Like everyone else, “The Daily Show” is thinking a lot about coronoavirus, and on Monday “senior medical correspondent” Roy Wood Jr. came out to explain how we can all stay safe — and then promptly exposed Trevor Noah to coronavirus.
Obviously Wood didn’t actually do this. The gag was something of a parody of an Iranian official who did something similar more than once last week. It was a welcome bit of levity considering how scary the headlines have been.
It started when Noah brought Wood out and asked him if he should be spraying disinfectant everywhere. “Stop stop stop with that. First of all, don’t panic. The most important thing to do is wash your hands,” Wood said. “And don’t rush. You gotta wash them for at least the length of one verse of a Cardi B song.”
“And another thing,” Wood continued. “Don’t touch your face, ’cause you can make yourself sick. And, if you are sick, remember to stay-” at which point Wood coughed several times into his hands before saying, as if nothing happened, “stay at home.”
Noah glared at Wood for several seconds before demanding to know if Wood just “coronacoughed” in his face.
“No, I didn’t coronacough in your face, I just had some peanuts a minute ago,” Wood protested. This didn’t mollify Noah, who continued to glare until Wood assured him again that nothing is wrong.
“Like I was saying, it’s important not to panic. Check on your elderly neighbors, make sure-” at which point Wood appeared to almost cough again, then try (unsuccessfully) to hold it in.
The gag continued thusly until Noah sprayed him in the face with the disinfectant. Watch the whole thing above. The Roy Wood Jr. bit starts about 4 minutes and 16 seconds in.