not strictly definitive, though, nor is it a defeatist attitude about our future. Instead, it’s an accurate assessment if change doesn’t come.
According to Wood Jr.’s beliefs, we cannot grow or thrive as a human collective if we remain reclusive. The beauty of his special, though, is that he drops breadcrumbs about how we can, in most cases, save ourselves from complete social despair by performing small, consistent acts of kindness and being better communicators overall — but only if the will of the people allows it.
“Roy Wood Jr.: Lonely Flowers” is streaming now on Hulu.
