Bob Mankoff: Anatomy of a New Yorker cartoon

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast

翻译人员: lin piao 校对人员: Wei Wu

I'm going to be talking about designing humor,

今天我们来聊聊如何营造幽默感

which is sort of an interesting thing, but it goes

这个话题挺有趣的，但是有的时候

to some of the discussions about constraints,

营造幽默感需要考虑环境的限制和约束

and how in certain contexts, humor is right,

在一些场合下，幽默是合适的；

and in other contexts it's wrong.

而在另一些场合，幽默就不大妥当。

Now, I'm from New York,

我来自纽约，

so it's 100 percent satisfaction here.

所以我是百分之百能够接受的。

Actually, that's ridiculous, because when it comes to humor,

这实际上挺荒谬的，因为如果说到幽默感，

75 percent is really absolutely the best you can hope for.

75%的满意度其实就是最好的期望值了。

Nobody is ever satisfied 100 percent with humor

没人会对一幅幽默百分之百地满意。

except this woman.

除了这位女士

(Video) Woman: (Laughs)

（录像）女士：（大笑）

Bob Mankoff: That's my first wife.

鲍勃•曼克夫：她是我的第一位妻子。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

That part of the relationship went fine.

在幽默感这方面我们很和谐。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Now let's look at this cartoon.

来，现在让我们看看这幅漫画。

One of the things I'm pointing out is that

我想要提醒一点

cartoons appear within the context

漫画一般都是印在《纽约客》杂志的

of The New Yorker magazine,

文字内容旁边的。

that lovely Caslon type, and it seems

嵌在用好看的卡斯隆字体印刷的文章中

like a fairly benign cartoon within this context.

让人感觉漫画和文章内容是相关的。

It's making a little bit fun of getting older,

这个漫画小小的幽默了一把变老的人，

and, you know, people might like it.

你知道，人们也许会觉得这漫画有趣。

But like I said, you cannot satisfy everyone.

但是就像我说的，你永远不可能让所有人满意

You couldn't satisfy this guy.

比如说这位老兄的评论，

"Another joke on old white males. Ha ha. The wit.

“关于白人老头的另一则笑话。哈哈，有意思。

It's nice, I'm sure to be young and rude,

不错的漫画。我知道年少轻狂没什么，

but some day you'll be old, unless you drop dead as I wish."

可有一天你也会变老的，除非你如我所愿地英年早逝。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

The New Yorker is rather a sensitive environment,

《纽约客》面向的读者圈子是相对敏感的，

very easy for people to get their nose out of joint.

很容易不小心就惹到谁。

And one of the things that you realize

你会体会到

is it's an unusual environment.

这是一个特殊的环境。

Here I'm one person talking to you.

现在是我一个人给你们大家演讲。

You're all collective. You all hear each other laugh and know each other laugh.

你们聚集在一起, 能听到其他人的笑声，大家都在笑。

In The New Yorker, it goes out to a wide audience,

但《纽约客》有着广阔的受众群体

and when you actually look at that,

当人们观赏漫画的时候，

and nobody knows what anybody else is laughing at,

没人知道其他人的笑点是什么，

and when you look at that the subjectivity involved in humor

你在观赏漫画时，融在幽默中的那种主观性

is really interesting.

是非常有意思的。

Let's look at this cartoon.

比如这幅漫画，

"Discouraging data on the antidepressant."

”抗抑郁药的悲观结果“

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Indeed, it is discouraging.

确实，看起来太悲观了。

Now, you would think, well, look,

现在你会想，好呀，看，

most of you laughed at that.

现场大多数人都在看着漫画笑呢。

Right? You thought it was funny.

对吧，你觉得这个确实挺好笑的。

In general, that seems like a funny cartoon,

总的来说，这是一幅搞笑的漫画。

but let's look what online survey I did.

但是我们看看我做的网络问卷调查，

Generally, about 85 percent of the people liked it.

总的来说有85％的人喜欢这则漫画。

A hundred and nine voted it a 10, the highest. Ten voted it one.

有109人给它打了最高分，十分。也有10个人打了一分。

But look at the individual responses.

让我们看看一些具体的回复吧！

"I like animals!!!!!" Look how much they like them.

”我爱死动物了！！！！！！“ 你们看他多爱动物啊。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

"I don't want to hurt them. That doesn't seem very funny to me."

”我不想伤害小动物。对我来说这漫画一点都不好笑。“

This person rated it a two.

这人给它打了2分。

"I don't like to see animals suffer -- even in cartoons."

”就算是在漫画里我也不想看到动物们受折磨“。“

To people like this, I point out we use anesthetic ink.

对于这些人，我想说：”我们用的是麻醉墨水，好吗？“

Other people thought it was funny.

其他人则认为这幅漫画很有趣

That actually is the true nature of the distribution of humor

其实这些都是在传播幽默是遇到的正常反应。

when you don't have the contagion of humor.

有的时候你就是抓不住笑点在哪儿。

Humor is a type of entertainment.

幽默也是一种娱乐。

All entertainment contains a little frisson of danger,

所有娱乐产品都有些小危险小刺激，

something that might happen wrong,

一些有可能搞砸搞错的东西。

and yet we like it when there's protection.

当然了我们也不希望冒太大的危险。

That's what a zoo is. It's danger. The tiger is there.

就像一个动物园，动物园很危险，因为老虎在那儿。

The bars protect us. That's sort of fun, right?

铁笼子保护了我们，所以动物园是个好玩儿的地方，对吧？

That's a bad zoo.

这是个不好玩的动物园。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

It's a very politically correct zoo, but it's a bad zoo.

这绝对是个政治上完全正确的动物园，但是它太不好玩了。

But this is a worse one.

这是个更糟糕的动物园。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

So in dealing with humor in the context of The New Yorker,

所以说到《纽约客》里的幽默漫画，

you have to see, where is that tiger going to be?

你需要知道：老虎会在哪里出现？

Where is the danger going to exist?

哪里会出危险？

How are you going to manage it?

你该如何应付？

My job is to look at 1,000 cartoons a week.

我的工作是每周浏览1000则漫画。

But The New Yorker only can take 16 or 17 cartoons,

其中只有16到17幅会在《纽约客》发表。

and we have 1,000 cartoons.

有1000幅漫画呀！

Of course, many, many cartoons must be rejected.

当然，就会有很多漫画被退稿。

Now, we could fit more cartoons in the magazine

如果我们想要杂志里有更多漫画的话，

if we removed the articles.

我们就得删去一些文章咯。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

But I feel that would be a huge loss,

但是这样做的话损失就太大了。

one I could live with, but still huge.

虽然我个人能接受，代价还是太大。

Cartoonists come in through the magazine every week.

每周都有漫画家为《纽约客》工作。

The average cartoonist who stays with the magazine

这些留在杂志社里的漫画家

does 10 or 15 ideas every week.

平均一周要有10到15个点子。

But they mostly are going to be rejected.

但是绝大多数的点子都会被毙掉。

That's the nature of any creative activity.

这在创意活动中的正常现象。

Many of them fade away. Some of them stay.

他们中有许多成了匆匆过客。但也有人幸存下来。

Matt Diffee is one of them.

马特·迪菲就是其中一位。

Here's one of his cartoons.

这是他的一则漫画。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Drew Dernavich. "Accounting night at the improv."

德鲁·德纳维奇。“会计之夜的即兴表演”。

"Now is the part of the show when we ask the audience

“现在，这是表演的一部分。我们让

to shout out some random numbers."

观众随便喊出一些数字来。”

Paul Noth. "He's all right. I just wish he were a little more pro-Israel."

保罗·诺斯。 “他没事，我只是希望他能更亲以色列一些。”

(Laughter)

(笑声）

Now I know all about rejection,

我当然知道被拒稿是怎么回事，

because when I quit -- actually, I was booted out of -- psychology school

因为当我从心理学专业退学－实际上，是被开除的时候，

and decided to become a cartoonist, a natural segue,

我决定当一位漫画家,对我是一件很自然的事儿。

from 1974 to 1977 I submitted 2,000 cartoons to The New Yorker,

于是从1974年到1977年我向《纽约客》投了2000幅漫画

and got 2,000 cartoons rejected by The New Yorker.

然后2000幅全部被《纽约客》退回来了。

At a certain point, this rejection slip, in 1977 --

到了1977年的某天，退稿的情况好像有点好转。

[We regret that we are unable to use the enclosed material. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to consider it.] —

从“我们很抱歉不能采用你的稿件。多谢你的投稿。”

magically changed to this.

一下子变成了这个：

[Hey! You sold one. No shit! You really sold a cartoon to the fucking New Yorker magazine.]

“嘿！你终于中了一幅。真的！天杀的 《纽约客》真的用了你的漫画！“

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Now of course that's not what happened,

当然了他们不是这么说的，

but that's the emotional truth.

不过这确实是我当时的心情。

And of course, that is not New Yorker humor.

当然了，这不是《纽约客》式的幽默。

What is New Yorker humor?

什么是《纽约客》式的幽默呢？

Well, after 1977, I broke into The New Yorker and started selling cartoons.

从1977年开始，我成功地向《纽约客》兜售我的漫画。

Finally, in 1980, I received the revered

终于在1980年，我签下了让人眼红的

New Yorker contract,

《纽约客》合同。

which I blurred out parts because it's none of your business.

具体细节我们就省了，因为都是些题外话。

From 1980. "Dear Mr. Mankoff, confirming the agreement

从1980开始，“亲爱的曼克夫先生，请确认该协议

there of -- " blah blah blah blah -- blur --

内容是，巴拉巴拉巴拉巴拉－省略－

"for any idea drawings."

”提供思想绘画（idea drawings）。”

With respect to idea drawings, nowhere in the contract

用了“思想绘画”这个词儿，合同里面根本没有

is the word "cartoon" mentioned.

提到“漫画”这个词儿。

The word "idea drawings," and that's the sine qua non of New Yorker cartoons.

“思想绘画”这个词是《纽约客》漫画的专用词汇。

So what is an idea drawing? An idea drawing is something

那什么是“思想绘画”？思想绘画就是一些

that requires you to think.

需要你琢磨出来的画。

Now that's not a cartoon. It requires thinking

这并不是漫画。它需要人们

on the part of the cartoonist and thinking on your part

站在漫画家的角度来琢磨，也要站在你个人的角度来琢磨，

to make it into a cartoon.

把两种想法融合到一幅漫画里。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Here are some, generally you get my cast of cartoon mind.

我给大家看几幅漫画，你会明白我上面所说的漫画思维了。

"There is no justice in the world. There is some justice in the world. The world is just."

“世界上没有绝对的正义。只有部分的正义。世界‘正’是这样。”

This is What Lemmings Believe.

这是漫画”旅鼠们所相信的“。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

The New Yorker and I, when we made comments,

《纽约客》和我都曾认为

the cartoon carries a certain ambiguity about what it actually is.

漫画本身的真实含义其实是带有模糊性的。

What is it, the cartoon? Is it really about lemmings?

这是什么，漫画吗？这漫画讲的真是旅鼠们吗？

No. It's about us.

当然不是。漫画讲的是我们。

You know, it's my view basically about religion,

知道吗？这基本上就是我对信仰的认识。

that the real conflict and all the fights between religion

真正的宗教间的冲突和争端

is who has the best imaginary friend.

都是关于哪一派有最好的幻象挚友。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

And this is my most well-known cartoon.

这是我最出名的漫画了。

"No, Thursday's out. How about never — is never good for you?"

“不，周四不行。‘从来不’怎么样？－‘从来不’行吗？” （原文：“How about never — is never good for you?”）

It's been reprinted thousands of times, totally ripped off.

这幅漫画重印了几千次，风行一时呀。

It's even on thongs,

甚至被印在皮带上，

but compressed to "How about never — is never good for you?"

但是被缩写成“‘从来不’怎么样？－‘从来不’行吗？” （“How about never — is never good for you?”）

Now these look like very different forms of humor

看起来这些是不同形式的漫画，

but actually they bear a great similarity.

但是事实上他们有很大的相似之处。

In each instance, our expectations are defied.

每一幅漫画都违反了我们原先的判断。

In each instance, the narrative gets switched.

每一幅漫画中的故事都跟字面描述的不一样。

There's an incongruity and a contrast.

既不协调，又有对比鲜明。

In "No, Thursday's out. How about never — is never good for you?"

“不，周四不行。‘从来不’怎么样？－‘从来不’行吗？”里 （“How about never — is never good for you?”）

what you have is the syntax of politeness

有很礼貌的措辞，

and the message of being rude.

传达的却是很粗鲁的意思。

That really is how humor works. It's a cognitive synergy

这就是漫画的妙处。它是认知的协同作用。

where we mash up these two things which don't go together

我们把两个完全不着边的东西放在一起，

and temporarily in our minds exist.

让它短暂地停留在我们的意识里。

He is both being polite and rude.

画中人既带着礼貌，又带着粗鲁。

In here, you have the propriety of The New Yorker

而这里，你可以看到《纽约客》的礼仪

and the vulgarity of the language.

和措辞上的粗鲁。

Basically, that's the way humor works.

基本上，这就是幽默的妙处。

So I'm a humor analyst, you would say.

你会说，我是幽默分析家。

Now E.B. White said, analyzing humor is like dissecting a frog.

那E.B.怀特就说，分析幽默就象解剖一只青蛙。

Nobody is much interested, and the frog dies.

没人真正感兴趣，并且会杀死青蛙。

Well, I'm going to kill a few, but there won't be any genocide.

好吧，接下来我还要杀掉一些，但那可不是种族灭绝呀。

But really, it makes me —

实际上，它把我弄得－

Let's look at this picture. This is an interesting picture,

来看看这张照片。这张照片很有趣。

The Laughing Audience.

观众们在放声大笑。

There are the people, fops up there,

很多人，一群花花公子们，

but everybody is laughing, everybody is laughing

每个人都在笑呀，笑地，

except one guy.

只有一个人除外。

This guy. Who is he? He's the critic.

这家伙，他是谁呢？他就是批评家。

He's the critic of humor,

他就是幽默批评家。

and really I'm forced to be in that position,

实际上，我是被迫坐在这个位置上的。

when I'm at The New Yorker, and that's the danger

我在《纽约客》，就有这个危险

that I will become this guy.

变成这个（剧场里不笑的）家伙。

Now here's a little video made by Matt Diffee, sort of

我给大家放段马特·迪菲拍的录像，

how they imagine if we really exaggerated that.

虽然是有些夸张，但这就是漫画家眼里的我。

(Video) Bob Mankoff: "Oooh, no.

（录像）鲍勃•曼克夫：“噢，不行！

Ehhh.

恩。

Oooh. Hmm. Too funny.

噢，恩。太可笑了。

Normally I would but I'm in a pissy mood.

一般我会要的，但现在我很挑剔。

I'll enjoy it on my own. Perhaps.

对我来说还行。也许吧。

No. Nah. No.

不行。啊！不行！

Overdrawn. Underdrawn.

用笔过多，用笔过少。

Drawn just right, still not funny enough.

画得挺好，就是不可笑。

No. No.

不！不！

For God's sake no, a thousand times no.

天哪，不，一千遍地不！

(Music)

（音乐）

No. No. No. No. No. [Four hours later]

不。不。不。不。不。（四个小时以后）

Hey, that's good, yeah, whatcha got there?

嗨，这还不错。啊，你拿来什么了？

Office worker: Got a ham and swiss on rye?BM: No.

办事员：火腿奶酪黑麦面包。鲍勃•曼克夫：不要。

Office worker: Okay. Pastrami on sourdough?BM: No.

办事员：好吧，那黑麦面包呢？鲍勃•曼克夫：不要。

Office worker: Smoked turkey with bacon?BM: No.

办事员：培根熏火鸡？鲍勃•曼克夫：不要。

Office worker: Falafel?BM: Let me look at it.

办事员：沙拉三明治？鲍勃•曼克夫：让我自己看看。

Eh, no.

呃，不要！

Office worker: Grilled cheese?BM: No.

办事员：烤奶酪？鲍勃•曼克夫：不要。

Office worker: BLT?BM: No.

办事员：奶酪三明治？鲍勃•曼克夫：不要。

Office worker: Black forest ham and mozzarella with apple mustard?BM: No.

办事员：苹果酱黑森林火腿加玛苏里拉奶酪？ 鲍勃•曼克夫：不要。

Office worker: Green bean salad?BM: No.

办事员：绿豆色拉？鲍勃•曼克夫：不要。

(Music)

（音乐）

No. No.

不！不

Definitely no. [Several hours after lunch]

绝对不行！（午饭后几个小时）

(Siren)

（警笛）

No. Get out of here.

不要。快走！

(Laughter)

（笑声）

That's sort of an exaggeration of what I do.

这个场面其实是有些夸张了。

Now, we do reject, many, many, many cartoons,

现在我们确实拒掉很多，很多，很多漫画作品。

so many that there are many books called "The Rejection Collection."

拒得太多了，后来就有了一本叫《拒稿漫画集》。

"The Rejection Collection" is not quite New Yorker kind of humor.

《拒稿漫画集》其实不是那种《纽约客》式的幽默。

And you might notice the bum on the sidewalk here

你看（这张漫画里面表现的是）在人行道上醉醺醺的流浪汉

who is boozing and his ventriloquist dummy is puking.

和他手上呕吐的木偶。

See, that's probably not going to be New Yorker humor.

看，这幅漫画就不是《纽约客》式的幽默。

It's actually put together by Matt Diffee, one of our cartoonists.

这个其实是我们《纽约客》的漫画家马特·迪菲画的。

So I'll give you some examples of rejection collection humor.

这里我再给你举几个拒稿漫画集里面的幽默漫画。

"I'm thinking about having a child."

我在考虑要一个孩子。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

There you have an interesting -- the guilty laugh,

你觉得有趣而发出有点罪恶感的笑声吧。

the laugh against your better judgment.

但是这个笑声其实和你良好的判断力不符。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

"Ass-head. Please help."

”屁股-头儿，请帮帮我吧！”

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Now, in fact, within a context of this book,

实际上，这本漫画集里的内容实际上是说，

which says, "Cartoons you never saw and never will see

“这本集子里面的漫画是你在《纽约客》没看过

in The New Yorker," this humor is perfect.

也永远看不到。” 这本书本身就是非常好的幽默。

I'm going to explain why.

我来解释一下为什么这么说。

There's a concept about humor about it being

这就是一种关于幽默的概念叫做

a benign violation.

良性违背原理。

In other words, for something to be funny, we've got to think

换句话说，有些很可笑的幽默，我们会觉得

it's both wrong and also okay at the same time.

它有些出格但是又不是太出格。

If we think it's completely wrong, we say, "That's not funny."

如果我们觉得它实在太出格了，我们就会说，“一点都不好笑。”

And if it's completely okay, what's the joke? Okay?

如果它完全是正确的，那哪里可笑呀？对不对？

And so, this benign, that's true of "No, Thursday's out. How about never — is never good for you?"

所以呀，那句客气的，“不，周四不行。 ‘从来不’怎么样？－‘从来不’行吗？” （“How about never — is never good for you?”）

It's rude. The world really shouldn't be that way.

其实是有些粗暴的。实际上不应该是以这样的方式说话的。

Within that context, we feel it's okay.

但是在漫画里面，我们就会觉得它不错。

So within this context, "Asshead. Please help"

所以在漫画里，“屁股－头儿。帮帮我吧！”

is a benign violation.

是个良性的违规。

Within the context of The New Yorker magazine ...

把这幅漫画嵌到《纽约客》的文章，

"T-Cell Army: Can the body's immune response

"T-细胞军队： 人体的免疫反应可以

help treat cancer?" Oh, goodness.

帮助治疗癌症吗?“ 噢，天哪！

You're reading about this smart stuff,

你读这篇很有益的文章时，

this intelligent dissection of the immune system.

这篇关于免疫系统知识的好文章时，

You glance over at this, and it says,

突然瞄到这幅漫画，它写着，

"Asshead. Please help"? God.

”屁股－头儿，请帮帮我吧！” 天哪！

So there the violation is malign. It doesn't work.

如果有恶意的违规那就不好笑了。

There is no such thing as funny in and of itself.

没有什么东西是它本身就好笑的，

Everything will be within the context and our expectations.

它必需是在特定的内容里才让我们觉得好笑。

One way to look at it is this.

这么说吧，

It's sort of called a meta-motivational theory about how we look,

漫画让人发笑可以被称为”元驱动理论“。

a theory about motivation and the mood we're in

这个关于驱动的理论讲的是：我们的情绪

and how the mood we're in determines the things we like

如何直接决定了我们喜欢

or dislike.

还是不喜欢一幅漫画。

When we're in a playful mood, we want excitement.

当我们心情愉悦时，我们很容易兴奋起来。

We want high arousal. We feel excited then.

当我们想嗨翻全场的时候，我们容易兴奋起来。

If we're in a purposeful mood, that makes us anxious.

如果我们有所企图的时候，我们会变得紧张。

"The Rejection Collection" is absolutely in this field.

《拒稿集》就绝对是这样的幽默。

You want to be stimulated. You want to be aroused.

你想得到刺激。你想被逗笑。

You want to be transgressed.

你想稍稍出点儿格。

It's like this, like an amusement park.

这就象，去一个娱乐主题公园一样。

Voice: Here we go. (Screams)

声音：走咯！（尖叫声）

He laughs. He is both in danger and safe,

他大笑了。他处在危险又安全的情况下，

incredibly aroused. There's no joke. No joke needed.

被狠狠地逗了一下。根本没什么笑话，也不需要笑话。

If you arouse people enough and get them stimulated enough,

如果你使出全身解数来逗别人，

they will laugh at very, very little.

他们不怎么会笑的。

This is another cartoon from "The Rejection Collection."

这是另外一幅来自《拒稿集》的漫画，

"Too snug?"

"太紧了吗？“

That's a cartoon about terrorism.

这是一幅关于恐怖分子的漫画。

The New Yorker occupies a very different space.

《纽约客》有很与众不同的地方。

It's a space that is playful in its own way, and also purposeful,

它既有自己有趣可笑的表现方式，也有着很强的目的性。

and in that space, the cartoons are different.

在这样的杂志里，漫画自然会有所不同。

Now I'm going to show you cartoons The New Yorker did

现在我给你看几幅《纽约客》的漫画，

right after 9/11, a very, very sensitive area when humor could be used.

9／11刚过，是需要小心地使用幽默的时候。

How would The New Yorker attack it?

《纽约客》怎么使用它的幽默呢？

It would not be with a guy with a bomb saying, "Too snug?"

它不会用“太紧了？”这样画着带炸弹的恐怖分子的漫画。

Or there was another cartoon I didn't show because

或者是另一幅我还没给你们看的漫画，因为

actually I thought maybe people would be offended.

我觉得没准会有人觉得自己被冒犯了。

The great Sam Gross cartoon, this happened

伟大的山姆·格罗斯的漫画，讲的是

after the Muhammad controversy where it's Muhammad in heaven,

穆罕默德大辩论后，当穆罕默德在天堂的时候，

the suicide bomber is all in little pieces,

自杀恐怖袭击者都成了小小的碎片。

and he's saying to the suicide bomber,

穆罕默德对自杀袭击者说，

"You'll get the virgins when we find your penis."

“如果你找到你的小鸡鸡，你会得到你的童贞。”

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Better left undrawn.

最好谁也别画这样的画。

The first week we did no cartoons.

(9/11以后的）第一周，我们没有刊登任何漫画。

That was a black hole for humor, and correctly so.

那是幽默的黑洞，绝对是。

It's not always appropriate every time.

有的时候，幽默确实是不妥当的。

But the next week, this was the first cartoon.

接下来的一周，我们发了第一幅漫画。

"I thought I'd never laugh again. Then I saw your jacket."

“我以为我再也不会笑了，直到我看到你的夹克。”

It basically was about, if we were alive,

这幅漫画要说的是，如果我们还活着，

we were going to laugh. We were going to breathe.

我们就得笑，我们就得呼吸。

We were going to exist. Here's another one.

我们就得存在着。这是另一幅。

"I figure if I don't have that third martini, then the terrorists win."

“我知道如果我不要第三杯马提尼的话，恐怖分子就会赢。”

These cartoons are not about them. They're about us.

这些漫画讲的不是恐怖分子，讲得是我们自己。

The humor reflects back on us.

这些幽默折射我们的生活。

The easiest thing to do with humor, and it's perfectly legitimate,

其实最简单的漫画是

is a friend makes fun of an enemy.

朋友开敌人的玩笑，这绝对是适宜的。

It's called dispositional humor.

这样的幽默叫做意向性幽默。

It's 95 percent of the humor. It's not our humor.

占95％的幽默都是这种，不是关于我们自己的。

Here's another cartoon.

这有一幅漫画。

"I wouldn't mind living in a fundamentalist Islamic state."

“我不介意生活在原教旨主义的伊斯兰国家。“

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Humor does need a target.

幽默需要一个靶心。

But interestingly, in The New Yorker, the target is us.

有趣的是，《纽约客》里面的靶心是我们自己。

The target is the readership and the people who do it.

这个靶心是读者和做了（漫画里的）事的人。

The humor is self-reflective

幽默是自我的折射。

and makes us think about our assumptions.

幽默让我们考虑自己的作为。

Look at this cartoon by Roz Chast, the guy reading the obituary.

看这幅洛兹查斯特的漫画《阅读讣告的人》。

"Two years younger than you, 12 years older than you,

”比你小两岁，比你大12岁，

three years your junior, your age on the dot,

比你小三岁，和你同岁，

exactly your age."

和你同岁。“

That is a deeply profound cartoon.

那是幅非常深刻的漫画。

And so The New Yorker is also trying to, in some way,

所以《纽约客》也在努力地以某种方式，

make cartoons say something besides funny

使幽默不仅仅是好笑，

and something about us. Here's another one.

而是折射我们的生活。这是另一幅。

"I started my vegetarianism for health reasons,

”我因为健康原因开始做素食者，

Then it became a moral choice, and now it's just to annoy people."

然后它变成了道义的选择，现在它就是让别人讨厌我的。“

(Laughter)

（笑声）

"Excuse me — I think there's something wrong with this

”对不起－我觉得有点不对劲儿呀，

in a tiny way that no one other than me would ever be able to pinpoint."

除了我，怎么没人精确定位呢？“

So it focuses on our obsessions, our narcissism,

所以说《纽约客》的漫画j聚焦在我们的自恋和偏执上，

our foils and our foibles, really not someone else's.

聚焦在我们的虚假和缺点上，而不是其他的人身上。

The New Yorker demands

《纽约客》让你

some cognitive work on your part,

重新认识自己，

and what it demands is what Arthur Koestler,

就象阿瑟 · 斯特勒在他的

who wrote "The Act of Creation" about the relationship

著作《创作的行为》里面讲到的

between humor, art and science,

幽默，艺术和科学的关系一样，

is what's called bisociation.

被称为“亚生物群落”。

You have to bring together ideas from different frames of reference,

你要把从不同的信息整合在一起，

and you have to do it quickly to understand the cartoon.

在短时间内理解一幅漫画。

If the different frames of reference don't come together

如果你不能在0.5秒内整合这些信息，

in about .5 seconds, it's not funny,

这漫画就不好笑了。

but I think they will for you here.

但我想这些漫画是会让你笑的。

Different frames of reference.

他们带来不同的信息。

"You slept with her, didn't you?"

“你和她上床了，对不？”

(Laughter)

（笑声）

"Lassie! Get help!!"

“莱西 ！快找人帮我!!"

(Laughter)

（笑声）

It's called French Army Knife.

这个叫做”法国军刀“。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

And this is Einstein in bed. "To you it was fast."

这张说的是爱因斯坦在床上。”对你来说是有点儿快了。“

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Now there are some cartoons that are puzzling.

也有些漫画呢，让人费解。

Like, this cartoon would puzzle many people.

象这个，它让人不得其解。

How many people know what this cartoon means?

有谁知道这幅漫画的意思？

The dog is signaling he wants to go for a walk.

这个狗在告诉自己的主人它想出去溜弯了。

This is the signal for a catcher to walk the dog.

这是让接球手去溜狗的信号。

That's why we run a feature in the cartoon issue every year

所以我们特意每年出一期漫画专刊，

called "I Don't Get It: The New Yorker Cartoon I.Q. Test."

叫：“真搞不懂：纽约客漫画智商测试”

(Laughter)

（笑声）

The other thing The New Yorker plays around with

另外，《纽约客》爱刊登的是

is incongruity, and incongruity, I've shown you,

互不协调的东西。我告诉过你们

is sort of the basis of humor.

这算是幽默的一个基本原理。

Something that's completely normal or logical isn't going to be funny.

如果都是完全正确的合理的话，那就不好笑了。

But the way incongruity works is, observational humor

有不协调性的漫画又使我们看到它

is humor within the realm of reality.

带着一定的合理性。

"My boss is always telling me what to do." Okay?

“我的老板总是不停地告诉我要做什么。” 是吧？

That could happen. It's humor within the realm of reality.

这是可能发生的事儿。这个幽默在合理的范围内。

Here, cowboy to a cow:

看这个，牛仔给一头牛说，

"Very impressive. I'd like to find 5,000 more like you."

“你让我印象深刻。我真想找到5000头象你这样的。”

We understand that. It's absurd. But we're putting the two together.

我们能理解这样的漫画。看起来很荒谬，但是我们理解到它的合理和荒谬。

Here, in the nonsense range:

在这儿，是不合理范畴内的：

"Damn it, Hopkins, didn't you get yesterday's memo?"

“哎呀，霍普金斯，你没带来昨天的记录本吗？”

Now that's a little puzzling, right? It doesn't quite come together.

这个有些让人费解，对不对？因为它的荒谬和合理性没有走到一起。

In general, people who enjoy more nonsense,

一般来说，那些会欣赏带有不合理性作品的人

enjoy more abstract art,

都挺喜欢抽象艺术的。

they tend to be liberal, less conservative, that type of stuff.

这类人更可能是自由主义者，而较少的成为保守派。

But for us, and for me, helping design the humor,

但对我们来说，对我来说，是帮助营造幽默感的。

it doesn't make any sense to compare one to the other.

我们不需要拿一个和另一个比。

It's sort of a smorgasbord that's made all interesting.

我们需要的幽默象个大杂烩，要让所有人感兴趣。

So I want to sum all this up with a caption to a cartoon,

让我来总结下我讲的漫画，

and I think this sums up the whole thing, really,

我觉得这个总结，真的就是，

about The New Yorker cartoons.

关于《纽约客》的漫画。

"It sort of makes you stop and think, doesn't it."

“它其实让你停下来想想，不是吗？”

(Laughter)

（笑声）

And now, when you look at New Yorker cartoons,

从现在开始，如果你在欣赏《纽约客》漫画的时候，

I'd like you to stop and think a little bit more about them.

我希望你能停下来，想想这些漫画。

Thank you.

非常感谢！

(Applause)

（掌声）

Thank you. (Applause)

谢谢！（掌声）