Background and career
Reginald Lucien Frank Roger Watts (born March 23, 1972) is an American comedian, musician, beatboxer, and actor. He is known for improvised musical sets created using only his voice, a keyboard, and a looping machine. 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. His mother is French and his father is African-American. 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. He began piano and violin lessons at the age of five, with his love of music beginning as a young child when he saw Ray Charles play the piano on television. 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.
In 1996, Watts became the frontman of the band Maktub. 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, 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?" 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. 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). 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. In 2009, Watts recorded his first solo EP, Pot Cookies. He also began appearing on the PBS Kids' children's program The Electric Company. He performed in his first solo short film Watts Does London and made a small appearance on Comedy Central's Michael and Michael Have Issues. He then did voice work for an episode of Adult Swim's The Venture Bros., Australia's Good News Week, and appeared in the U.S. documentary The Yes Men Fix the World. He also toured in support of Devo in a fall 2009 tour.
In 2010, Watts recorded a comedy special called Why Shit So Crazy? The special features Watts performing at the New York venues Galapagos, The Bell House, and (Le) Poisson Rouge, bookended with brief sketches and a music video of Watts' "Fuck Shit Stack". Comedy Central aired Why Shit So Crazy? and released the film as a dual DVD/CD package. Watts then made various public appearances, including during Conan O'Brien's The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour.
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. 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 2012, Watts began starring opposite Scott Aukerman on the IFC series Comedy Bang! Bang! based on the podcast of the same name. That same year, Watts co-founded the comedy YouTube channel Jash with Michael Cera, Tim & Eric, and Sarah Silverman. 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. 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. Watts' final episode of Comedy Bang! Bang! was on June 5, 2015.
