Wyatt Cenac

Wyatt Cenac
Cenac in 2010 at the launch of Earth (The Book)
Born	(1976-04-19) April 19, 1976 New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, comedian, writer
Years active	1995–present
Website	wyattcenac.com

Wyatt Cenac (/ˈwaɪ.ət sᵻˈnæk/; born April 19, 1976) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and writer.^[1] He is a former correspondent and writer on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, airing his last segment on December 13, 2012.^[2]

Ancestry

He is of Grenadian descent and according to the results of a DNA test, revealed in a 2014 YouTube video uploaded by Okayplayer, Cenac's maternal ancestry can be traced to the Yoruba people of Nigeria.^[3] His paternal ancestry can be traced back to his great-great-great-grandfather, Cherebin Cenac, who was born in France and lived in or near the city of Agen. Cherebin was an officer on a French battleship during the Napoleonic wars. After the war ended, Cherebin settled in Soufrière, Saint Lucia, where he acquired some estates and fell in love with an African woman with whom he had children. The youngest, Francis, was Wyatt Cenac's great-great-grandfather. Francis Cenac (1830-1892) emigrated to Grenada, where he married Mary Emilia McVean, the daughter of Mary Budd, by whom he had four children. The youngest, William Emanual Cenac (February 14, 1880-October 13, 1974), was Wyatt Cenac's great-grandfather. William married Isabella Fletcher (May 30, 1885-1983) on July 15, 1909 and had seven children. The first child, Francis Alphonso Cenac (December 19, 1909-May 1, 2010), was Wyatt Cenac's paternal grandfather.

Wyatt Cenac is a nephew of the Hon. Mr. Justice Dunbar Cenac, Registry of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, and a cousin of Bernard Coard, former deputy prime minister of Grenada who was imprisoned for 25 years following the American invasion of Grenada in October 1983.

Early life

Cenac was born in New York on April 19, 1976. Cenac's father, also named Wyatt Cenac, Sr. was a New York City cab driver who was born in Saint Mark Parish, Grenada in 1944. He was shot and killed in his cab when Cenac was 4, when Cenac moved with his mother and stepfather to Dallas, Texas.^[4] Growing up, he frequently visited his maternal grandmother and spent summers with her in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.^[5] However, Cenac has had no contact and has no communication or involvement with his paternal family side. He attended high school in Texas at Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas.^[6] While in elementary school, he became friends with comic book writer Brian K. Vaughan,^[7] who also introduced him to comic books. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ^[8] before moving to Los Angeles to further his career. As of October 2014, Cenac lives in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.^[9]

Career

Cenac at Pitchfork Music Festival, 2010

Having previously worked for three years as a writer on King of the Hill, Cenac garnered public attention in The Doomed Planet comedy sketch in which he did an impression of then-senator Barack Obama, discussing possible campaign posters.^[10]

In June 2008, Cenac was hired as a correspondent and writer on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. After making several comedic appearances along with other correspondents, Cenac filed his first field report on July 21, 2008, concerning Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama.^[11] He continued to integrate satirical Black-oriented material in his Daily Show segments, including "Rapper or Republican"^[12] until his final Daily Show appearance on December 13, 2012. In a July 2015 appearance on WTF with Marc Maron, Cenac revealed that his departure from The Daily Show stemmed in part from a heated argument he had with Jon Stewart over a June 2011 Daily Show bit about Republican Presidential candidate Herman Cain.^[13][14] Despite this, Wyatt appeared on Stewart's final episode of Daily Show; both agreed that they're "good", a reference to the podcast.^[15]

In October 2009, he worked with rapper Slim Thug on the music video "Still a Boss", a parody of how the recession is affecting the rap community. Cenac costarred in Medicine for Melancholy, an independent drama by Barry Jenkins released in 2008 that includes issues of African American identity and gentrification in San Francisco.^[16][17]

Cenac plays the voice of Lenny and Michael Johnson in the Nickelodeon animated series Fanboy & Chum Chum.^[18]

Cenac guest-starred on the MC Frontalot album Solved. Cenac's first hour-long comedy special, Comedy Person, premiered May 14, 2011, on Comedy Central.

In October 2014, Netflix released Cenac's second comedy special, Wyatt Cenac: Brooklyn.^[19] In 2014, he guest-starred in an episode of the Netflix series BoJack Horseman. The following year, he appeared in a filmed segment with fellow comedians Rachel Feinstein and Alex Karpovsky on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.^[20]

Cenac's film roles include parts in Sleepwalk with Me and Hits, as well as a lead role in 2016's Jacqueline Argentine.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wyatt Cenac.

• Wyatt Cenac at the Internet Movie Database
• Official website