美国国家公共电台 NPR 'You Get Paid For Doing Therapy': Stand-Up Comedians On Anger

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

All this month, NPR is examining anger to see what we can learn from this powerful emotion. Today, the funny side of anger.

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GEORGE CARLIN: It's called free-floating hostility¹.

(LAUGHTER)

INSKEEP: The late George Carlin built entire shows around what made him angry.

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CARLIN: Twenty-four minor² cultural items I'm bored with, tired of and pissed at.

INSKEEP: Jerry Seinfeld once said all comedy starts with anger.

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JERRY SEINFELD: And if you don't like it, you can go to hell.

(LAUGHTER)

INSKEEP: The rant³ is often a comedian's sharpest tool. Just listen to Chris Rock.

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CHRIS ROCK: I hate when people go, well, you know what? Cyberbullying's worse. Shut up.

(LAUGHTER)

ROCK: I never heard of anybody getting cyber-kicked down a flight of stairs.

INSKEEP: In the hands of the right comedians⁴, something that enrages⁵ you can be turned into a big, communal⁶ belly⁷ laugh. NPR's Elizabeth Blair takes us to the comedy club, where anger is often center stage.

ELIZABETH BLAIR, BYLINE⁸: Mo Amer has plenty to be angry about. Pretty much his whole life has been spent trying to explain his identity. Mo is short for Mohammed.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE VAGABOND")

MO AMER: And what's frustrating⁹ - Mohammed is the most popular name in the world, but I can't find one keychain with my name on it anywhere.

(LAUGHTER)

BLAIR: That's Amer from his Netflix special "The Vagabond." He was born in Kuwait. When he was 9, during the Gulf¹⁰ War, his family had to flee. They eventually made it to Texas. Then, when Amer was 14, his father died.

AMER: So I was angry that I didn't get time with him. There was anger for having, you know, very little semblance¹² of family life. And everybody's split up, and everybody's in a different part of the world because war sucks.

BLAIR: Amer found that stand-up comedy was the perfect outlet¹³. Amer is constantly traveling. For years, his only proof of identification was a refugee travel document. In this bit, he recreates what happened with a customs agent in Germany.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE VAGABOND")

AMER: It shows here you're born in Kuwait, yeah? Can I please have your Kuwaiti passport? I was like, man, I don't have a Kuwaiti passport. He's like, and why don't you have a Kuwaiti passport? I was like, relax, OK? First of all, in Kuwait, doesn't matter if you're born there. It matters where your parents come from. He goes, yeah? Well, where do your parents come from? I was like, well, my parents are Palestinian.

He goes, well, give me your Palestinian passport. I was like, bro, I don't have a Palestinian passport. Well, why don't you have a Palestinian passport? I was like, because Palestine's not a state. He goes, well, why don't you make it a state? I was like, what?

(LAUGHTER)

AMER: Have you not read the news the last 70 years?

(LAUGHTER)

AMER: And by the way, I'm in Germany. This is all your [expletive] fault to begin with.

(LAUGHTER)

AMER: Stand-up, why I love it so much - because you get paid for doing therapy. (Laughter) You know, that - like, I get the opportunity to vent¹¹. And people will laugh at this, at my pain, and I'll get paid for this. This is tremendous. That was part of my coping process.

BLAIR: Another part? Feedback from the audience. He says at an early performance of his bit about traveling internationally, he got a standing¹⁴ ovation¹⁵.

AMER: There was a lot of Jewish people in the audience, lot of Arabs and Muslims and Palestinians in the audience. And both parties got up at the same time as I did that joke. And it was one of those moments where it's like, oh, this is what it's all about.

NOAM DWORMAN: There's so few people who can pull this stuff off - I mean, so few people.

BLAIR: Noam Dworman owns The Comedy Cellar, a renowned¹⁶ New York comedy club. He says Mo Amer is one of the few who can elicit¹⁷ joyous¹⁸ laughter out of pain.

DWORMAN: The thing about Mo is that, yeah, he has the background of incidents in his life that would cause resentment¹⁹ in somebody, but the way he presents it is with such charm and appeal that it's endearing. You know, people adore him. They love him.

BLAIR: Stand-up comedians have long used pain, anger, hurt to get a laugh, whether it's the outright²⁰ rage of the late Sam Kinison...

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SAM KINISON: Remember this face. (Screaming).

BLAIR: ...Or the self-deprecating sarcasm²¹ of the late Phyllis Diller. She called her husband Fang²².

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PHYLLIS DILLER: One night I asked Fang to kiss me good night. He got up and put on his work clothes.

(LAUGHTER)

BLAIR: People have sought relief from fools as far back as the Middle Ages. In his 1962 book "Heroes, Villains²³ And Fools," sociologist²⁴ Orrin Klapp wrote that the clever fool is the safety valve by which societies release tensions that might otherwise be damaging. And those tensions could be over serious issues like a perceived injustice²⁵ or spilt milk, says Sophie Quirk²⁶, who's written about and taught stand-up at the University of Kent in the U.K. She goes to stand-up for the jokes, the social criticism and what she calls a bonding experience with others in the audience.

SOPHIE QUIRK: There are some comedians who I actively²⁷ want to see when something happens that makes me angry, say, politically because they have had the same experience of current events, and they're going to talk about them. And the people around me are going to be expressing through their laughter and their groans²⁸ and their boos and whatever it might be a real empathy with how I'm feeling about it.

BLAIR: Stand-up comedians will tell you anger is just one emotion they need to conjure²⁹ up to really connect with the audience. Mo Amer.

AMER: Some of my jokes come from empathy too. I think there's just several layers. I mean, some of it comes from, like, having sympathy for a particular topic.

BLAIR: Sandra Bernhard, whose sneers³⁰ are legendary³¹, agrees. But she says anger is like fuel.

SANDRA BERNHARD: It's energy. You know, anger is energy. And I think that you've got to be able to access that side of your psyche³² and be able to fully³³ express yourself within the confines of it.

BLAIR: Within the confines of a comedy club, tension, or the release of it, is part of what you pay for. Elizabeth Blair, NPR News.

1 hostility   

n.敌对，敌意；抵制［pl.］交战，战争

参考例句：

• There is open hostility between the two leaders.两位领导人表现出公开的敌意。
• His hostility to your plan is well known.他对你的计划所持的敌意是众所周知的。

2 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

3 rant   

v.咆哮；怒吼；n.大话；粗野的话

参考例句：

• You can rant and rave at the fine,but you'll still have to pay it.你闹也好，骂也好，罚金还是得交。
• If we rant on the net,the world is our audience.如果我们在网络上大声嚷嚷，全世界都是我们的听众。

4 comedians   

n.喜剧演员，丑角( comedian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The voice was rich, lordly, Harvardish, like all the boring radio comedians'imitations. 声音浑厚、威严，俨然是哈佛出身的气派，就跟无线电里所有的滑稽演员叫人已经听腻的模仿完全一样。 来自辞典例句
• He distracted them by joking and imitating movie and radio comedians. 他用开玩笑的方法或者模仿电影及广播中的滑稽演员来对付他们。 来自辞典例句

5 enrages   

使暴怒( enrage的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• That is exactly what enrages and frightens the Sunnis. 但这个点子带点垂死挣扎的味道：伊朗早已深植于伊拉克的逊尼派，这恰恰是逊尼派又惊又怕的原因。
• He often stabs people in the back, which enrages me. 他就会背后放冷箭，真让人火大。

6 communal   

adj.公有的，公共的，公社的，公社制的

参考例句：

• There was a communal toilet on the landing for the four flats.在楼梯平台上有一处公共卫生间供4套公寓使用。
• The toilets and other communal facilities were in a shocking state.厕所及其他公共设施的状况极其糟糕。

7 belly   

n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛

参考例句：

• The boss has a large belly.老板大腹便便。
• His eyes are bigger than his belly.他眼馋肚饱。

8 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

9 frustrating   

adj.产生挫折的，使人沮丧的，令人泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的现在分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's frustrating to have to wait so long. 要等这么长时间，真令人懊恼。
• It was a demeaning and ultimately frustrating experience. 那是一次有失颜面并且令人沮丧至极的经历。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 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。

11 vent   

n.通风口，排放口；开衩；vt.表达，发泄

参考例句：

• He gave vent to his anger by swearing loudly.他高声咒骂以发泄他的愤怒。
• When the vent became plugged,the engine would stop.当通风口被堵塞时，发动机就会停转。

12 semblance   

n.外貌，外表

参考例句：

• Her semblance of anger frightened the children.她生气的样子使孩子们感到害怕。
• Those clouds have the semblance of a large head.那些云的形状像一个巨大的人头。

13 outlet   

n.出口/路；销路；批发商店；通风口；发泄

参考例句：

• The outlet of a water pipe was blocked.水管的出水口堵住了。
• Running is a good outlet for his energy.跑步是他发泄过剩精力的好方法。

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：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

15 ovation   

n.欢呼，热烈欢迎，热烈鼓掌

参考例句：

• The hero received a great ovation from the crowd. 那位英雄受到人群的热烈欢迎。
• The show won a standing ovation. 这场演出赢得全场起立鼓掌。

16 renowned   

adj.著名的，有名望的，声誉鹊起的

参考例句：

• He is one of the world's renowned writers.他是世界上知名的作家之一。
• She is renowned for her advocacy of human rights.她以提倡人权而闻名。

17 elicit   

v.引出,抽出,引起

参考例句：

• It was designed to elicit the best thinking within the government. 机构的设置是为了在政府内部集思广益。
• Don't try to elicit business secrets from me. I won't tell you anything. 你休想从我这里套问出我们的商业机密, 我什么都不会告诉你的。

18 joyous   

adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的

参考例句：

• The lively dance heightened the joyous atmosphere of the scene.轻快的舞蹈给这场戏渲染了欢乐气氛。
• They conveyed the joyous news to us soon.他们把这一佳音很快地传递给我们。

19 resentment   

n.怨愤，忿恨

参考例句：

• All her feelings of resentment just came pouring out.她一股脑儿倾吐出所有的怨恨。
• She cherished a deep resentment under the rose towards her employer.她暗中对她的雇主怀恨在心。

20 outright   

adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的

参考例句：

• If you have a complaint you should tell me outright.如果你有不满意的事，你应该直率地对我说。
• You should persuade her to marry you outright.你应该彻底劝服她嫁给你。

21 sarcasm   

n.讥讽，讽刺，嘲弄，反话 （adj.sarcastic）

参考例句：

• His sarcasm hurt her feelings.他的讽刺伤害了她的感情。
• She was given to using bitter sarcasm.她惯于用尖酸刻薄语言挖苦人。

22 fang   

n.尖牙，犬牙

参考例句：

• Look how the bone sticks out of the flesh like a dog's fang.瞧瞧,这根骨头从肉里露出来，象一只犬牙似的。
• The green fairy's fang thrusting between his lips.绿妖精的尖牙从他的嘴唇里龇出来。

23 villains   

n.恶棍( villain的名词复数 )；罪犯；（小说、戏剧等中的）反面人物；淘气鬼

参考例句：

• The impression of villains was inescapable. 留下恶棍的印象是不可避免的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Some villains robbed the widow of the savings. 有几个歹徒将寡妇的积蓄劫走了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

24 sociologist   

n.研究社会学的人，社会学家

参考例句：

• His mother was a sociologist,researching socialism.他的母亲是个社会学家，研究社会主义。
• Max Weber is a great and outstanding sociologist.马克斯·韦伯是一位伟大的、杰出的社会学家。

25 injustice   

n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利

参考例句：

• They complained of injustice in the way they had been treated.他们抱怨受到不公平的对待。
• All his life he has been struggling against injustice.他一生都在与不公正现象作斗争。

26 quirk   

n.奇事，巧合；古怪的举动

参考例句：

• He had a strange quirk of addressing his wife as Mrs Smith.他很怪，把自己的妻子称作史密斯夫人。
• The most annoying quirk of his is wearing a cap all the time.他最令人感到厌恶的怪癖就是无论何时都戴著帽子。

27 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。

28 groans   

n.呻吟，叹息( groan的名词复数 )；呻吟般的声音v.呻吟( groan的第三人称单数 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦

参考例句：

• There were loud groans when he started to sing. 他刚开始歌唱时有人发出了很大的嘘声。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It was a weird old house, full of creaks and groans. 这是所神秘而可怕的旧宅，到处嘎吱嘎吱作响。 来自《简明英汉词典》

29 conjure   

v.恳求，祈求；变魔术，变戏法

参考例句：

• I conjure you not to betray me.我恳求你不要背弃我。
• I can't simply conjure up the money out of thin air.我是不能像变魔术似的把钱变来。

30 sneers   

讥笑的表情（言语）( sneer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You should ignore their sneers at your efforts. 他们对你的努力所作的讥笑你不要去理会。
• I felt that every woman here sneers at me. 我感到这里的每一个女人都在嘲笑我。

31 legendary   

adj.传奇（中）的，闻名遐迩的；n.传奇（文学）

参考例句：

• Legendary stories are passed down from parents to children.传奇故事是由父母传给孩子们的。
• Odysseus was a legendary Greek hero.奥狄修斯是传说中的希腊英雄。

32 psyche   

n.精神；灵魂

参考例句：

• His exploration of the myth brings insight into the American psyche.他对这个神话的探讨揭示了美国人的心理。
• She spent her life plumbing the mysteries of the human psyche.她毕生探索人类心灵的奥秘。

33 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。