美国国家公共电台 NPR Comedian Brian Regan Sees The Dinosaurs In Everyday Life

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Veteran stand-up comedian¹ Brian Regan has been on the road performing pretty much nonstop since the 1980s.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

BRIAN REGAN: I'm trying to go to more parties. I'm not - not good at them. I'm not good at talking to people...

(LAUGHTER)

REGAN: ...Which might sound weird² in this setting.

(LAUGHTER)

MARTIN: Regan has been called your favorite comedian's favorite comedian. And he does it clean, without profanity, which may be one reason he consistently fills major venues³. NPR's Elizabeth Blair caught up with him before a recent show at the Kennedy Center here in Washington, D.C.

ELIZABETH BLAIR, BYLINE⁴: If Brian Regan were a rock star, one of his hits would be called "Dora The Explorer."

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

REGAN: First of all, did the producers think that rhymes?

(LAUGHTER)

REGAN: (Singing) Dora, the explorer.

(LAUGHTER)

REGAN: Maybe that rhymes in a Kennedy household. (Imitating Kennedy accent) Put on Dora the explor-ah (ph).

BLAIR: Another hit would be "Sports On TV."

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

REGAN: Then I get to hear my favorite sports reporter question. (Imitating sports reporter) Would you consider this a must-win game?

(LAUGHTER)

REGAN: They always feel like they have to say yes. (Imitating athlete) Yeah, we want to win it. It's very important to have momentum⁵. And, you know, we have our uniforms on anyway - might as well try.

BLAIR: Since Regan plays it clean, families flock to his shows. Fifteen-year-old Alissa Timko (ph) was there with her family. She says one of her favorite bits of his is called "Stupid In School."

ALISSA TIMKO: He describes how he fails at spelling and the science project. Oh, my God, that was funny.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

REGAN: I think the worst day was the day the science project was due. Waking up that morning, that was fun, huh? Your head would pop off your pillow. Oh, no.

(LAUGHTER)

REGAN: That's due today.

(LAUGHTER)

REGAN: I had nine months to work on it, and I did nothing.

BLAIR: "Stupid In School" is a bit from the '90s and was on Regan's first album.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

REGAN: And you'd show up. You're scared because you don't have anything good. And you find out all the other kids, their parents made theirs for them. I hated that, you know? They're backing them in on flatbed trucks. One kid with a volcano, he didn't know how to zip up his own pants. But he built a volcano.

(LAUGHTER)

REGAN: How'd you swing that?

BLAIR: Brian Regan says comedians⁶ notice things other people don't always see.

REGAN: You know those 3D posters where it's just, like, weird shapes? And people say if you look at it for a while, there's a dinosaur⁷ in there. And you look at it and go, I don't see a dinosaur. I don't see a dinosaur. I don't see a dinosaur. Oh, oh, I see it. That's what jokes are like. You look at life. You look at it the same way everybody else does. But for a comedian, every once in a while, you see a dinosaur. You see a joke. You go, hey, there's a joke there.

BLAIR: Regan grew up in suburban⁸ Miami with his seven siblings⁹. It was his college football coach who encouraged him to try theater, which eventually led him to stand-up.

REGAN: I dropped out of college to do it. So imagine that phone call to mom and dad.

BLAIR: Regan says they didn't like the idea but didn't stop him. He auditioned¹¹ for a spot at a comedy club in Fort Lauderdale. The manager said he could perform as often as he wanted after the headliners.

REGAN: So I decided¹² I was going to go on every single night. And it was at the end of the show, after the other comedians were done. The audience was walking out. It was not an easy atmosphere. But I figured, I'm going to learn something every time I get on stage.

BLAIR: After his self-imposed bootcamp, Regan started touring comedy clubs around the country. In 1995, he landed a spot on the "Late Show With David Letterman" on CBS. Regan was invited back 27 more times, more than any other stand-up comedian on that show.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN")

REGAN: I went into a greeting card store today - too many sections. They have a whole section called blank inside.

(LAUGHTER)

REGAN: What the hell is a blank-inside card? So I've been sending them out. Sorry you're feeling so blank inside.

(LAUGHTER)

REGAN: I feel like that myself sometimes.

RAY ROMANO: I'm very envious¹³ of a couple things of his.

BLAIR: Ray Romano and Brian Regan started doing stand-up around the same time, before Romano became famous in the sitcom¹⁴ "Everybody Loves Raymond." Romano says Regan is known for going on tour with enough jokes to fill two completely different shows. So his fans would come back twice in one weekend knowing they wouldn't see the same show.

ROMANO: And I'm like, how can he write that much material? It's just incredible.

BLAIR: And Romano says Regan does all that writing without curse words or dirty jokes, known as working blue.

ROMANO: Not to take anything away from crafting comedy and being blue. I just think the degree of difficulty is much harder for Brian. And I just give him more credit for it.

BLAIR: But Brian Regan isn't thrilled with the clean comedian label.

REGAN: Because I think when you see the word clean associated with comedy, a lot of people think that that's the point of it. Like, oh, he's trying to be wholesome¹⁵. He's trying to make a statement. And that's not it at all. There are comedians out there who work dirty who I think are great.

BLAIR: Comedians, even those who work blue, are some of Regan's biggest fans. Chris Rock's been quoted as saying, "no comedian in the world says, yeah, I want to follow Brian Regan." And Bill Burr, one of today's top stand-ups who drops plenty of F bombs, called Regan a master on his podcast.

(SOUNDBITE OF PODCAST, "MONDAY MORNING PODCAST")

BILL BURR: Brian basically goes out, and for 90 straight minutes it sounds like a jet is landing, how hard this guy kills.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

REGAN: You ever go to a brand new doctor, and the moment he walks in, you're like, no?

(LAUGHTER)

REGAN: No, this ain't gonna work out. I need an air vent¹⁰ or something I can crawl through to safety.

(LAUGHTER)

REGAN: I was sitting there. I'm nervous enough. Doctor walks in, all the buttons on his lab coat were off by one.

(LAUGHTER)

REGAN: If he can't nail that task...

(LAUGHTER)

BLAIR: Brian Regan says when he first started doing stand-up, he had a few four-letter words in his act.

REGAN: But I found that that - that didn't feel natural to me. You know, it's like you want to feel like you're as in-the-moment as possible. You want to feel real. And that stuff doesn't - doesn't feel real to me.

BLAIR: The real Brian Regan is so popular, he doesn't do clubs anymore. Instead, he fills civic¹⁶ centers and arenas¹⁷ around the country. And if you can't catch him there, he's on Netflix. Elizabeth Blair, NPR News.

1 comedian   

n.喜剧演员；滑稽演员

参考例句：

• The comedian tickled the crowd with his jokes.喜剧演员的笑话把人们逗乐了。
• The comedian enjoyed great popularity during the 30's.那位喜剧演员在三十年代非常走红。

2 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

3 venues   

n.聚集地点( venue的名词复数 )；会场；（尤指）体育比赛场所；犯罪地点

参考例句：

• The band will be playing at 20 different venues on their UK tour. 这个乐队在英国巡回演出期间将在20个不同的地点演出。
• Farmers market corner, 800 meters long, 60 meters wide livestock trading venues. 农牧市场东北角，有长800米，宽60米的牲畜交易场地。 来自互联网

4 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。

5 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。

6 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

7 dinosaur   

n.恐龙

参考例句：

• Are you trying to tell me that David was attacked by a dinosaur?你是想要告诉我大卫被一支恐龙所攻击？
• He stared at the faithful miniature of the dinosaur.他凝视著精确的恐龙缩小模型。

8 suburban   

adj.城郊的，在郊区的

参考例句：

• Suburban shopping centers were springing up all over America. 效区的商业中心在美国如雨后春笋般地兴起。
• There's a lot of good things about suburban living.郊区生活是有许多优点。

9 siblings   

n.兄弟，姐妹( sibling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A triplet sleeps amongst its two siblings. 一个三胞胎睡在其两个同胞之间。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She has no way of tracking the donor or her half-siblings down. 她没办法找到那个捐精者或她的兄弟姐妹。 来自时文部分

10 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。

11 auditioned   

vi.试听（audition的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• None of the actresses we have auditioned is suitable. 我们试听的这些女演员都不合适。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• What is that, from some script you auditioned for in the '40s? 什么玩意儿是你40年代试的那些剧本吗？ 来自电影对白

12 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

13 envious   

adj.嫉妒的，羡慕的

参考例句：

• I don't think I'm envious of your success.我想我并不嫉妒你的成功。
• She is envious of Jane's good looks and covetous of her car.她既忌妒简的美貌又垂涎她的汽车。

14 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。

15 wholesome   

adj.适合；卫生的；有益健康的；显示身心健康的

参考例句：

• In actual fact the things I like doing are mostly wholesome.实际上我喜欢做的事大都是有助于增进身体健康的。
• It is not wholesome to eat without washing your hands.不洗手吃饭是不卫生的。

16 civic   

adj.城市的，都市的，市民的，公民的

参考例句：

• I feel it is my civic duty to vote.我认为投票选举是我作为公民的义务。
• The civic leaders helped to forward the project.市政府领导者协助促进工程的进展。

17 arenas   

表演场地( arena的名词复数 )； 竞技场； 活动或斗争的场所或场面； 圆形运动场

参考例句：

• Demolition derbies are large-scale automobile rodeos that take place in big arenas. 撞车比赛指的是在很大的竞技场上举行的大型汽车驾驶技术表演。
• Are there areas of privacy in the most public of arenas? 在绝大部分公开的场合中存在需要保护隐私的领域吗？