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(jié)目——《大衛(wèi)·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(wǎng)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(nèi)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?！睂Υ?，大家不妨討論一番。^_^

據(jù)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(jié)目《大衛(wèi)·萊特曼深夜秀》上初次亮相。自此，這位現(xiàn)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(shù)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。雖然他曾為?？珜戇^一些幽默專欄，但后來報讀一個創(chuàng)意寫作班時卻被拒之門外，得到的解釋是，他提交的作品樣本較為遜色。從那時起，這個中國學生就決定不再去寫東西來逗笑美國人了。

然而，畢業(yè)之后，在2001年，黃西在得克薩斯州一家夜總會觀看了由舞臺界及喜劇界傳奇人物艾默·菲利普斯出演的一場現(xiàn)場喜劇表演?！拔耶敃r壓根不知道有‘單口相聲’這門藝術(shù)，”黃西說。他戴著一副圓框眼鏡，留著短發(fā)，而且不出意料地，總是面帶笑容。他說，在中國，唯一能跟“單口相聲”相比的只有“兩人相聲”。雖然他只能聽懂艾默說的部分笑話，但是他說自己已經(jīng)愛上這門藝術(shù)了。“這門藝術(shù)非常巧妙……能夠拓展……你的思維方式，同時，讓我們對生活有所體悟?！彼f。由此，他受到啟發(fā)，嘗試投身“單口相聲”表演行列。

搬到波士頓從事癌癥研究員的工作之后，黃西報名參加了布魯克林成人教育中心開設的“單口相聲”表演課程。2002年冬天，他取得了第一次“突破”——在馬薩諸塞州薩默維爾市的一家酒吧里講笑話。“開始的時候很艱難，大家都不愿意給我上臺表演的機會，”黃西說，“我看起來很膽怯，不像個“牛人”。他們對我沒有太大信心?！?/p>

專為《大衛(wèi)·萊特曼深夜秀》挖掘人才的艾迪·布瑞爾肯定不贊同這一觀點。2005年第一次看過黃西的表演之后，布瑞爾便讓黃西把更多的表演錄像帶寄給他。三年后，他又來到波士頓看黃西的表演。黃西說，他用“達爾文的方式”創(chuàng)作笑話:寫100個，淘汰99個。他和布瑞爾一起打造出一個適合《大衛(wèi)·萊特曼深夜秀》風格的表演段子，結(jié)果他們的努力沒有白費——觀眾都很喜歡黃西。“在現(xiàn)場錄影的時候我沒有太多留意觀眾的反應，”談及他的那次《大衛(wèi)·萊特曼深夜秀》表演，黃西說道，“但是，節(jié)目播放時，看著電視中的自己，我真的很驚訝，我沒有料到自己會獲得這么多的掌聲?！?/p>

雖然他說在臺上表演時，很少在觀眾席見到亞裔美國人，但黃西——自稱是個“完全美國化的移民”——說他的許多節(jié)目題材都來源于自己的移民經(jīng)歷。而且他決心以喜劇表演作為平臺，向其他的美國人展示移民群體?！霸谶@個國家，移民被稱為‘零世代’，”他說，“沒有人為他們說話。他們的生活中其實有很多有趣的事情發(fā)生，但是(由于語言和文化障礙)他們無法講述自己的故事。我想成為移民群體的‘代言人’。那是個理想的狀況?！?/p>

黃西說，讓他很驚訝的是，他在美國遭遇到的一大文化沖擊不是源于他從中國來到美國，而是因為他從得克薩斯州移居馬薩諸塞州。有一次，他在波士頓一家俱樂部表演，講述關于中國的笑話時，“人們大笑，都很喜歡那些段子，”他說。但是，當他開始講述自己在得克薩斯州的生活時，“觀眾開始向我發(fā)出噓聲?！焙髞聿胖?，屬于藍色州的波士頓居民不愛聽他們那些南方紅色州同胞的故事。

但是，不管是在藍色州還是紅色州，成見和種族主義依然存在?！坝袝r候你去(波士頓或紐約的)一些俱樂部……你仍然會看到有些人拿中國人來開些帶有種族侮辱色彩的玩笑。在那里，你很少會看到有亞裔觀眾，所以沒人會害怕冒犯到別人。這樣不是很好?！彼f。

當被問及為什么觀眾中鮮有亞洲人的時候，黃西說出了他的想法:“這是一個很有趣的說法，是我從來自洛杉磯的另一個喜劇演員那里聽來的。她告訴我，她去大學表演時很少見到觀眾中有亞裔學生，盡管每所學校都有很多亞裔學生。她問(觀眾):‘這里所有的亞裔學生到哪去了?’觀眾回答道:‘噢，他們正在學習呢?！?/p>

黃西說，他最好的笑話并不是預先設計好的。“我最棒的素材是突如其來 的……我也不太清楚為什么會這樣?！秉S西說。他總是隨身帶著一個小小的棕色記事本，以便靈感突現(xiàn)時可以及時記下來。

現(xiàn)在，黃西正在平衡他的“平民”生活——集工程師、丈夫和新晉爸爸多種角色于一身，同時還要應付自從《大衛(wèi)·萊特曼深夜秀》節(jié)目播出以來各方星探和經(jīng)紀人密集的電話攻勢。對于這些新機會，他的態(tài)度樂觀而務實?！叭绻曳艞壩业牧硪徽殹且Q于人們對我的喜劇作品的需求情況?！彼f，“我對自己的寫作仍然不是很有信心。我的大部分喜劇作品都是經(jīng)過嘗試、失敗，再多番修改而成的。我不知道將來會如何?！?/p>

不過，先不耍嘴皮子，黃西說，他會盡力參與慈善義演來回報社會。例如，他曾參與亞美社區(qū)發(fā)展協(xié)會組織的義演活動，該協(xié)會是一家位于唐人街的非盈利性機構(gòu)。