Reginald Lucien Frank Roger Watts (born March 23, 1972) is an American comedian, musician, beatboxer, and actor. His improvised musical sets are created using only his voice, a keyboard, and a looping machine. He refers to himself as a "disinformationist" who aims to disorient his audience in a comedic fashion. He was the regular house musician on the spoof IFC talk show Comedy Bang! Bang! and led the house band for The Late Late Show with James Corden from 2015 to 2023.
Reginald Lucien Frank Roger Watts was born in Stuttgart (then in West Germany) on March 23, 1972, the son of Christiane and Charles Alphonso Watts.[1][2] His mother is French and his father is African-American.[3] His parents were in Germany due to his father's role as a master sergeant in the U.S. Air Force, which also led the family to live in France, Italy, and Spain before returning to the U.S. They settled in Great Falls, Montana, where Watts graduated from Great Falls High School in 1990.[2] He began piano and violin lessons at the age of five,[4] with his love of music beginning as a young child when he saw Ray Charles play the piano on television.[5] He moved to Seattle at the age of 18 to study music, attending the Art Institute of Seattle before studying jazz at Cornish College of the Arts.[1]
Career
Early career (1996–2009)
Watts performing in March 2013
In 1996, Watts became the frontman of the band Maktub.[6][7][8] While recording and touring from 1996 to 2000 with Wayne Horvitz's 4+1 Ensemble as a keyboardist, he was forced to downsize his effects pedal from a Roland Space Echo tape delay to the smaller Line 6 DL4 delay modeler, making it easy to travel. He began using the DL4 in live shows with Maktub to replicate the duplicate harmonies from the recorded material. He experimented with improvising entire songs in solo acts with the DL4 while trying to sound like Tom Waits, playing initial gigs at small Seattle venues and artist bungalows. While in Seattle, he composed musical scores for dance choreographers and dabbled in sketch comedy with friend and future playwright Tommy Smith,[9] who later ended their collaborative relationship when Watts did not credit him for co-writing the lyrics of his viral hits "Fuck Shit Stack" and "What About Blowjobs?"[10]
In 2004, after recording five albums over eight years in Seattle, Watts moved to the Lower East Side of New York City. In 2005, he recorded his first solo single "So Beautiful". Inspired by the comedy group Stella and the film Wet Hot American Summer, he began infusing spontaneous comedic material with the beatbox-driven musical compositions.[11] He also shot comedic shorts for CollegeHumor and Vimeo.
In 2007, Watts appeared on Plum TV's Scott Bateman Presents Scott Bateman Presents and starred in the CollegeHumor video What About Blowjobs? which became a viral hit. The same year, he also wrote and performed the theme song for Penelope Princess of Pets, a web comedy series featuring Kristen Schaal and H. Jon Benjamin. He additionally appeared on the 2007 album Turn My Teeth Up! by electro-funk group Baby Elephant (composed of Prince Paul and P-Funk keyboardist Bernie Worrell).[12] In 2008, Watts recorded a new special entitled Disinformation, which features his performance at the Under the Radar Festival at the Public Theater. He also appeared in the independent film Steel of Fire Warriors 2010 A.D. as a Mutantzoid Underling and on an episode of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, as well as making other various television appearances.
Watts's second stand-up special, A Live at Central Park, premiered on Comedy Central in the "Secret Stash" on May 12, 2012. It received positive reviews.[13][14] The film was made available as a CD/DVD through Watts' official website and Comedy Central's online store. That same year, Watts performed a song with LCD Soundsystem on their documentary film Shut Up and Play the Hits and wrote and performed the outro music for Jim Gaffigan's stand-up special Mr. Universe.
In 2013, Watts recorded a new special entitled Transition, which played at various arts festivals including the Under the Radar Festival at The Public Theater; it won the MAP Fund Award and Creative Capital Award. The same year, Watts was invited to perform at Yoko Ono's Meltdown festival in London's Southbank Centre, where he was supported by Mac Lethal.[18]
In 2014, Watts contributed the outro vocal on "Holy City" and beatbox on the title track of the Joan As Police Woman album The Classic. He also appeared as the last act in the season 4 premiere of John Oliver's New York Stand-Up Show where he told some jokes and performed a song. In December 2014, following CBS's announcement that Watts would lead The Late Late Show band, Aukerman announced that Watts would leave Comedy Bang! Bang! after the first half of 2015.[19] Watts' final episode of Comedy Bang! Bang! was on June 5, 2015.[20]
The Late Late Show with James Corden and Spatial (2015–2023)
Watts served as the bandleader and announcer for The Late Late Show with James Corden for its entire run from 2015 to 2023. He described his role on the show as "a mix of Paul Shaffer and Andy Richter".[21] His band on the show was unofficially named Karen,[22] but in response to the rise of that name being used as an insult, the band was renamed Melissa.[23] Watts had a slot on the show to ask a guest a question about anything called Reggie's Question. The questions were a continuation of his time on Comedy Bang! Bang! and followed his preference for surreal comedy in his stand-up act.[24]
On December 6, 2016, Watts' Netflix special Spatial was released. It features a guest appearance from dancer Chloe Arnold and a one-off musical performance from a band consisting of Watts on vocals with Josh Homme on guitar.[25]
In 2023, Watts released his autobiography Great Falls, MT; Fast Times, Post-Punk Weirdos, and a Tale of Coming Home Again.[26] The audiobook, read by Watts, includes sounds and samples of his music.
Performance style
Watts utilizes improvisation in his solo shows,[27][28] which consist of him singing and rapping both with words and with sound poetry, accompanying himself by either beatboxing, performing vocal basslines into a loop machine, or simply by playing the keyboard. His act also showcases his trademark style of stand-up comedy, consisting of him rapidly alternating between topics of discussion in both rational and nonsensical manners, making random sounds and gibberish noises, and speaking in other accents and languages at unexpected times, all with the intent of playfully and comically disorienting his audiences.[29] He has a four-and-a-half octave vocal range.[30][31]
Filmography
Film
Steel of Fire Warriors 2010 A.D. (2008) as Mutantzoid Underling in Bar
Watts is the winner of the 2005 Malcolm Hardee "Oy Oy" Award, the 2006 Andy Kaufman Comedy Award, and the 2006 Seattle Mayor's Arts Award.[50] He was also awarded the 2008 MAP Fund and the 2009 Creative Capitol Grant for the performing arts, and won the 2009 ECNY Award for Best Musical Comedy Act.[6]
↑Spencer Rothbelle - Cartoon Network Journeys VR, I helped write dialogue and shape the personality of the character, who we named GormLorm (voiced by Reggie Watts), an inter-dimensional traveler.
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