美国国家公共电台 NPR Despite Different Styles, Dick Gregory And Jerry Lewis Inspired Generations Of Comics

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Two giants of comedy died this weekend, Dick Gregory and Jerry Lewis. Both were funny, and that's about where the similarities end. Lewis was orchestrated goofiness. Gregory was more cerebral¹ satire². NPR's Elizabeth Blair looks at how their comedic legacies³ intersect.

ELIZABETH BLAIR, BYLINE⁴: They were from opposite worlds, Dick Gregory an African-American from St. Louis with an understated delivery who also fought for civil rights. Jerry Lewis was a Jew from New York, a clown rooted in the Borscht Belt. One used humor to fight injustice⁵. The other used it to get laughs.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE LADIES MAN")

JERRY LEWIS: (As Herbert H. Heebert) Jeronimo. Was that too loud?

BLAIR: Dick Gregory's style was quieter and more reflective. He could joke about memories that had to have been painful.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

DICK GREGORY: And there we were, 1951. They integrated the swimming pools, and all our parents made us get out there whether you could swim or not. Just go. Get wet. Go. I look at my people. Damn it - you want to be with them people? You go. Get me out that - all that water. They don't like me anyway. And I can't swim.

(LAUGHTER)

BLAIR: Gregory had audiences in stitches while talking about serious issues like integration⁶. Jerry Lewis was all wild silliness, and so you might not think there were comedians⁸ out there influenced by both of them.

LEWIS BLACK: There's a craft to it that you admire and - you know, the craft of the joke.

BLAIR: Lewis Black is a comedian⁷ known for biting political commentary that's delivered with lots of hand gestures and eye rolling. To develop his style, he watched lots of comedians, including Jerry Lewis and Dick Gregory. Here's Black ranting⁹ about the weather.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

BLACK: I'm going to tell you someone. When you're lying in bed and you hear thunder outside and you get up and there's snow with lightning behind it, that is completely insane.

(LAUGHTER)

BLACK: But I'm yelling about it as if it's - you know, that the universe is going to collapse¹⁰ because of it. That's - kind of has to come from Jerry Lewis' type of comedy, of realizing - you think you've gone far. You can go further.

BLAIR: But Black says that same routine also takes something from Dick Gregory - that a joke is not just a joke.

BLACK: It's deeper than that. There's more to it than that. There's something else further.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

BLACK: I realized that the environment in this country was totally out of control.

BLAIR: Lewis Black believes overall, he's more in the Dick Gregory camp of comedy. Gregory is credited with making it OK to joke about serious issues like race.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: I mean if it wasn't for Dick Gregory, you don't get Dave Chappelle. You don't get...

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: Chris Rock.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: ...Richard Pryor. You don't get Bill Cosby.

BLAIR: Keith and Kenny Lucas are identical twins, African-American comedians who perform as a duo.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: We've been unemployed¹¹. And I - you run out of things to do in employment, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: Like, we watch Deion Sanders hip-hop videos. That's what we do.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: And it's pretty bizarre.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: That's right.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: It's called "Must Be The Money."

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: Yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: And Deion was dropping some crazy lines.

BLAIR: They say that while Dick Gregory paved the way for black comedians, their style is more in the Jerry Lewis camp, specifically Lewis and his comedy partner Dean Martin.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: When we were coming up as comedians, we always sort of looked at which two-man act would have, like, an impact on us. They were just fundamental - I mean just their banter¹², their timing¹³.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: Well, they were able to strip the two-man act away from just, like - I mean obviously Jerry Lewis was very silly. But the fact that it was their banter and their back-and-forth that sort of made the comedy...

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: ...Is something that influenced us deeply.

BLAIR: Here's Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis in the movie "Sailor Beware."

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "SAILOR BEWARE")

DEAN MARTIN: (As Al Crowthers) Well, who was your toughest fight?

LEWIS: (As Melvin Jones) The toughest was Gene¹⁴ Tierney. That was the toughest fight.

MARTIN: (As Al Crowthers) Gene Tierney - you mean Gene Tunney.

LEWIS: (As Melvin Jones) You fight who you want. I fight who I want.

BLAIR: When Lewis Black learned the news that these two giants of comedy had died, he tweeted, first Dick Gregory and then Jerry Lewis, the yin and the yang of comedy. I guess after this week, even God was desperate for a laugh. Elizabeth Blair, NPR News.

[POST-BROADCAST CORRECTION: This story incorrectly states that Jerry Lewis was from New York. He was from New Jersey¹⁵.]

(SOUNDBITE OF CHARLIE PARKER'S "I GET A KICK OUT OF YOU")

1 cerebral   

adj.脑的，大脑的；有智力的，理智型的

参考例句：

• Your left cerebral hemisphere controls the right-hand side of your body.你的左半脑控制身体的右半身。
• He is a precise,methodical,cerebral man who carefully chooses his words.他是一个一丝不苟、有条理和理智的人，措辞谨慎。

2 satire   

n.讽刺，讽刺文学，讽刺作品

参考例句：

• The movie is a clever satire on the advertising industry.那部影片是关于广告业的一部巧妙的讽刺作品。
• Satire is often a form of protest against injustice.讽刺往往是一种对不公正的抗议形式。

3 legacies   

n.遗产( legacy的名词复数 )；遗留之物；遗留问题；后遗症

参考例句：

• Books are the legacies that a great genius leaves to mankind. 书是伟大的天才留给人类的精神财富。 来自辞典例句
• General legacies are subject to the same principles as demonstrative legacies. 一般的遗赠要与指定数目的遗赠遵循同样的原则。 来自辞典例句

4 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。

5 injustice   

n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利

参考例句：

• They complained of injustice in the way they had been treated.他们抱怨受到不公平的对待。
• All his life he has been struggling against injustice.他一生都在与不公正现象作斗争。

6 integration   

n.一体化，联合，结合

参考例句：

• We are working to bring about closer political integration in the EU.我们正在努力实现欧盟內部更加紧密的政治一体化。
• This was the greatest event in the annals of European integration.这是欧洲统一史上最重大的事件。

7 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。

8 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

9 ranting   

v.夸夸其谈( rant的现在分词 )；大叫大嚷地以…说教；气愤地)大叫大嚷；不停地大声抱怨

参考例句：

• Mrs. Sakagawa stopped her ranting. 坂川太太戛然中断悲声。 来自辞典例句
• He was ranting about the murder of his dad. 他大叫她就是杀死他父亲的凶手。 来自电影对白

10 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

11 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

12 banter   

n.嘲弄，戏谑；v.取笑，逗弄，开玩笑

参考例句：

• The actress exchanged banter with reporters.女演员与记者相互开玩笑。
• She engages in friendly banter with her customers.她常和顾客逗乐。

13 timing   

n.时间安排，时间选择

参考例句：

• The timing of the meeting is not convenient.会议的时间安排不合适。
• The timing of our statement is very opportune.我们发表声明选择的时机很恰当。

14 gene   

n.遗传因子，基因

参考例句：

• A single gene may have many effects.单一基因可能具有很多种效应。
• The targeting of gene therapy has been paid close attention.其中基因治疗的靶向性是值得密切关注的问题之一。

15 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。