美国国家公共电台 NPR After A Year On The Job, Stephen Colbert Finds His Voice On 'The Late Show'

 

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: 

"The Late Show With Stephen Colbert" made headlines earlier this week. Vice¹ President Joe Biden sat for his first TV interview after the election. It was a bright spot for a show that once struggled to find its voice. NPR TV critic Eric Deggans spoke² to Colbert's executive producer and writers during Biden's visit to discover how they turned the show around.

ERIC DEGGANS, BYLINE³: Vice President Joe Biden seemed pretty relaxed when he stopped by Colbert's "Late Show" on Tuesday. In fact, he was so relaxed, he let a little profanity slip during a sketch⁴ where he and Colbert played America's dads, delivering a pep talk to the camera during a family meeting at the end of an emotional election season.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT")

JOE BIDEN: We don't want to hear those swear words from you - hogwash, baloney, malarkey, you know?

STEPHEN COLBERT: Joe - Joe, we're on CBS, they're going to have to bleep half of that.

BIDEN: Hey look, I'm sorry, I'm so gosh damn - oh, darn disappointed.

DEGGANS: Of course, that might have also happened because Biden didn't rehearse the sketch earlier that day with Colbert. Instead, the host practiced his lines with writer, performer Brian Stack, playing Biden.

COLBERT: We overheard you using some pretty salty language, mister.

BRIAN STACK: (As Joe Biden) You're better than that. I don't want to hear any more swear words from you, like hogwash or baloney or malarkey.

COLBERT: Joe - Joe, we're on CBS.

DEGGANS: Then Colbert got an idea.

COLBERT: Does this need to have any little life to it? Like, 'cause we're using steadicam for a reason, right? So we'll probably want...

DEGGANS: He asked the camera operator, using a device called a steadicam, to move up and down during the skit⁵ to make the audience watching on TV feel as if they were briefly⁶ walking away. Head writer Opus Moreschi says such hands-on feedback from Colbert was pretty common.

OPUS MORESCHI: He's very specific about the way he wants the show to be. And if we're doing our job perfectly⁷, we'd basically be, like, outsourced versions of Stephen's brain.

DEGGANS: But when Colbert first debuted⁸ as host of "The Late Show" last year on CBS, that level of involvement presented some problems. The show could be uneven⁹. Colbert, who had played a character on his Comedy Central show "The Colbert Report," didn't seem as comfortable hosting "The Late Show" as himself. He hadn't really found his authentic¹⁰ voice.

CHRIS LICHT: He didn't have time to find his voice because before I got here, he really was running the show and every element of it.

DEGGANS: That's Chris Licht, who moved from a job as executive producer of "CBS This Morning" to become the executive producer and showrunner for Colbert's "Late Show" earlier this year. His job - to handle all the non-comedy stuff so Colbert could focus on the funny.

LICHT: He was able to find his voice because he had a second to think about what his voice was. And then the conventions came at a perfect time.

DEGGANS: The show found new energy with live shows during the Republican and Democratic conventions. That included the return of a character who acted suspiciously like the guy who used to host "The Colbert Report."

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT")

COLBERT: Truthiness has to feel true, but Trumpiness doesn't even have to do that. In fact, many Trump¹¹ supporters don't believe his wildest promises. And they don't care.

DEGGANS: Then came their live election night special on Showtime. At times, that show felt a bit like a wake as Colbert, who had regularly skewered¹² Trump on air, tried to process the results in real time.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SPECIAL, STEPHEN COLBERT'S LIVE ELECTION NIGHT - DEMOCRACY'S SERIES FINALE: WHO'S GOING TO CLEAN UP THIS S***"

COLBERT: So how did our politics get so poisonous? I think it's because we overdosed, especially this year. We drank too much of the poison.

DEGGANS: The show hadn't prepared much for the option that Trump would be declared the winner while they were on air. Sensing the audience's gloom, Licht said he turned to Colbert with three words - no more funny.

LICHT: The great thing about that Election Night was you peeled away everything and you were left with just him. And it was pretty compelling.

DEGGANS: Viewership for Colbert's "Late Show" often lags behind Jimmy Fallon's "Tonight Show" on NBC. But Colbert's show is seeing growth. CBS says the Biden episode beat Fallon with their best Tuesday ratings in more than a year. Licht laughed off the idea floated in a New York Post story earlier this week that CBS might flip¹³ Colbert with James Corden.

Corden hosts "The Late Late Show," which now follows Colbert at 12:30 a.m. on CBS. Licht said Colbert has found his footing and will focus on calling out hypocrisy¹⁴, no matter who's in charge.

LICHT: And whether it's in politics or whether it's in just day to day institutional life, that's our villain¹⁵. So that's an apolitical villain.

DEGGANS: Colbert's new challenge may be continuing to grow his audience when the thrill of a singular election is long past. I'm Eric Deggans.

1 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 sketch   

n.草图；梗概；素描；v.素描；概述

参考例句：

• My sister often goes into the country to sketch. 我姐姐常到乡间去写生。
• I will send you a slight sketch of the house.我将给你寄去房屋的草图。

5 skit   

n.滑稽短剧；一群

参考例句：

• The comic skIt sent up the foolishness of young men in love.那幅画把沉溺于热恋中的青年男子的痴态勾勒得滑稽可笑。
• They performed a skit to amuse the crowd.他们表演了一个幽默小品来娱乐观众。

6 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

7 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

8 debuted   

初次表演，初次登台（debut的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• In late 2003 a full-size SUV, the Pathfinder Armada, debuted. 2003年末，全尺寸SUV的探路者无敌舰队，推出。
• The album debuted at number two and quickly went platinum. 专辑一亮相就荣登排行榜第二名，很快就取得了白金销量。

9 uneven   

adj.不平坦的，不规则的，不均匀的

参考例句：

• The sidewalk is very uneven—be careful where you walk.这人行道凹凸不平—走路时请小心。
• The country was noted for its uneven distribution of land resources.这个国家以土地资源分布不均匀出名。

10 authentic   

a.真的，真正的；可靠的，可信的，有根据的

参考例句：

• This is an authentic news report. We can depend on it. 这是篇可靠的新闻报道, 我们相信它。
• Autumn is also the authentic season of renewal. 秋天才是真正的除旧布新的季节。

11 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

12 skewered   

v.（用串肉扦或类似物）串起，刺穿( skewer的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He skewered his victim through the neck. 他用扦子刺穿了受害人的脖子。 来自辞典例句
• He skewered his foot on a nail. 他的脚踩在钉子上了。 来自互联网

13 flip   

vt.快速翻动；轻抛；轻拍；n.轻抛；adj.轻浮的

参考例句：

• I had a quick flip through the book and it looked very interesting.我很快翻阅了一下那本书，看来似乎很有趣。
• Let's flip a coin to see who pays the bill.咱们来抛硬币决定谁付钱。

14 hypocrisy   

n.伪善，虚伪

参考例句：

• He railed against hypocrisy and greed.他痛斥伪善和贪婪的行为。
• He accused newspapers of hypocrisy in their treatment of the story.他指责了报纸在报道该新闻时的虚伪。

15 villain   

n.反派演员，反面人物；恶棍；问题的起因

参考例句：

• He was cast as the villain in the play.他在戏里扮演反面角色。
• The man who played the villain acted very well.扮演恶棍的那个男演员演得很好。