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Time：第343次例會，2012年04月21日（週六）下午14:30-17:30
Place：
viewtopic.php?t=15
Agenda
14:30~15:20 Session I: Ice Breakers + Topic Discussion Q1-Q3
15:20~15:30 Session I Feedback
15:30~15:50 Speaker Session
15:50~16:00 Change Group + Break
16:00~17:00 Session II: Ice Breakers + Topic Discussion Q4-Q6
17:00~17:15 Session II Feedback
17:15~17:30 Happy Time
Taipei Dinner Location
Host/Speaker/Gourmet: Yen(Eureka)/name/Billy Schedule
Ice Breakers:
Please introduce yourself to your group.
What do you do for a living? What do you do for fun?
How did you learn about Happy Club?
What current events have you noticed recently?
What are some restaurants you enjoy around Taipei?
What good movies or concerts have you enjoyed lately?
How did you spend your holidays? Was it hard to readjust after the break?
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Before watching the film and reading the transcript, let's think about this question: What is "humor" or "humorous"?
To me, humor is not ridicule, sarcasm or exposing people's scar.
In fact, people express their humor not only on what they say but also what they act even without words!
Now let’s take a look at the talk show.
Topic Discussion Article: Joe Wong Chinese Stand Up Comic (影音)
Topic Discussion Article: Joe Wong Chinese Stand Up Comic 2 (影音)
Script:
Topic Discussion Article: 我录写的全文稿Joe Wong at RTCA Dinner, C-SPAN (影音)
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Transcript for Joe Wong at RTCA Dinner, aired on C-SPAN 3/17/2010
Transcribed by PB
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Good evening, everyone. My name is Joe Wong, but to most people, I’m known as "who?!" (laughter) which is actually my mother’s maiden name, (laughter) and the answer to my credit card security question. (laughter) [1]
But joking aside, I just want to reassure everybody that I am invited here tonight. (laughter) [2]
I grew up in China, who didn’t? (laughter) [3] And my childhood memories are totally ruined by my childhood. (laughter) When I was in elementary school, as part of the curriculum, I had to work at a rice paddy right next to a xxxxx quarry where they use explosives to break rocks, and that is where I learned that light travels faster than sound. (laughter) which is almost as slow as a flying rock. (laughter) [4]
My dad was a grumpy guy, but occasionally he would try to cheer me up with jokes, but he doesn’t do it right. When I was seven, one day he said to me, "hey son, why is tofu better than centralized socialist economy?" (laughter) so five minutes later I said "why?" (laughter) He said "because I said so!" (laughter) [5]
I came to the United States when I was 24, to study at Rice University in Texas. (some applaud cheers and some laughter) that wasn’t a joke (laughter) until now. (laughter) And I was driving this used car with a lot of bumper stickers that’s impossible to peel off. And one of them said "If you don’t speak English, go home". And I didn’t notice it for two years. (laughter)
Like many other immigrants, we want our son to become the president of this country and we try to make him bilingual, you know, Chinese at home and English in public, which is really tough to do, because many times I have to say to him in public "Hey listen, if you don’t speak English, go home" (laughter) And he would say to me, "Hey dad, why do I have to learn two languages?" I said "son, once you become the president of the United States, you are going to have sign legislative bills in English, and talk to debt collectors in Chinese" (laughter) [6]
When I graduated from Rice, I decided to stay in the United States, because in China, I can’t do the thing I do best here, being ethnic. (laughter) And in order for me to become a U.S. citizen, I have to take this American history lessons, where they ask us questions like "Who is Benjamin Franklin?", where I was like "ah, the reason our convenience store gets robbed?" (laughter) [7] "What’s the Second Amendament?", where I was like "ah, the reason our convenience store gets robbed?" (laughter) [8] "What is roe vs. wade?", where I was like "ah, two ways of coming to the United States?" (laughter) [9]
Later on I read so much about the American history that I started to harbor white guilt. (laughter) [10] In the America they say that all men are created equal, but after birth, it kind of depends on the parents’ income, or early education and health care. (laughter) I read in theMax House Men’s Health Magazine that President Obama every week has two cardio days and four weight lifting days. You see, I don’t have to exercise, because I have health insurance. (laughter) I live in Massachusetts now, where we have universal health care; then we elected Scott Brown (laughter) – talk about mixed messages. (laughter) [11] I think there was a movie about him – it’s called "Kill Bill" (laughter) [12]
I’m honored to meet vice president Joe Biden here tonight, (Joe turned to face Biden) I actually read your autobiography, and today I see you. (Joe turned back to face audience) I think the book is much better. (laughter) They should’ve get guest cast Brad Pitt, or even Angelina Jolie. (laughter)
So to be honest, I was really honored to be here tonight, and I prepared for months for tonight’s show, and I showed the white house my jokes about President Obama, and that is when he decided not to come. (laughter)[13] And he started to talk about immigration reforms, (laughter) Take that, Stephen Colbert (laughter) [14] And president Obama has always been accused of being too soft, but he was conducting two wars. and they still gave him the Nobel Peace Prize, and he accepted it. (laughter) You can’t be more bad ass than that. (laughter) where actually, I’m thinking the only way you can be more bad ass than that is if you take the Nobel Prize money and give it to the military. (laughter)
We have many distinguished journalists here tonight, whom I consider as my peers. (laughter) because I used to write for campus newspaper. (laughter) I think journalism is the last refugee for puns. [15] Only on the newspaper can you say things like "I was born in the year of horse and that is why I’m a naysayer" (laughter) [16] my point exactly.
And tonight is my first time on C-SPAN, which is a channel I obviously always watch, when I couldn’t stand the sensationalism and demagoguery of PBS and QVC. (laughter) If I still couldn’t fall asleep after watching C-SPAN, there’s C-SPAN2 and C-SPAN3. (laughter) [17] Thank you very much. (laughter)
So I became a U.S. citizen in 2008, which I’m really happy about. (applause) thank you very much. American is number one, (laughter) that’s true, ’cause we won the world series every year. (laughter) [18]
After becoming the U.S. citizen, I immediately registered to vote for Obama and Biden. (Joe turned to face Biden) you’re welcome. (laughter) You handed me a had me at "Yes We Can" (laughter) (Joe turned back to audience) that was the their slogan. (laughter)
So after getting Obama and Biden elected, I felt this power trip. (laughter) And I start to think maybe I should run for president myself. Where, I have to take a step back and explain a little bit, you know, because I have always been a morose and pessimist guy. I felt that life is kind of like, pee into the snow in a dark winter night, you probably make a difference, but it’s really hard to tell. (laughter) [19] But now, we have a president who’s half black half white, it just gives me a lot of hope, because I’m half not black half not white. (laughter) Two negatives make a positive. (laughter)
You may be saying "Hey, what would be your campaign slogan?" You see, I spent ten years in the past decade (laughter) [20] oh you too? okay. (laughter) So I understand that American people are suffering, so my campaign slogan would be "Who Cares". (laughter) [21]
If elected, I would make same-sex marriage not only legal nor required, (laughter) that will get me the youth vote.(laughter) You see I’m married now, but I used to be really scared about marriage, I was like "wow, 50% of all marriages end up lasting forever" (laughter)
And I will eliminate unemployment in this country, by reducing the productivity of the American workforce. (laughter) so two people will have to do the work of one, just like the President and the Vice President,(laughter) or the Olsen twins. (laughter) [22]
And despite heart disease and cancer, most Americans die of natural causes. So if elected, I will find a cure for natural causes. (laughter) You seem to like that one. (laughter) but you won’t be covered by health insurance though, (laughter) because of pre-existing conditions. (laughter)
And I have a quick solution for global warming. I will switch from Fahrenheit to Celsius, (laughter) It was 100 degrees, now it’s 40. (laughter) You’re very welcome. (laughter)
And I’m great with foreign policy. Because I am from China, and I can see Russia from my backyard. (laughter) I believe that Unilateralism is too expensive, and open dialog is too slow. So if elected, I will go with text messaging. (laughter) I will text our allies just to say hi, (laughter) and text our enemies when they are driving. (laughter) "OMG you’re building a nuclear weapon?" (laughter), "but you’re doing it wrong LOL" (laughter)
I just want to thank Video TV correspondence xx xx for having me here tonight. This is the first time I wish my son knew what I was doing. Thank you so much and have a very good night. Thank you Linda Scott.
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注解: based on comments from youtube and mitbbs, dictionary look-up, and google
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[1] 他媽媽姓“Hu”，剛好跟"Who"同音。 maiden name ：大部分老美婚後改跟丈夫姓(所以夫妻倆同姓)；女性結婚前的姓就叫maiden name
[2] 黃西這兒強調說“我是被邀請的”，mitbbs上有人指出這是指去年年底兩次白宮安全問題–11月份、12月份各有一對夫婦沒有邀請函但通過了層層安檢進到了白宮宴會並到奧巴馬身邊。
[3] youtube留言：he said he grew up in china… it’s a joke about the over population of china and how many people there are there。
還是youtube留言，但解釋不同：If you related to "I grew up in US, who wasn’t?" You got to be smart to understand him。（Mitbbs上有人同意這一個，說這是諷刺美國redneck動不動就說I grew up in US。 ）
[4] 黃西說他小學時（勞動課）在水稻田（rice paddy）幹活，旁邊就有一個採石場，用炸藥炸石頭。因為經常看到爆炸光亮聽到爆炸聲（還可能有碎石飛過來），後面黃西接著說“我學到了光傳播的速度比聲音快，而聲音傳播的速度大概跟飛濺的石頭差不多”。
[5] youtube 留言：tofu and centralize economic joke: you got understand that China is a Communist country, there is only one party in power, everything is like his dad said "because I said so"
還是youtube留言，稍微有點不同：it’s sort of non-sense talk said by his dad, then his dad went ‘because I said so’…. his farther == the centralized social system. the nonsense == whatever enforced by the centralized social system.
6] youtube留言：it is "debt collector"..Because of the huge current account deficit US owes to China.
還是youtube留言，稍微有點不同：China is the country that holds the most US treasure bonds now.
[7] youtube留言：Benjamin Franklin – 100 dollar bills. Convenience stores have 100 dollars bills. （100美元幣上是美國總統本傑明-弗蘭克林的頭像；便利店/社區小超市當然有100刀幣；所以被搶劫了）
[8] youtube留言：Second Amendment: is the freedom to carry gun. – It gives the robbers guns to rob convenience stores. （因為民眾能自由持槍，所以小店被搶劫了）
黃西這個笑話之前在別的地方也講過。我google的一個中文網站的解釋：什麼是美國憲法第二修正案（允許公民擁有槍支）？黃西接著說：這是不是我們雜貨店被搶的原因？
[9] youtube留言：Roe vs Wade, famous court case on abortion. Joe thought two ways of coming to US, on boat or swim
我找的別的地方的：In 1973, the US Supreme Court had prohibited states from making laws that interfered with a woman’s right to an abortion during the early months of pregnancy. Joe 把 roe vs. wade 轉換成 row (rowing the boat) & wade (swimming ) to USA. (划船和游泳偷渡到美國)
[10] youtube留言：He studies America history. It talks a lot of white Americans kill Indians, slavery, kills, etc. Basically, white American were guilty of many things, i.e. white guilt. He starts to harbor (to feel inside) white guilt (as if he were white).
[11] youtube留言：Obama does exercise, but Joe himself doesn’t need to because he has health insurance. MA has universal health care which is viewed as the result of Democratic dominance in MA. But they recently voted a Republic senator Scott Brown, mixed message. （MA就是Massachusetts，常說的麻省）
[12] youtube 留言：Scott Brown is a Republican and their motto on health care reform seemed to be "Kill (the health care reform) Bill"
[13] 新浪北美網上報導說，這個年會歷來是“上至總統下到各大媒體負責人都會出席”。本來奧巴馬已應邀出席，但因為health insurance reform bill最後投票是3月21日，他“親自四處催票拉票，頻上媒體呼籲支持。臨時排定當晚6點上保守傾向的Fox電視臺的訪談，所以無法出席”；白宮於是請 副總統Biden代為出席。“黃西說，當然有點失望，不過沒問題，聽說‘副總統人也挺幽默的’ ”。（我想這樣他一定臨時修改了講稿，而他開的副總統的那個玩笑效果很好，考慮到他有限的修改時間，可見他的功底！）
[14] 黃西說“Stephen Colbert，把這個表演出來”。Stephen Colbert 是一個美國喜劇演員，因他的諷刺和撲克臉式的喜劇表演風格在美國廣為人知。2006年4月29日，科拜爾受邀在白宮新聞記者協會晚餐會上 進行表演。科拜爾用他一貫的風格當面挖苦了當時的美國總統小布希。（“歷史”的相似性）
[15] pun: a humorous use of a word or phrase which has several meanings or which sounds like another word （以轉意或諧音的方法達到詼諧的效果）
[16] youtube 留言："Nay-SAYER". Horses go “Nay" . It was a joke on a bad pun. neigh: a long, loud, high call that is produced by a horse when it is excited or frightened. （馬嘶叫聲）
[17] C-SPAN, C-SPAN2, C-SPAN3 是美國的有線電視頻道（一家三個）新聞頻道，創辦於1979年，節目內容主要探討政府及公共事務議題，也有轉播國情咨文、共和黨全民大會、民主黨全民大會。所以黃西說用它來催眠。
[18] youtube留言：Because the World Series is not for the world…only 2 countries play in the World Series. America and Canada. （World Series 指棒球比賽，說是國際/World，其實就美國和加拿大兩國的球隊。大部分時候都是美國贏）
[19] youtube留言：actually it means pee in snow will melt it, as pee is warmer. but since it is a dark winter night, so it is hard to tell
[20] "I spent ten years in the past decade" – ten years 是十年，decade也表示十年。
[21]我的理解 “Who cares” 有兩層意思：1。"Who"指黃西自己（表演開始的時候黃西說大部分老美不知道他，指代他為"Who"），這個競選口號是“我關心你們”；2。“Who cares”直接的意思是“誰在乎呢？！” 因這雙重意思而逗笑。
[22] “Olsen twins” 好萊塢最紅雙胞胎姐妹花奧爾森姐妹。看你認不認得出這張她們小時候的圖片及她們演的那部電視劇（我很喜歡那部電視劇）
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Session 1:
1. Do you think that you are a person with the sense of humor? If yes, could you please share with us some examples about how you make your friends laugh?
2. Sometimes we feel like to play tricks on someone, especially in the Fool's Day of the year, but how should we weigh the jokes and avoid to offend?
3. Joe Wang may not be the type you like. Do you have any idols or persons who you enjoy their humorous and you would like to learn a bit from their humor?
Session 2:
4. Talking is an art. If someone offend you by picking fault on something you can not change, how should you react? Do you have any good experience to reverse the embarrassed situation by being humorous?
5. As a proverb said: practice makes perfect! Does humor go the same way? How could we make ourselves be humorous?
6. There should be some humorous things during your daily life, could you share some funny experience with us?
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Vocabulary Help
注意事項(台北)：
1. 請準時兩點半(場地限定45人)到東吳大學城區部遊藝廣場2樓!
2. 請務必自行列印文章和Questions for discussions.
3. 與會者不必報名 但請先閱讀過文章，並仔細想過所有的問題，謝謝合作!
4. 新人入場費 100 NT / 會員入場費 50 NT / 可當3次新人 (for 場地租費 etc.)
5. 會員費 1000 NT 永久有效
6. 聚會時請勿講中文或討論政治/種族/宗教/性
7. 聚會完後有聚餐請踴躍參加
8. 每個月不定期有戶內外活動請踴躍參加
Announcements(Taipei)：
1. Please arrive at the 2nd Floor Arts Center of Soochow University on time at 2:30 PM (venue capacity 45 ppl)
2. Please print out the article and discussion questions
3. No need to sign up, but please read the article and think about the questions!
4. Guest Entrance Fee 100 NT / Member Entrance Fee 50 NT / Up to 3 Audits (fee for rent, etc.)
5. Membership fee 1000 NT no renewal necessary
6. Highly discouraged in venue: speaking Chinese and forcing your views on politics/racism/religion/sex
7. Feel free to attend our weekly dinner after gathering
8. Feel free to join our many outings
台北，每週六 2:30-5:30 PM
Taipei, every Saturday
Place:
viewtopic.php?t=15
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