黃西：讓我們“笑”除成見

黃西(Joe Wong)，一位來自中國東北的化學博士，在美國用英語給美國人說美式“單口相聲(stand-up comedy)”，且頗受廣大觀眾喜歡，后獲邀在美國CBS電視臺著名的脫口秀節目——《大衛·萊特曼深夜秀》上進行表演。這段不足六分鐘的美式“單口相聲”表演令黃西迅速走紅全美，其表演視頻在視頻網站YouTube上的點擊率超過了36萬次。越來越多人知道了這位用帶著中國口音的英語講精彩笑話的華裔移民，而黃西也希望能借助相聲改變美國社會對亞裔移民的印象。

值得一提的是，國內各大媒體報道黃西的故事時，有不少稱其為“美國版小沈陽”，對此黃西表示:“我也看了他的表演，但我不明白大家為什么這么講。我自己也是東北人，能理解小沈陽的幽默方式，但是我們的東西很不一樣，風格、寫的東西和用詞都很不一樣。”對此，大家不妨討論一番。^_^

據悉，今年10月，黃西將回國，在北京、上海等地進行演出。下面就讓我們一起走近這位在美國喜劇界嶄露頭角的明星博士!

A good way， it’s often said， to measure one’s understanding of a second language is the ability to understand a joke. While Joe Wong doesn’t only get 2)punch lines in English， he makes them up.

On April 17， 2009， Joe Wong made his television 3)debut as a 4)comic on 5)The Late Show with David Letterman. The 39-year-old 6)Arlington resident and Chinese national is the latest in a prestigious line of Boston comics to 7)make it onto the national stage.

Wong’s journey to the 8)stand-up 9)mic is more unusual than most. Raised in the northeast province of Jilin， China， Wong came to the U.S. in 1994 to pursue a PhD in chemistry at 10)Rice University in Texas. Despite 11)penning a few humor columns for the school paper， he was subsequently rejected from a creative-writing class because of what he was told were weak sample submissions. It was at that point that this Chinese student decided to give up trying to write things that would make Americans laugh.

But after graduation， in 2001， Wong 12)caught a live comedy show by performance-art comic legend 13)Emo Philips at a Texas nightclub. “I had no idea there is an art form called stand-up comedy，” said Wong， who wears round glasses and has short hair， and， not surprisingly， smiles often. He said that in China， the only thing comparable to stand-up was “14)crosstalk.” Though he could only understand about half of Emo’s jokes， Wong said he fell in love with the art. “It was very smart... It expands...the way you think. It just puts a little perspective on life， too，” he said. And he was inspired to try stand-up himself.

Upon moving to Boston to do a job as a cancer researcher， Wong enrolled in a stand-up class at the Brookline Center for Adult Education. He got his first “15)break” telling jokes at a bar in 16)Somerville， in the winter of 2002. “In the beginning， it was tough， because people didn’t want to give me stage time，” said Wong. “I don’t look like a 17)go-getter. I look timid. People don’t have a lot of confidence in me.”

Letterman comedy 18)scout Eddie Brill would 19)beg to differ. After first spotting the comedian onstage in 2005， Brill asked Wong to send him some tapes of more material. Three years later， he came to see him perform in Boston again. Wong said that he took a “Darwinian approach” to writing jokes: writing 100， 20)ditching 99. He and Brill worked together to 21)hone a Letterman-22)friendly 23)act， and it paid off—audiences love Wong. “I didn’t pay that much attention to the crowd response while I was there 24)taping，” said Wong of his Letterman appearance. “But， when it 25)aired， and I watched myself on TV， I was really surprised. I didn’t expect the amount of applause breaks that I received.”

Though he said he rarely saw Asian Americans in the audience when he’s up on stage， Wong—who was a self-described “all-American immigrant”—said that much of his 26)repertoire focused on his own immigrant experience. And he was determined to use comedy as a platform for representing the immigrant community to the rest of the U.S. “In this country， immigrants are referred to as ‘27)Generation Zero，’ ” he said. “There is no voice for them. There are a lot of interesting things going on in their lives， but (because of language and cultural barriers) they can’t tell their story. I want to be a voice for immigrants. That’s the ideal situation.”

Surprisingly， said Wong， one of the 28)culture shocks he experienced in the U.S.， was not due to coming from China to America， but coming from Texas to Massachusetts. He was on stage at a club in Boston telling jokes about his home country. “People laughed and they enjoyed it，” he said. But then， he started talking about his time in Texas. “The audience started 29)booing me.” Turns out， 30)blue-state Bostonians didn’t want to hear about their 31)red-state counterparts 32)down south.

But stereotypes and racism still existed， whether in blue or red states. “Sometimes you go to certain clubs (in Boston or New York)…and you still see people use racial 33)slurs about the Chinese. You rarely see Asian audience members there and so nobody is afraid of offending anybody. It’s not very good，” he said.

When asked why he thinks there are so few Asians in the audience， Wong said he had an idea why: “It’s an interesting story， I heard it from another comic in 34)L.A. She told me that she goes to colleges to perform and she rarely sees any Asian students there， even though every school has a lot of Asian students. She asked (the audience): ‘Where are all the Asians here?’ And they would say: ‘Oh， they’re studying.’”

His best jokes， he said， are not planned. “My best material just comes to me… I don’t exactly know how，” said Wong， who always carries a little brown 35)notepad in case he gets an idea.

For now， Wong is balancing his “civilian” life as engineer， husband， and new dad with the 36)barrage of phone calls from 37)casting directors and agents that began after his Letterman spot aired. He’s optimistic about these new opportunities， but 38)pragmatic. “As for giving up my other career—that depends on the demand for my comedy，” he said. “I’m still not confident about my writing. Most of my comedy is about 39)trial and error. I don’t know what the future holds.”

But， 40)jokes aside， Wong said he tries to give back the community by performing 41)benefits such as the show for the 42)Asian Community Development Corporation， a Chinatown nonprofit developer.

人們常說，判斷一個人是否掌握另一門外語，最好的方法是看他能不能聽懂笑話。而黃西不但能聽懂英文笑話，還能編造英文笑話。

2009年4月17日，黃西以喜劇演員的身份在美國電視節目《大衛·萊特曼深夜秀》上初次亮相。自此，這位現居住在阿靈頓的39歲華裔諧星繼一眾波士頓喜劇名嘴之后，成功走上全美舞臺。

黃西走上“單口相聲”表演舞臺的歷程比大多數人的都要特別。黃西在中國東北吉林省長大，1994年前往美國得克薩斯州萊斯大學攻讀化學博士學位。……