美国国家公共电台 NPR--Roy Wood Jr. wants laughs from White House Correspondents' speech — and reparations

Roy Wood Jr. wants laughs from White House Correspondents' speech — and reparations

Transcript¹

Some of the biggest names in politics and media will gather in Washington, D.C., Saturday night for the White House Correspondents' Dinner, where they will rub elbows, trade notes and crack up.

At least that's what comedian² and Daily Show correspondent Roy Wood Jr. hopes, as the host of this year's event.

He says there are many factors that make it challenging to prepare and deliver this kind of speech-slash-roast, from the fast-changing and nuanced news cycle, to the status of the event to the diversity of the audience.

At the end of the night, he'll consider it a success simply if he's made people laugh.

"The rest of it I can't control," Wood says, then pauses to reconsider. "It'd be great if I got Black people reparations at the end, like if Joe Biden came up to the podium, like, 'You know what? That was hilarious³. All right, Black people, reparations.'"

But Wood is taking the comedy seriously, calling it a great opportunity to bring things up that he sees as having fallen through the cracks. And in some ways this speech is like a "state of the constituency address," he tells Morning Edition's Leila Fadel.

"When else does a regular citizen have an opportunity to get all of these people in one room and talk to them without them also asking me for $8 to 'help get in the fight?' " Wood adds with a laugh.

Select comedians⁴ have gotten that chance over the years. Wood is the latest Daily Show figure to grace this particular podium, following former host Trevor Noah last year and comedians Michelle Wolf, Hasan Minhaj and Larry Wilmore before him.

The dinner itself dates back over a century. President Joe Biden will be in attendance for the second consecutive⁵ year. In the wake of a boycott⁶ by his predecessor⁷ and several pandemic cancellations, this year's event looks set to revive some of the glitz and glamor⁸ of past years.

Tamara Keith, NPR White House correspondent and this year's White House Correspondents' Association president, tells Morning Edition that the event may be glamorous⁹ — well, Washington, D.C.-style glamorous, at least — it's actually a valuable sourcing opportunity; not to mention an opportunity for "people to see each other as people rather than as enemies."

"And then on Monday, these very same reporters are going to go out and report on these politicians without fear or favor," she adds. "They're just going to go out and do the same story they were going to do anyway."

In that same conversation, Wood says he also sees the dinner as a fun respite¹⁰ from the routine — but that the rest of the year, he's back to pointing out the same grim patterns in the news cycle, and it gets harder "every time" to make them funnier.

"One of the officers that killed Breonna Taylor this week started a new job as a deputy in an adjoining county in Kentucky," Wood says. "And now I'm in the room with all of the people who filibustered¹¹ the police reform bill that could have stopped that from happening. But hey, jokes."

Wood's words for how he felt on receiving Keith's invite: "terrifically horrific."

"It's like Bruce Willis in Armageddon. They go, 'Hey, the asteroid's coming. We need you to ... save the Earth. But with humor. Also, you might die, but ... you have an opportunity to go up there and say some things that matter to people who normally don't get talked to,'" he says. "You can't say no to that."

Keith says she admires Wood's work because he "never takes the joke that you're expecting, he always surprises and makes you think."

Wood describes his approach to humor as trying to find the third side of an issue and connecting it in an unexpected way. And he wants to stay true to that on Saturday.

"If you're just putting a lot of what's going on in the world in perspective, I think, making people laugh is easy," he says. "Making them feel — to me, that's the real thing with the correspondents' gig."

His audience isn't only those in the room

Wood has been preparing for the event by "analyzing¹² every single thing that's been going on in our country" — no small feat¹³, given the fast-paced news cycle.

He runs through the list of topics that he's considered at different points: "If you'd asked me two weeks ago, we had all Trump¹⁴ indictment¹⁵ material for the first third of the set, and then ... Oh, Clarence Thomas. That could be interesting. Yeah. Let's do some Clarence Tho — Oh, my God. They fired Don Lemon and Tucker Carlson. And ESPN is starting layoffs¹⁶."

Wood is also thinking about the audience.

Comedy is about a relationship, he says, and there's no way for him to know how many in the crowd are familiar with his work and humor. That's his first hurdle¹⁷ to overcome, he says — ensuring that the crowd of 2,600 don't turn against him.

"Because when humor is the weapon being swung, the entire room becomes allies," he says. "So I have to build rapport¹⁸ first, and then I have to turn around and try to figure out ways to subvert¹⁹ it and kind of tear it down and build it up again."

But Wood is also thinking about who's not likely to be in attendance at the Washington Hilton, naming former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

"Most of the people who need to hear what I have to say aren't going to be there anyway, because they don't want truth spoken to them," he says.

It's a tough time for the industry

The most glamorous event in journalism²⁰ comes at a difficult time in the industry, with Americans' trust in media at near record lows and numerous news outlets²¹ being hit hard by layoffs.

Among the victims of the economic downturn and corporate²² downsizing is Wood's home state of Alabama, which no longer has a printed newspaper "from Mobile to Huntsville."

"We ask you to defund the police and you've defunded the media," he says. "That's not what we meant. Maybe we should have been a little more specific."

Wood's father, Roy Wood Sr., was a pioneering Black radio journalist whose accomplishments²³ included helping²⁴ found the National Black Network — the first coast-to-coast network fully²⁵ owned by Black Americans — in the 1970s.

He says his father, who covered events like the Civil Rights Movement and Vietnam War, was more angry and intense than he is, and used humor less.

"I think we're aiming at the same targets of equality and calling things out," he says. "But the weapons we use probably would be different."

Keith sees Saturday as a chance to "preach the gospel of the importance of a free and independent press ... and just explain what we do and why we do it."

"Hopefully people will come away from this understanding that we are just normal people doing a job, doing the best that we can on any given day, and some days are better than others," she adds.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

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 hilarious   

adj.充满笑声的，欢闹的；[反]depressed

参考例句：

• The party got quite hilarious after they brought more wine.在他们又拿来更多的酒之后，派对变得更加热闹起来。
• We stop laughing because the show was so hilarious.我们笑个不停，因为那个节目太搞笑了。

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 consecutive   

adj.连续的，联贯的，始终一贯的

参考例句：

• It has rained for four consecutive days.已连续下了四天雨。
• The policy of our Party is consecutive.我党的政策始终如一。

6 boycott   

n./v.(联合)抵制，拒绝参与

参考例句：

• We put the production under a boycott.我们联合抵制该商品。
• The boycott lasts a year until the Victoria board permitsreturn.这个抗争持续了一年直到维多利亚教育局妥协为止。

7 predecessor   

n.前辈，前任

参考例句：

• It will share the fate of its predecessor.它将遭受与前者同样的命运。
• The new ambassador is more mature than his predecessor.新大使比他的前任更成熟一些。

8 glamor   

n.魅力，吸引力

参考例句：

• His performance fully displayed the infinite glamor of Chinese dance.他的表演充分展示了中华舞蹈的无穷魅力。
• The glamor of the East was brought to international prominence by the Russion national school.俄罗斯民族学派使东方的魅力产生了国际性的影响。

9 glamorous   

adj.富有魅力的；美丽动人的；令人向往的

参考例句：

• The south coast is less glamorous but full of clean and attractive hotels.南海岸魅力稍逊，但却有很多干净漂亮的宾馆。
• It is hard work and not a glamorous job as portrayed by the media.这是份苦差，并非像媒体描绘的那般令人向往。

10 respite   

n.休息，中止，暂缓

参考例句：

• She was interrogated without respite for twenty-four hours.她被不间断地审问了二十四小时。
• Devaluation would only give the economy a brief respite.贬值只能让经济得到暂时的缓解。

11 filibustered   

v.阻碍或延宕国会或其他立法机构通过提案( filibuster的过去式和过去分词 )；掠夺

参考例句：

12 analyzing   

v.分析；分析( analyze的现在分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析n.分析

参考例句：

• Analyzing the date of some socialist countries presents even greater problem s. 分析某些社会主义国家的统计数据，暴露出的问题甚至更大。 来自辞典例句
• He undoubtedly was not far off the mark in analyzing its predictions. 当然，他对其预测所作的分析倒也八九不离十。 来自辞典例句

13 feat   

n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的

参考例句：

• Man's first landing on the moon was a feat of great daring.人类首次登月是一个勇敢的壮举。
• He received a medal for his heroic feat.他因其英雄业绩而获得一枚勋章。

14 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。

15 indictment   

n.起诉；诉状

参考例句：

• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。
• They issued an indictment against them.他们起诉了他们。

16 layoffs   

临时解雇( layoff的名词复数 )； 停工，停止活动

参考例句：

• Textile companies announced 2000 fresh layoffs last week. 各纺织公司上周宣布再次裁员两千人。
• Stock prices broke when the firm suddenly announced layoffs. 当公司突然宣布裁员时，股票价格便大跌

17 hurdle   

n.跳栏，栏架；障碍，困难；vi.进行跨栏赛

参考例句：

• The weather will be the biggest hurdle so I have to be ready.天气将会是最大的障碍，所以我必须要作好准备。
• She clocked 11.6 seconds for the 80 metre hurdle.八十米跳栏赛跑她跑了十一秒六。

18 rapport   

n.和睦，意见一致

参考例句：

• She has an excellent rapport with her staff.她跟她职员的关系非常融洽。
• We developed a high degree of trust and a considerable personal rapport.我们发展了高度的互相信任和不错的私人融洽关系。

19 subvert   

v.推翻；暗中破坏；搅乱

参考例句：

• The rebel army is attempting to subvert the government.反叛军队企图颠覆政府统治。
• They tried to subvert our state and our Party. This is the crux of the matter.他们是要颠覆我们的国家，颠覆我们的党，这是问题的实质。

20 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。

21 outlets   

n.出口( outlet的名词复数 )；经销店；插座；廉价经销店

参考例句：

• The dumping of foreign cotton blocked outlets for locally grown cotton. 外国棉花的倾销阻滞了当地生产的棉花的销路。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They must find outlets for their products. 他们必须为自己的产品寻找出路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

22 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

23 accomplishments   

n.造诣；完成( accomplishment的名词复数 )；技能；成绩；成就

参考例句：

• It was one of the President's greatest accomplishments. 那是总统最伟大的成就之一。
• Among her accomplishments were sewing,cooking,playing the piano and dancing. 她的才能包括缝纫、烹调、弹钢琴和跳舞。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

24 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

25 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。