Q&A: 'Daily Show' correspondent Wyatt Cenac

As unpredictable as it can be, Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" can let its comedians spread their wings only so far.

They usually appear for three to four minutes at a time, and their material has to fit within the show's fake newscast format.

The annual "Indecision in the Park" concert gives them a chance to show another side of their personalities, allowing each to do short stand-up comedy sets. This year's edition is hosted by John Hodgman and features correspondents Wyatt Cenac, Al Madrigal and John Oliver, among others.

amNewYork spoke with Cenac about the show.

Is there a different vibe performing in Central Park versus a comedy club?

It’s weird because the park is an open space whereas in a club the laughter bounces off the walls and echoes in the room a bit. The other part is that everything you say is traveling through the park. Last time I did it the park got some complaints that I cursed a few times. By a few times, I mean probably a lot. There were probably some people enjoying a nice ride in the paddleboats hearing a litany of f---s for no reason.

As a comedian, do you have a preference as to whether Obama or Romney wins?

Not necessarily. We’re looking not just at the candidate, but how the candidate gets covered. Whoever gets elected, the 24-hour news networks are still going to find whatever little stories they can expand into multiple hours of coverage and will find ways to blow certain things out of proportion. It doesn’t matter for us who wins because half of it will be covering the coverers

Do you see your role as informing people as well as entertaining them?

Personally, no. I feel like we work in the world of political satire and our focus is the jokes. The moment we start to look beyond that and look at this as a place where we need to inform people first, the joke becomes secondary. It’s a very short walk to go from making jokes to getting on a soapbox and going on a diatribe. We try to not go to that place.