美国国家公共电台 NPR Behind 'The Kominsky Method,' A Sitcom King (He Prefers 'Court Jester')

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

The sitcom¹ king is back with a series in which both the sit and the com may be unexpected. Chuck Lorre, the mind behind huge hits that include "Two And A Half Men," "Mike & Molly" and "The Big Bang Theory," has created a series for Netflix that's set in Hollywood, but it's really about the biggest show of all - growing old. It stars a matinee idol² who's now in his 70s; Michael Douglas as Sandy Kominsky, an old star who now gets turned down for sitcoms³, but he keeps working as an acting⁴ teacher. Alan Arkin plays his friend, agent and a recent widower⁵.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE KOMINSKY METHOD")

MICHAEL DOUGLAS: (As Sandy Kominsky) Listen to me. We're all scared, but we get through it because we're not alone. You're not alone.

ALAN ARKIN: (As Norman) Who do I have?

DOUGLAS: (As Sandy Kominsky) Can you see me? I'm right here in front of you.

SIMON: Michael Douglas and Alan Arkin. Nancy Travis also stars, and the show has guests that range from Ann-Margret to Jay Leno to Patti LaBelle to Danny DeVito. Chuck Lorre joins us now from NPR West. Thanks so much for being with us.

CHUCK LORRE: Thanks for having me.

SIMON: When the series opens, Sandy Kominsky has a problem confronting mortality, doesn't he?

LORRE: Yes. Yeah. He's - you know, there's a certain self-involvement in the character that has to be overcome. That's part of his journey. And the wife of his friend Norman, who is terminally ill, she has a big impact on him and opens him up to being close to mortality, to being close to the reality of getting older.

SIMON: Well, let me ask you, sitcom king...

LORRE: No, don't use that word. Kings get their heads chopped off. Let's go with something else.

SIMON: Oh, all right.

LORRE: Court jester would be fine.

SIMON: All right. Court jester then, Mr. Lorre. Is this a show that people will watch in part because it is about Hollywood? I mean, it's different than if you - if, let's say, your principal characters were all teachers at a high school in Oregon.

LORRE: I wasn't really that interested in spoofing or doing a show about show business. What was interesting about this in the world of Hollywood and acting is first and foremost he's teaching a class of kids that are several generations removed from him. And that gulf⁶ between his perception of the world and a 22-year-old's perception of the world was something that was interesting to me. I wanted to write about that. And I also wanted to avoid the pitfall⁷ of making fun of acting and have a character like Sandy Kominsky who is trying to imbue⁸ his love for the craft to these students. And some of the students you see as you watch this thing have real chops. They really can act.

SIMON: All that being noted⁹ and the respect for the craft of acting, there are some hilarious¹⁰ moments in those acting classes.

LORRE: Boy, I hope so.

(LAUGHTER)

SIMON: Mr. Lorre, you used to play cruise ships and bat mitzvahs...

LORRE: You bet (laughter).

SIMON: ...In your days as a musician.

LORRE: Yeah, about 17, 18 years. I've played saloons in Alaska and cruise ships in the Caribbean and all points in between, you know, a journeyman guitar player.

SIMON: And what do you think you learned from that?

LORRE: I think playing in front of a live audience every night, you have an obligation to a live audience. And the obligation in most bars is the band is there to help the patrons dance, actually, believe it or not, to make them perspire¹¹ so they'll drink more.

SIMON: Oh, my gosh. That never occurred to me.

LORRE: You bet. And if the band doesn't do that, the band gets fired.

SIMON: The guy - the person who owns the bar doesn't want to hear and now a slow, romantic ballad¹² that's a favorite of mine.

LORRE: And we're going to do a little song in 7/4 that's impossible to dance to, but it's very interesting. Yeah, no, they don't want it - they don't want that. "Sweet Home Alabama" will be fine. Thank you. So when I started doing situation comedies in front of a live audience - and that's been, for the most part, all I've done for the last 30 years - there's that obligation to the audience. Now, the obligation is not to cause them to dance but to cause laughter. And once again, it's not a bar owner this time. It's a network. If the audience isn't laughing, you're packing your belongings¹³ in a cardboard box, and you're going home. But I think the more relevant part is playing music impacted on the way I listen to words. There's rhythm in dialogue. There's pauses like there's rests in music. There's pauses that make comedy possible. Everything plays almost musically but with words.

SIMON: I'm afraid I have to ask you about - as I read about it, it struck me as what might be the low point of your career.

LORRE: There were several. Which one are you talking about?

SIMON: Well, I read that you were fired from the staff of "My Little Pony¹⁴."

LORRE: (Laughter) I was drinking coffee when you said that. I almost - you almost got a spit take. Oh...

SIMON: Oh, darn.

LORRE: (Laughter).

SIMON: I live to - do you realize what pleasure it would give me to cause Chuck Lorre to have a spit take?

LORRE: It was close.

SIMON: All right.

LORRE: (Laughter) Yeah, I guess - I remember the CBS president of children's programming said I just don't have the pony's voice.

SIMON: (Laughter) Oh, Twinkle.

LORRE: Yeah. And I've got to tell you, I worked really hard on that. I was kind of devastated¹⁵. I was going to take the pony project and bring it up a notch¹⁶, you know (laughter)?

SIMON: Well, you've done OK.

LORRE: I've done OK. You know, that which doesn't kill us makes us bitter, right?

SIMON: (Laughter) I hadn't heard that. There's a moment in "The Kominsky Method" where Alan Arkin bursts into Sandy Kominsky's acting class. He just can't stay silent, and he sees a lot of people who are four or five generations younger than him, and he says, you know, to be human is to be hurt. And I saw that scene and found myself thinking this isn't a situation comedy. This is a situation dramedy.

LORRE: One of the great advantages of doing this was I had the freedom to just write and chase the characters where it felt appropriate to go. I guess I've been doing this long enough to where I reached a point where I just - I'm going to trust that this is appropriate and do it and not worry about what category it falls into.

SIMON: Chuck Lorre - his new show, "The Kominsky Method," streaming on Netflix - thanks so much for being with us.

LORRE: It was fun. Thank you very much.

(SOUNDBITE OF JEFF BECK'S "ROSEBUD")

1 sitcom   

n.情景喜剧，（广播、电视的）系列幽默剧

参考例句：

• This sitcom is produced in cooperation with Hong Kong TV.这部连续剧是同香港电视台联合制作的。
• I heard that a new sitcom is coming out next season.我听说下一季会推出一个新的情境喜剧。

2 idol   

n.偶像，红人，宠儿

参考例句：

• As an only child he was the idol of his parents.作为独子，他是父母的宠儿。
• Blind worship of this idol must be ended.对这个偶像的盲目崇拜应该结束了。

3 sitcoms   

n.情景喜剧( sitcom的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This is the stuff most stadard TV sitcoms are made of. 这是大多数标注的电视幽默剧所采用的题材。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• In most countries, prime-time Monday night television is dominated by sitcoms. 在大多数国家，周一晚上的电视黄金时段都由连续剧所占据。 来自互联网

4 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

5 widower   

n.鳏夫

参考例句：

• George was a widower with six young children.乔治是个带著六个小孩子的鳏夫。
• Having been a widower for many years,he finally decided to marry again.丧偶多年后，他终于决定二婚了。

6 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

7 pitfall   

n.隐患，易犯的错误；陷阱，圈套

参考例句：

• The wolf was caught in a pitfall.那只狼是利用陷阱捉到的。
• The biggest potential pitfall may not be technical but budgetary.最大的潜在陷阱可能不是技术问题，而是预算。

8 imbue   

v.灌输(某种强烈的情感或意见)，感染

参考例句：

• He managed to imbue his employees with team spirit.他成功激发起雇员的团队精神。
• Kass is trying to imbue physics into simulated worlds.凯斯想要尝试的就是把物理学引入模拟世界。

9 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

10 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。

11 perspire   

vi.出汗，流汗

参考例句：

• He began to perspire heavily.他开始大量出汗。
• You perspire a lot when you are eating.你在吃饭的时候流汗很多。

12 ballad   

n.歌谣，民谣，流行爱情歌曲

参考例句：

• This poem has the distinctive flavour of a ballad.这首诗有民歌风味。
• This is a romantic ballad that is pure corn.这是一首极为伤感的浪漫小曲。

13 belongings   

n.私人物品，私人财物

参考例句：

• I put a few personal belongings in a bag.我把几件私人物品装进包中。
• Your personal belongings are not dutiable.个人物品不用纳税。

14 pony   

adj.小型的；n.小马

参考例句：

• His father gave him a pony as a Christmas present.他父亲给了他一匹小马驹作为圣诞礼物。
• They made him pony up the money he owed.他们逼他还债。

15 devastated   

v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的

参考例句：

• The bomb devastated much of the old part of the city. 这颗炸弹炸毁了旧城的一大片地方。
• His family is absolutely devastated. 他的一家感到极为震惊。

16 notch   

n.(V字形)槽口，缺口，等级

参考例句：

• The peanuts they grow are top-notch.他们种的花生是拔尖的。
• He cut a notch in the stick with a sharp knife.他用利刃在棒上刻了一个凹痕。