美国国家公共电台 NPR Sasheer Zamata Uses Comedy To Address Intolerance

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Comedian¹ Sasheer Zamata is at a crossroads. She was a cast member on "Saturday Night Live" for four seasons. One of her characters was Beyonce at her gynecologist's office while she was pregnant with twins.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE")

SASHEER ZAMATA: (As Beyonce) It's all right, doctor. I got this. (Singing) Got my babies so sleepy right now. My voice got my babies so sleepy right now.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Damn, I'm getting sleepy right now.

MARTIN: Before "SNL," Zamata did improv with the Upright Citizens Brigade, founded by Amy Poehler. She's performed on shows with Amy Schumer and Kamau Bell. This weekend, she performed standup at the annual Just For Laughs festival in Montreal. That's where NPR's Elizabeth Blair caught up with her to find out what's next. A note of caution - there is a moment in this four-minute story in which a racial slur² is used and then discussed.

(CHEERING)

ELIZABETH BLAIR, BYLINE³: Sasheer Zamata performed at a small club in Montreal called the Katacombes. She started her set with the local audience in mind.

ZAMATA: And I was telling someone from Canada I had done a festival in Edmonton. And I was like yeah, I enjoyed it. There was good food shopping. And he goes, ugh, the sticks? That hick town? And it's just good that Canadians are as intolerant and judgmental...

(LAUGHTER)

ZAMATA: ...As Americans.

BLAIR: Zamata's African-American, and a lot of her material addresses intolerance and judgments⁴. She grew up in Indianapolis. She was first introduced to comedy by her middle school volleyball coach, who took the team to a local improv show. Zamata was hooked.

ZAMATA: Everyone looked like they were having so much fun. And I thought it was so cool that these people could be funny without writing anything. They just thought of it off the top of their head. It truly looked like magic.

BLAIR: You do need a bit of magic to make it in comedy, and you definitely can't take no for an answer. Put Zamata in that category. When she was rejected by her college improv troupe⁵, she started one of her own, which still exists today at the University of Virginia. She also auditioned⁷ to appear at previous Just For Laughs festivals.

ZAMATA: I've auditioned for it a few years and never got it.

BLAIR: I mentioned that to Just for Laughs producer Nick Brazao.

NICK BRAZAO: So you're going to make mistakes...

BLAIR: In all fairness, this was years ago and before Brazao was booking standups. Plus, hundreds of comedians⁸ audition⁶ to perform at Just For Laughs. But with Zamata's success on "Saturday Night Live" and her new comedy special, Brazao was eager to book her this year.

BRAZAO: She has a very unique perspective and a very personal touch to the way that she approaches standup comedy. And she's not afraid to talk about race and sex and taboo⁹.

ZAMATA: I am glad that there are more diverse characters in sci-fi now. It's so great because it's so important that we see ourselves in the future.

(LAUGHTER)

ZAMATA: We just got to know that we made it.

BLAIR: Sasheer Zamata was raised by a single mom, Ivory Steward¹⁰, who was one of the first black students to integrate a junior high school in a small town in Arkansas during the civil rights movement. But she never talked about it with her children. Last year, Zamata invited her mother to record a conversation with her for the show "This American Life." Zamata recalled the time when, in her early 20s, she was called the n-word. She called her mom crying.

(SOUNDBITE OF RADIO SHOW, "THIS AMERICAN LIFE")

ZAMATA: And you were like please (laughter).

IVORY STEWARD: Every day of the eighth grade, I was a different flavor of nigga. Nigga all day long. Nigga on the bus. Nigga in the bathroom.

ZAMATA: From kids?

STEWARD: From the kids, yeah.

ZAMATA: I was, like, 20 or 21. That was the first time I ever heard that or, like, it's ever been used to me. It's at least nice that...

STEWARD: It took that long.

ZAMATA: ...It took that long.

STEWARD: But yeah. But it still doesn't feel good.

ZAMATA: No, it does not feel good.

BLAIR: Sasheer Zamata jokes about how, behind her cute exterior¹¹, she's full of rage. And behind her punch lines are some unpleasant realities.

ZAMATA: And that's what I want people to learn. You can use your privilege to help other people. I use my boyfriend's privilege all the time. He's white and very sorry about it.

(LAUGHTER)

ZAMATA: And if I ever want a cab late at night, I just send him out into the street. I'm like, babe, put your arm up. And then I go crouch¹² behind a bush.

BLAIR: Zamata has so many stories she wants to tell. One of her goals at Just For Laughs was for people in the comedy industry to see her as not just a performer but a writer. After her show at the Katacombes in Montreal, she thinks it worked.

ZAMATA: I feel good. It was really fun. And, like, the crowd was so energetic. And, like, that always helps when the crowd's really into it. It makes me more excited to do it. So yeah, I had a blast.

BLAIR: And she made plenty of people think at the same time. Elizabeth Blair, NPR News, Montreal.

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 slur   

v.含糊地说；诋毁；连唱；n.诋毁；含糊的发音

参考例句：

• He took the remarks as a slur on his reputation.他把这些话当作是对他的名誉的中伤。
• The drug made her speak with a slur.药物使她口齿不清。

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 judgments   

判断( judgment的名词复数 )； 鉴定； 评价； 审判

参考例句：

• A peculiar austerity marked his judgments of modern life. 他对现代生活的批评带着一种特殊的苛刻。
• He is swift with his judgments. 他判断迅速。

5 troupe   

n.剧团，戏班；杂技团；马戏团

参考例句：

• The art troupe is always on the move in frontier guards.文工团常年在边防部队流动。
• The troupe produced a new play last night.剧团昨晚上演了一部新剧。

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 auditioned   

vi.试听（audition的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• None of the actresses we have auditioned is suitable. 我们试听的这些女演员都不合适。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• What is that, from some script you auditioned for in the '40s? 什么玩意儿是你40年代试的那些剧本吗？ 来自电影对白

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 taboo   

n.禁忌，禁止接近，禁止使用；adj.禁忌的；v.禁忌，禁制，禁止

参考例句：

• The rude words are taboo in ordinary conversation.这些粗野的字眼在日常谈话中是禁忌的。
• Is there a taboo against sex before marriage in your society?在你们的社会里，婚前的性行为犯禁吗？

10 steward   

n.乘务员，服务员；看管人；膳食管理员

参考例句：

• He's the steward of the club.他是这家俱乐部的管理员。
• He went around the world as a ship's steward.他当客船服务员，到过世界各地。

11 exterior   

adj.外部的，外在的；表面的

参考例句：

• The seed has a hard exterior covering.这种子外壳很硬。
• We are painting the exterior wall of the house.我们正在给房子的外墙涂漆。

12 crouch   

v.蹲伏，蜷缩，低头弯腰；n.蹲伏

参考例句：

• I crouched on the ground.我蹲在地上。
• He crouched down beside him.他在他的旁边蹲下来。