-
(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
I don't think Louis C.K. is funny. That's the worst that can be said about a comedian1, not that they're offensive or outrageous3. Great comics can offend and outrage2 people. But a comic who dares to be offensive but isn't funny is just a lout4. Louis C.K., who's been on NPR many times and often extolled5 as edgy6 and unafraid, apologized in late 2017 for sexual misconduct with women. There's nothing about this that I forgive myself for, he said then. I will now step back and take a long time to listen.
But he's back performing occasional sets. And this week, audio from a comedy club on Long Island leaked out. Louis C.K. made graphic7, disparaging8 remarks about Asians, ridiculed9 young people who consider themselves neutral in gender10 and made a sexually explicit11 joke about 9-year-old girls. And he was just warming up. What got most attention was when Louis C.K. talked about the students who lived through last year's high school shooting in Parkland, Fla., and have become political activists12. They testify in front of Congress these kids, he says in the audio. You're young. You should be crazy. You should be unhinged, not in a suit. You're not interesting. You didn't get shot. You pushed some fat kid in the way. And now I got to listen to you talking? I don't know why this would make anyone laugh. But you hear laughter on the audio recording13. The club's owner says Louis C.K. sold out all six of his shows to standing14 ovations15.
I don't believe Louis C.K. should be censored16 or publicly shamed into perpetual unemployment. People can choose to see him or not. But in these times when comedy can be idealized as edgy, audacious and truth-telling, we can forget it begins with a calling - to be funny. Otherwise, a comic is no more interesting than any other muttering blowhard17 who craves18 attention.
Louis C.K. might have noted19 that Parkland's students had become activists by saying something more like this. They testify in front of Congress, these kids? They're young. They should be doing crazy things, like swallowing Tide Pods. Instead, some 19-year-old with a troubled history gets hold of an AR-15 as easily as he'd buy a stick of beef jerky, killed 17 people. And these kids can no longer just be kids. They've seen their friends and teachers shot right in front of them. They're just kids. But now they have to tell grownups, get off of Facebook and do something.
(SOUNDBITE OF SHOOGLENIFTY'S "PIPE TUNES")
1 comedian | |
n.喜剧演员;滑稽演员 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
2 outrage | |
n.暴行,侮辱,愤怒;vt.凌辱,激怒 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
3 outrageous | |
adj.无理的,令人不能容忍的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
4 lout | |
n.粗鄙的人;举止粗鲁的人 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
5 extolled | |
v.赞颂,赞扬,赞美( extol的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
6 edgy | |
adj.不安的;易怒的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
7 graphic | |
adj.生动的,形象的,绘画的,文字的,图表的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
8 disparaging | |
adj.轻蔑的,毁谤的v.轻视( disparage的现在分词 );贬低;批评;非难 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
9 ridiculed | |
v.嘲笑,嘲弄,奚落( ridicule的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
10 gender | |
n.(生理上的)性,(名词、代词等的)性 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
11 explicit | |
adj.详述的,明确的;坦率的;显然的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
12 activists | |
n.(政治活动的)积极分子,活动家( activist的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
13 recording | |
n.录音,记录 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
14 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
15 ovations | |
n.热烈欢迎( ovation的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
16 censored | |
受审查的,被删剪的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
17 blowhard | |
n.自吹自擂者 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
18 craves | |
渴望,热望( crave的第三人称单数 ); 恳求,请求 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
19 noted | |
adj.著名的,知名的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|