美国国家公共电台 NPR Hanging With '2 Dope Queens' As Popular Podcast Gets HBO Special

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

2 Dope Queens is a popular podcast that is coming to HBO as a TV show. It's a program where the hosts riff on pop culture, gender¹, race and comedy. Jessica Williams and Phoebe Robinson recently caught up with our TV critic, Eric Deggans. They told him a lot of the show's power comes from the chemistry between two young black women speaking openly and honestly about their lives.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "2 DOPE QUEENS")

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: It's Phoebe Robinson and Jessica Williams, your two dope queens.

ERIC DEGGANS, BYLINE²: There is nothing quite like hanging with the 2 Dope Queens, which is obvious from the moment that both hosts take the stage in their HBO special and Williams talks about how her boyfriend, who is white, helps her with her hair.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "2 DOPE QUEENS")

JESSICA WILLIAMS: I love when he greases my hair because it does feel a little bit like "Ghost" when, like, Swayze comes back.

(LAUGHTER)

WILLIAMS: And it's, like, not too tight, not too hard.

PHOEBE ROBINSON: Right.

WILLIAMS: It does feel a little bit like reparations.

ROBINSON: Yeah (laughter).

(LAUGHTER)

DEGGANS: Robinson also talked about her boyfriend, who she calls #britishbakeoff because he's also white, and how he helped her get ready for the stage.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "2 DOPE QUEENS")

WILLIAMS: That is insane.

ROBINSON: And then he got on his knees and he lotioned my feet.

WILLIAMS: That is so hot.

(APPLAUSE)

ROBINSON: I was like, this is literally³ Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream. Like is...

WILLIAMS: That's it.

It's like permission to be yourself.

DEGGANS: That's Williams, who spent four years as a correspondent on "The Daily Show" describing the impact of her banter⁴ with Robinson that kicks off every episode. She says because they embrace their own nerdiness and awkwardness, telling stories about loving "Harry⁵ Potter" and Michael Fassbender, that fans realize their own quirks⁶ are pretty cool, too.

WILLIAMS: My favorite response that I get about our show is women coming up and grabbing us and being like, I love your podcast. It - when I listen to you guys, it feels like I'm hanging out with my best friends. And I feel like I know you guys. And I'm really - and that's like, hell, yeah. That's, like, such a - what a gift to be able to be truthful⁷ and present yourself and have people respond so positively⁸ to it.

DEGGANS: The stories between Williams and Robinson, laced with loads of pop culture references, are just the preamble⁹ to a show that also features a wide diversity of standup comics and celebrity¹⁰ interviews. For the HBO specials, the pair recruited comic Tig Notaro to serve as director, placing the Dope Queens on a sprawling¹¹ stage made to look like a rooftop in Brooklyn. The celebrity guests are A-list and very New York with Jon Stewart helping¹² judge different kinds of pizza and Sarah Jessica Parker trying to ask a question about black women's hair.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "2 DOPE QUEENS")

SARAH JESSICA PARKER: Well, I don't know how it stay - how you can have really incredible...

(LAUGHTER)

ROBINSON: Everyone shut your mouth.

WILLIAMS: This is a safe space.

ROBINSON: Shut your mouth.

WILLIAMS: This is a safe space.

ROBINSON: She's our friend.

WILLIAMS: This is a safe space.

PARKER: You know that I'm about to ask...

ROBINSON: She's our friend.

PARKER: ...The very thing you don't know either.

ROBINSON: We're - right. Drag them.

WILLIAMS: Yes, drag them.

DEGGANS: Robinson, a comic and author who's worked on the TV show "Broad City," worried whether the podcast would translate to TV, at least at first.

ROBINSON: Anytime you change platforms, you're worried about whether the platform was part of the magic. You just don't know. And I think TV only enhanced what we did with the podcast.

DEGGANS: The two met back in 2014 when Robinson was a background actor for a "Daily Show" piece. Eventually, Williams joined Robinson in co-hosting a showcase for standup comics, which became the 2 Dope Queens podcast in 2016. The pair have since used 2 Dope Queens to feature comics of color and LGBTQ performers who might have a tough time getting exposure otherwise. Along the way, they learned that by telling their truth as black women, they spoke¹³ to a larger human truth that everyone could enjoy. I'm Eric Deggans.

1 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

2 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。

3 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

4 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。

5 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

6 quirks   

n.奇事，巧合( quirk的名词复数 )；怪癖

参考例句：

• One of his quirks is that he refuses to travel by train. 他的怪癖之一是不愿乘火车旅行。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• All men have their own quirks and twists. 人人都有他们自己的怪癖和奇想。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

7 truthful   

adj.真实的，说实话的，诚实的

参考例句：

• You can count on him for a truthful report of the accident.你放心，他会对事故作出如实的报告的。
• I don't think you are being entirely truthful.我认为你并没全讲真话。

8 positively   

adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实

参考例句：

• She was positively glowing with happiness.她满脸幸福。
• The weather was positively poisonous.这天气着实讨厌。

9 preamble   

n.前言；序文

参考例句：

• He spoke without preamble.他没有开场白地讲起来。
• The controversy has arisen over the text of the preamble to the unification treaty.针对统一条约的序文出现了争论。

10 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。

11 sprawling   

adj.蔓生的，不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 )；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着）

参考例句：

• He was sprawling in an armchair in front of the TV. 他伸开手脚坐在电视机前的一张扶手椅上。
• a modern sprawling town 一座杂乱无序拓展的现代城镇

12 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。

13 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。