(12 of 13)
(LAUGHTER)
CHARLIE ROSE:
We've learned that, have we? Uh...
ANNA DEAVERE SMITH:
Do we include the, the photograph, when we talk about...?
CHARLIE ROSE:
Sure, well let's, please so.
ANNA DEAVERE SMITH:
And...
CHARLIE ROSE:
And, because I know you want to bring that up. Photography.
ANNA DEAVERE SMITH:
Well, yeah, I wonder about it, because if we didn't have the photograph,
we wouldn't have celebrity. And again, I, I do wonder...
NORM PEARLSTINE:
I mean, we wouldn't have magazines.
ANNA DEAVERE SMITH:
And we wouldn't have magazines. And, and...
NORM PEARLSTINE:
What a horrible prospect.
CHARLIE ROSE:
Before there was TIME, there was photography.
NORM PEARLSTINE:
That's it. Yeah.
ROB REINER:
Did we do comedy? Did we do comedy?
CHARLIE ROSE:
No, but we can do it now.
ROB REINER:
We did, I did television.
CHARLIE ROSE:
Yeah. Do comedy.
ROB REINER:
Because I'd love do mention...
CHARLIE ROSE:
We talked about sitcoms, but...
ROB REINER:
Well, yeah, but to me, you know, Lenny Bruce had a
tremendous impact on, on comedy, in that he was the first person to, uh,
change the form of stand-up, from, uh, just joke tellers to people who
were commenting on the social scene.
CHARLIE ROSE:
Yes.
ROB REINER:
Uh, and, and, and Bill Cosby.
CHARLIE ROSE:
Do we have that...
ROB REINER:
Bill Cosby's very important.
CHARLIE ROSE:
Hold on one second, do we have, in terms of, of what Lenny Bruce did,
uh, do we have that today, at work, in terms of American political
satire?
ROB REINER:
Howard Stern.
CHARLIE ROSE:
Howard Stern.
ANNA DEAVERE SMITH:
Howard Stern.
ROB REINER:
Leave the building!
(LAUGHTER)
SHERYL CROW:
Shame on you!
ROB REINER:
Leave the building!
(APPLAUSE)
ROB REINER:
Howard Stern.
CHARLIE ROSE:
Uh, I mean, have we lost American political satire in the way that...?
ANNA DEAVERE SMITH:
Well I wonder if it hasn't be—, gone into other forms. You know, like
is it in rap music, to some extent, I don't know if I would call that
satire, I mean, if you can take the lyric seriously, no.
NORM PEARLSTINE:
It's like comedy, you know...
ANNA DEAVERE SMITH:
It's, it's harder. I mean at the uh, White House Correspondent's
Dinner last week, everybody was feeling badly for whoever was going
to have to sort of follow the President. Right, because, you know, is,
does, does, to public figures become the greatest performers, in a
way.
NORM PEARLSTINE:
Yeah, yeah. Actors.
ROB REINER:
But Bill Cosby, I think also had a tremendous impact.
ANNA DEAVERE SMITH:
What about Moms Mabley?
ROB REINER:
Yeah?
ANNA DEAVERE SMITH:
Moms?
ROB REINER:
Yeah, Moms. For sure.
(OFF MIKE)
ROB REINER:
And Richard Pryor. But see, Richard Pryor and George Carlin and Robert
Klein, and, all these people, uh, Lenny Bruce set a tone for all these
people to be able to, to use comedy as a way of shpritzing,
as we call shrpitzing, it's not just jokes, I mean, Bob Hope,
and, and Henny Youngman and those guys were great with telling jokes and
one-liners, and then, Lenny Bruce opened it up to being able to, you
know, a stream of consciousness, like Joyce did to the novel. Uh, Lenny
Bruce did to comedy.
ROBERT HUGHES:
Also, we have to remember the 20th cen—, the end of the 20th century
would not be what it is if it weren't for Monty Python.
(LAUGHTER)
ROBERT HUGHES:
It's true.
CHARLIE ROSE:
And you know what, and John Cleese says, that the reason they only, they
made so few of them, how many did they make?
ROBERT HUGHES:
Not an awful lot.
CHARLIE ROSE:
Yeah. Was because of the, they ran out of, they, they were so, the
creative, they couldn't duplicate it any more.
ROBERT HUGHES:
Yeah, and then you stop. Which is right.
CHARLIE ROSE:
You stop. Which is... ideas from the audience before we leave this...?
(OFF MIKE)
CHARLIE ROSE:
Charlie Chaplin. You bet. Charlie Chaplin. Let's take one at a time,
we give you an opportunity. Don't blow it. One at a time.
NORM PEARLSTINE:
Chaplin. Great call.
CHARLIE ROSE:
ANNA DEAVERE SMITH:
Would we allow Lucille Ball to come out of television into, consider
her if we think of the chocolate scene, and the fact that we're, could
we call her a great clown?
CHARLIE ROSE:
I think chocolate is a great idea. Who else?
(OFF MIKE)
CHARLIE ROSE:
Groucho Marx.
(OFF MIKE)
CHARLIE ROSE:
Jack Benny, in terms of comedy and, timing, and...
ROB REINER:
Buster Keaton, I would second that one. I would second Buster Keaton
over, over Chaplin, because he was funnier.
CHARLIE ROSE:
Buster Keaton?
ROB REINER:
He's funny, I mean, think about Chaplin, I mean, I'm going to just, this
is an interesting thing. We all know Chaplin's great. I mean he was
obviously an innovator, he was technically brilliant, well, how many
people actually laugh at Charlie Chaplin?
ROBERT HUGHES:
Lots.
ROB REINER:
Applaud.
(APPLAUSE)
ROB REINER:
All right. Interesting. It's interesting. I, you know, I, I watch
Charlie Chaplin fascinated by him, I don't laugh, though. I laughed at
Bu—, I laughed at Buster Keaton. And I laugh at W C Fields, and I
laugh at Laurel and Hardy, and those, those innovators I laugh at more
than a Chaplin, although I admit Chaplin, the great innovator.
CHARLIE ROSE:
Uh, anyone else?
(OFF MIKE)
CHARLIE ROSE:
Jackie Gleason.
ANNA DEAVERE SMITH:
Right.
CHARLIE ROSE:
Norm? Gleason.
NORM PEARLSTINE:
Not in the league with Sid Ceasar, no.
CHARLIE ROSE:
Yes, anyone else?
(OFF MIKE)
CHARLIE ROSE:
Marcel Marceau.
(OFF MIKE)
CHARLIE ROSE:
Dance as a category.
ROB REINER:
We didn't do dance.
CHARLIE ROSE:
We didn't do dance.
ROB REINER:
We didn't do Fred Astaire.
CHARLIE ROSE:
We didn't do Fred Astaire.
SHERYL CROW:
Martha Graham.
CHARLIE ROSE:
Martha Graham and dance.
(OVERLAPPING VOICES)
CHARLIE ROSE:
Alvin Ailey. (Overlapping voices) Barishnikov.