美国国家公共电台 NPR Social Satirist Dick Gregory Was The 'First To Have A Crossover Market'

 

DWANE BROWN, HOST:

We want to take a moment now to remember the pioneering legacy¹ of comedian²-activist³ Dick Gregory, one of the first comedians⁴ to satirize⁵ issues of race and politics in the 1960s, paving the way for future black outspoken⁶ comedians like Richard Pryor, Redd Fox and Chris Rock. Gregory was one of the first African-Americans to gain notoriety by white audiences, appearing in major comedy clubs and late-night television.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

DICK GREGORY: And we have a lot of racial prejudice up north, but we're so clever with it. Take my hometown, Chicago. I mean, you can't see it just going in there. Well, negroes in Chicago move into one large area and it looks like we might control the vote, they don't say anything to us. They have a slum clearance⁷.

(LAUGHTER)

BROWN: Later, he became a noted⁸ civil rights activist. He was among those who participated in the historic 1963 March on Washington. And two years later, he was shot in the leg during the Watts⁹ riots in Los Angeles. And something that may surprise many - he ran for mayor of Chicago in 1967 and ran for president in 1968 under the Freedom and Peace Party. Dick Gregory died last night. He was 84. One of the first to express his condolences on Twitter when the news broke, stand-up comedian and actor George Wallace. He joins us from his home in New York City. George Wallace, welcome to the show.

GEORGE WALLACE: Hello. Hello, everybody. And God bless you. And I'll just say thank God for our good friend Dick Gregory. We're going to miss him.

BROWN: George, what was your first reaction, if you could remember back, when you actually saw him perform?

WALLACE: Well. I saw him on "The Tonight Show" - - the Jack¹⁰ Paar show. I was a little kid then. I'm just - of course, any black man on TV back in that day, you'd call everybody - turn the television on. Turn the television on. Black man on. Didn't matter what his name was - black man on. Colored man on. So seeing Dick Gregory, and he being smart and talking to both black and white audiences, you got to go, oh, this guy is really different.

BROWN: Let's talk a little bit about that "Tonight Show" groundbreaking thing because Gregory said he wouldn't go on unless he was able to sit down next to the host, Jack Paar. And that was something a black performer had never done before.

WALLACE: And that's what was smart about him. He's going, hey, my jokes are just as good as theirs. Why can't I get attention? Why can't they treat me like they treat the white - equality. Bring me to sit on the sofa. I've got a few words to say. He first hung up on Jack Parr. That was NBC at the time. That's what you call groundbreaking material right there, hung up on NBC.

BROWN: And this was in 1962. I remember there was an interview with Gregory last year, and I want to get your thoughts about this. He says, when I started, a black comic couldn't work a white nightclub. You could sing. You could dance, but you couldn't stand flat-footed and talk. He said then the system would know how brilliant you were.

WALLACE: Isn't that amazing? He's one of the first to have the crossover market, even before Bill Cosby. And, you know, there were people like Moms Mabley and Pigmeat Markham, even Flip¹¹ Wilson. They were working the black clubs. But Dick Gregory was so smart, now, we're not just doing that self-deprecating humor. We're talking about civil rights. He's running for mayor. He's running for president.

He's the first one to bring attention to police brutality¹² back in the '60s. And he worked down in Alabama, went to jail in Mississippi and all of those places. But he was a funny man. And something about humor can get you in the door. I think he just did a comedy show less than a month ago, until the last day, doing jokes. And I'm sure he's doing jokes up in heaven right now.

BROWN: That was comedian George Wallace remembering pioneer comic and activist Dick Gregory. Thank you so much, George, for talking with us.

WALLACE: Thank you so much. This is Dr. George Wallace. I love you, and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it.

1 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

2 comedian   

n.喜剧演员；滑稽演员

参考例句：

• The comedian tickled the crowd with his jokes.喜剧演员的笑话把人们逗乐了。
• The comedian enjoyed great popularity during the 30's.那位喜剧演员在三十年代非常走红。

3 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

4 comedians   

n.喜剧演员，丑角( comedian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The voice was rich, lordly, Harvardish, like all the boring radio comedians'imitations. 声音浑厚、威严，俨然是哈佛出身的气派，就跟无线电里所有的滑稽演员叫人已经听腻的模仿完全一样。 来自辞典例句
• He distracted them by joking and imitating movie and radio comedians. 他用开玩笑的方法或者模仿电影及广播中的滑稽演员来对付他们。 来自辞典例句

5 satirize   

v.讽刺

参考例句：

• Somebody satirize that the general's lacking in courage.有人讽刺这位将军缺乏勇气。
• Luxun created such an image to satirize.鲁迅是为了讽刺才塑造这样一个人物形象的。

6 outspoken   

adj.直言无讳的，坦率的，坦白无隐的

参考例句：

• He was outspoken in his criticism.他在批评中直言不讳。
• She is an outspoken critic of the school system in this city.她是这座城市里学校制度的坦率的批评者。

7 clearance   

n.净空；许可(证)；清算；清除，清理

参考例句：

• There was a clearance of only ten centimetres between the two walls.两堵墙之间只有十厘米的空隙。
• The ship sailed as soon as it got clearance. 那艘船一办好离港手续立刻启航了。

8 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

9 watts   

（电力计量单位）瓦，瓦特( watt的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• My lamp uses 60 watts; my toaster uses 600 watts. 我的灯用60瓦，我的烤面包器用600瓦。
• My lamp uses 40 watts. 我的灯40瓦。

10 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

11 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。

12 brutality   

n.野蛮的行为，残忍，野蛮

参考例句：

• The brutality of the crime has appalled the public. 罪行之残暴使公众大为震惊。
• a general who was infamous for his brutality 因残忍而恶名昭彰的将军