Dweck & Ivey's Good Offense
Hurling insultsand pick-up lineswas just an inn entity pastime untila pair of'82sturned trash talkinto gold.
IN THE BEGINNING there was Snaps, the best-selling humor book of 1994. Then there was Double Snaps, then Triple Snaps, followed by a comedy album, two HBO comedy specials, a Snaps CD-rom, a Snaps line of clothing, and, coming soon, Snaps—the Movie. Behind this industry of insults are the sharp pens of Monteria Ivey '82 and his classmate Stephan Dweck.
Snaps became a mini-phenomenon, selling 70,000 copies within eight weeks of its initial Your mother's SO fat she uses a VCR for a beeper* publication. The book celebrates the African-American art of the comic insult: "snapping" or "playing the dozens." Writes rapper Ice T in the introduction to Triple Snaps, "I think snapping is the national pastime for black youth in America. In many ways the game is a form of male bonding. It's a statement of friendship." Ivey has a more basic Your family is SO poor they go to Kentucky Fried Chicken to lick other people's fingers. interpretation, "It's a way of being clever with vocabulary, of using your wit as opposed to your fists."
Nancy Yost, literary agent with Lowenstein Associates, offers up an explanation for the book's unexpected success. "There hadn't been much published in terms of popular black humor," she says. "Snaps really galvanized things. The humor is universal, If ugliness Were bricks, your mother would be a housing project, but really based in a specific culture." Whatever the reason for their popularity, Dweck and Ivey's collaborations have caught the fancy of the public and the media. The duo has been featured in The New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, USA Today,Newsweek, People, and Entertainment Weekly. They've appeared on CBS News, CNN, hnus in the Morning (three times), and the Howard Stern Show.
Dweck and Ivey's friendship began during their teenage years in Your mother's so fat, her blood type's Ragu. New York, and deepened at Dartmouth. "We used to snap at AAm and Cutter, at Thayer and the Hop," says Dweck. "What we're doing now is an extension of what we did at Dartmouth. It's college with money!"
A sociology major, Dweck followed his mother's advice to do something "practical" Your mother's SO dumb when you were born she said, "Lookhoney, it comes with cable!'and went on to law school. He built his own practice in New York, eventually representing more than 150 entertainment acts—including Ivey. Ivey's first love has always been performing. After college, the government major Your mother's SO COuntry, she got into an elevator and thought it was a mobile home, discovered just how tough a nut theater was to crack, particularly at a time when most work for blacks was in musicals. "I wanted to prove I could do something else, so I did stand-up comedy," says Ivey. YOU're so skinny, if you grew an Afro you'd look like a black Q-tip. He joined the brand-new Uptown Comedy Club, became a regular host, then host and cast member during the Club's two-year stint on national TV. When that ended, he and Dweck decided to partner up and write. The partnership has taken them on the ride of their lives.
Dweck and Ivey's most recent effort, You're so Fine, Fd Drinka Tub of Your Bathwater promises to deliver "500 no-fail pickup lines that work on the bus, in the bars, and in the neighborhood store." The pair Hi, would you like a gin and platonic or a scotch and sofa! claim they interviewed more than 300 women to get the lines for this book. "Guys don't like to contribute lines," says Dweck, "They're embarrassed." Adds Ivey, "At first women would say, 'I can't remember. I don't pay attention any more.' But two or more women Baby, you must be tired, because you've been running through my mind all day. together would start to trade stories, and all the lines would come out." Organized by category, Girl, you're so fine, I'd marry your brother Just to get into the family the book contains bar lines, famous lines, flat lines. Some of the authors' snaps would make good comebacks.
And there's plenty Hi my name is Frank. Remember it because you'll be screaming it later, of work-in-progress for the pair whose production company bears the uncorporate moniker "I'll Have Two Cheeseburgers and Some Fries, Inc." There's a second YOU should be arrested for looking so good. pickup-line book titled Baby, You with All Those Curves and Mewith No Brakes coming out in February. A movie about black hockey players is going into production, and You're So Fine is being recast for the screen.
With Snaps selling out, has snapping been sold out? I'm not looking for "Miss Right," I'm looking for "Miss Right Now. No, says Ivey. "We're just two guys from Harlem who had the opportunity to be Ivy League educated, and who are in the business of turning their dreams into reality." And not so, says Ice T. "There is nothing wrong with being successful and having fun at the same time. It's about time black people got paid for something we created before somebody else comes along, claims it, Do you believe in love at first sight, or do I have to Walk by again! and makes a movie with Leslie Nielsen snapping."
LINDA TITLAR is a freelance writer living in Rhode Island.
