美国国家公共电台 NPR British Comedian Tracey Ullman Brings Celebrity Impersonations To HBO

British Comedian¹ Tracey Ullman Brings Celebrity² Impersonations To HBO

play pause stop mute unmute max volume 00:0005:02repeat repeat off Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser³ to a recent version or update your Flash plugin. ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST: 

It's almost unfair to talk to comedian Tracey Ullman on the radio. She's best known for her spot-on impersonations in which she doesn't just sound like - she also looks like - German Chancellor⁴ Angela Merkel or Dame⁵ Judi Dench or Dame Maggie Smith.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

TRACEY ULLMAN: Hello. I'm Dame Maggie Smith and now Judi Dench - love her to bits - has left James Bond. I would like to audition⁶ for the part of James Bond.

(LAUGHTER)

ULLMAN: So here's a little tape I'm making to show you what I can do. My name is Bond, dear, James Bond. I have a license⁷ to kill. It's provisional at present. I have the killer⁸ test on Wednesday. There, the part is mine.

SIEGEL: Tracey Ullman has a new comedy sketch⁹ show on HBO, and that's from it. Hi, and welcome to the program.

ULLMAN: Hi. Lovely to speak to you.

SIEGEL: As we've heard, you do several characters, and one of them is Maggie Smith. They are such good impressions I mean in terms of how they sound, how you look, your mannerisms. How long does it take you to master one of these?

ULLMAN: Well, it's funny. I didn't used to do impersonations of famous folk. I always thought that was sort of "Saturday Night Live's" area. But I decided¹⁰ to throw a few into the mix a few years ago to see if I could do it because I like being real people and - but observing society around me. And there's so much celebrity.

And then it - of course it attracts attention, and it's - the makeup¹¹ artist I use is an amazing guy on this BBC series. He's called Flores Shula (ph), and he's very Dutch. And he made me look like Judi Dench and Maggie Smith. Maggie Smith is hard to look like, actually. I sound more like her.

But I have this theory that she's tired of doing Downton Abbey. She doesn't want to wear the corset or use a chemical toilet on location, dear because I heard a rumor¹² that she was miserable¹³ on the show. And they said Maggie, what can we do, you know? What can we do to make you more comfortable? And she went, write me a death scene.

SIEGEL: (Laughter).

ULLMAN: So I now have this theory that Maggie just wants to do everything from her living room. She's vlogging, and you know, she's sponsored by the walk-in bath people.

SIEGEL: Now we should explain that although you - you've lived in the States for many years, you're an American citizen as well as a British subject nowadays. This program - you went back to Britain to make this on the BBC. Now it premieres here. So the characters are for the most part Brits, and...

ULLMAN: Yes, yes.

SIEGEL: You do something with Dame Judi Dench, national treasure, who is constantly abusing her treasur-ous (ph) status and doing terrible things.

ULLMAN: Yes. We imagine Judi had shoplifted, and she got caught. It wouldn't matter because I'm a national treasure. And I really - the makeup for her is quite astonishing, actually. When we were filming in Richmond in England, people were walking by going, oh, they're doing another Bond.

And she was charming about it. And she accepted an award for - theater award and said, hello, I'm Tracey Ullman. So these impersonations - I'm like - they're like Trojan horses. It's naughty to hijack¹⁴ these amazing actresses and people, but - you know, for the sake of my show. But I'm doing it.

SIEGEL: You're doing it. You do Angela Merkel. You do an impression of the German chancellor.

ULLMAN: I like Angela Merkel. I think that she's thinks she's very sexy. And I decided that all the men in the room find her very sex bomb, sex bomb. I don't know if she's aware of my impersonation. I know they put some of the clips that I do of her on the German news, and so I suppose she might be. But she's just really impressed me.

I mean I think every seven years or so, I look around me, and I want to look at the society. And I want to try and be everyone I'm seeing in the world right now and what's going on and who's famous and who's - you know, what's going on in real life. And I've done this all my life.

I realized I used to do this in my mother's bedroom when I was six. I used to be everyone in my village and everyone at school and everyone in the news, and I'm still doing that same show. I'm now 56.

SIEGEL: That's a long-running show.

ULLMAN: Yeah, and I...

SIEGEL: That's a very successful show.

ULLMAN: I'm going to do it - (laughter) I know. I think I can do it in my 80s. I'll just, you know, impersonate everyone around me then in the nursing home, you know?

SIEGEL: (Laughter) Tracey Ullman, thank you very much. The program starts Friday night on HBO. Thanks for talking with us about it.

ULLMAN: Thank you.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

SIEGEL: There actually is a scene in this in which you are - it is Tracey Ullman playing Angela Merkel, doing what sounds to me like Annie Ross.

ULLMAN: (Vocalizing) - when she scats.

SIEGEL: She is scat singing I guess - Angela Merkel scat singing.

ULLMAN: (Vocalizing).

1 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。

2 celebrity   

n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望

参考例句：

• Tom found himself something of a celebrity. 汤姆意识到自己已小有名气了。
• He haunted famous men, hoping to get celebrity for himself. 他常和名人在一起, 希望借此使自己获得名气。

3 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

4 chancellor   

n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长

参考例句：

• They submitted their reports to the Chancellor yesterday.他们昨天向财政大臣递交了报告。
• He was regarded as the most successful Chancellor of modern times.他被认为是现代最成功的财政大臣。

5 dame   

n.女士

参考例句：

• The dame tell of her experience as a wife and mother.这位年长妇女讲了她作妻子和母亲的经验。
• If you stick around,you'll have to marry that dame.如果再逗留多一会，你就要跟那个夫人结婚。

6 audition   

n.(对志愿艺人等的)面试(指试读、试唱等)

参考例句：

• I'm going to the audition but I don't expect I'll get a part.我去试音，可并不指望会给我个角色演出。
• At first,they said he was too young,but later they called him for an audition.起初，他们说他太小，但后来他们叫他去试听。

7 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。

8 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

9 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。

10 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

11 makeup   

n.组织；性格；化装品

参考例句：

• Those who failed the exam take a makeup exam.这次考试不及格的人必须参加补考。
• Do you think her beauty could makeup for her stupidity?你认为她的美丽能弥补她的愚蠢吗？

12 rumor   

n.谣言，谣传，传说

参考例句：

• The rumor has been traced back to a bad man.那谣言经追查是个坏人造的。
• The rumor has taken air.谣言流传开了。

13 miserable   

adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的

参考例句：

• It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他，这是可耻的。
• Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。

14 hijack   

v.劫持，劫机，拦路抢劫

参考例句：

• Most countries refuse to give sanctuary to people who hijack aeroplanes.大多数国家拒绝对劫机者提供庇护。
• The hijack take place just after the plane take off.劫持是飞机刚起飞后发生的。