Reginald Lucien Frank Roger Watts (born March 23, 1972) is an American comedian, actor, beatboxer, and musician.
His improvised musical sets are created using only his voice, a keyboard, and a looping machine.
Watts 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!.
Reginald Lucien Frank Roger Watts was born in Stuttgart on March 23, 1972, the son of French mother Christiane and African American father Charles Alphonso Watts.
1990
His father was a Master Sergeant in the Air Force, leading the family to live in Germany, France, Italy, and Spain before returning to the United States and settling in Great Falls, Montana, where Watts was raised; he 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.
1996
In 1996, Watts became the frontman for 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 a Line 6 DL4 delay modeler, a smaller device that makes it easy to travel.
He began using the Line 6 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 Line 6, 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 longtime friend and future playwright Tommy Smith, who later ended their collaborative relationship when Watts failed to credit him for co-writing the lyrics of his viral hits "Fuck Shit Stack" and "What About Blowjobs?"
2004
In 2004, after recording five albums over eight years, Watts moved to the Lower East Side of New York City.
2005
In 2005, he recorded his first solo single, "So Beautiful".
Inspired by The State and Wet Hot American Summer, he began infusing spontaneous comedic material with the beat-box-driven musical compositions.
He also shot comedic shorts for Superdeluxe, Vimeo, and CollegeHumor.
2007
In 2007, Watts appeared on Plum TV's Scott Bateman Presents Scott Bateman Presents and starred in the CollegeHumor internet video "What About Blowjobs?"
The video 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.
2008
In 2008, Watts recorded a new special entitled Disinformation, which features his performance at the Under the Radar Festival at the Public Theater.
2009
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.
2010
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 2010, Waverly Films shot a one-hour special on Watts called Why Shit So Crazy? The special features Watts in live performance at New York venues Galapagos, The Bellhouse, 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.
Afterwards, Watts made various public appearances, including during Conan O'Brien's The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour.
2012
Watts's second stand-up special, A Live at Central Park, premiered on Comedy Central in the "Secret Stash" on May 12, 2012.
It was completely uncensored and received positive reviews.
The film was made available as a CD/DVD through Watts' official website as well as Comedy Central's online store.
Soon afterwards, Watts performed a song with LCD Soundsystem on their farewell documentary movie, Shut Up and Play the Hits.
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 began collaborating with Michael Cera, Tim & Eric, and Sarah Silverman to create a comedy YouTube channel called Jash.
2013
In 2013, On the Boards recorded a new Watts special entitled Transition, which played at various arts festivals including the Under the Radar Festival at The Public Theater; it was winner of the MAP Fund Award and Creative Capital award.
The same year, Watts was invited to perform at Yoko Ono's Meltdown 2013 on the South Bank in London where he was supported by Mac Lethal.
2014
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.
2015
From 2015 to 2023, Watts led the house band for The Late Late Show with James Corden.
