Travon Free was a Division I college basketball player before he became a stand-up comedian, comedy writer and actor. He has written for The Daily Show, for which he won an Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series in 2015, and recently for HBO’s Any Given Wednesday with Bill Simmons. Currently, he co-hosts The Room Where It’s Happening: A Hamilton Fan Podcast and writes for Full Frontal with Samantha Bee. We spoke to Travon ahead of his appearance at our Seriously Entertaining show The End My Friend at Joe’s Pub on April 6, 2017, alongside Ana Marie Cox, Brenda Shaughnessy, and Tony Tulathimutte.
Name: Travon Free.
Age: 31.
Where are you from? Compton, CA.
What is your occupation? Writer/comedian/actor.
What are you working on right now? Writer: Full Frontal with Samantha Bee.
Which day in your life would you repeat? The day I won an Emmy.
Which day would you delete? The day Donald Trump was elected. For obvious reasons.
What do you most look forward to? Breakfast, lunch and dinner. And then putting my work into the world and seeing how it affects people’s lives.
What do you hope future civilizations will find in the miraculously preserved shell of your apartment? My pair of Space Jam Jordan 11s. Or my Harry Potter wand. Whichever makes me seem cooler.
What are you reading right now? The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin.
What was the last great film you saw? Get Out.
If you could play any character on the stage, whom would it be? Aaron Burr in Hamilton. Leslie Odom, Jr, is a national treasure.
If you could live inside a fictional world, which one would you choose? Harry Potter or the mind of a Trump voter. (But only for maybe five seconds.)
Given sufficient budget, what would you put on your wall? Actual Bruce Springsteen or any Basquiat/Salvador Dalí painting.
Who in history would you most like to have a stinking-drunk night out with? Barack Obama.
Print or digital? Digital.
What are your preferred writing materials? My MacBook.
What’s the loveliest book you own? The Daily Show 2015 Year Book.
Where would we find your favorite bookstore? Any store with books is my favorite.
Who would you choose to read the audiobook of your collected works? Ian McShane (Morgan Freeman is too cliché at this point).
How do you celebrate the completion of a piece of work? I got to eat something that’s not good for me. Donuts work well.
Book your tickets to see Travon Free, Ana Marie Cox, Brenda Shaughnessy, and Tony Tulathimutte in our Seriously Entertaining show The End My Friend at Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater on April 6, 2017.
