The shared experience of absurdity | Charlie Todd

譯者: Jinsheng Zhou 審譯者: Yen-chung Nora Huang

我大約在10年前創立了“Improv Everywhere隨處即興”這個團體

I started Improv Everywhere about 10 years ago

when I moved to New York City with an interest in acting and comedy.

那時我剛搬到紐約，希望從事表演和喜劇方面的工作

Because I was new to the city, I didn't have access to a stage,

初來乍到的我，在紐約根本沒有表演的機會

so I decided to create my own in public places.

所以我決定在公共場所搭建自己的舞臺

我們將要看到的第一個企劃是

So the first project we're going to take a look at

首屆的“不穿長褲地鐵之旅”

is the very first No Pants Subway Ride.

這是發生在2002年1月

Now, this took place in January of 2002.

而這名女性正是影片的主角

And this woman is the star of the video.

她並不知道她正在被拍攝中

She doesn't know she's being filmed.

角落裡有個隱藏式攝影機正在拍她

She's being filmed with a hidden camera.

這是在紐約市地鐵的6號線上

This is on the 6 train in New York City.

這是整條線的第一站

And this is the first stop along the line.

兩位丹麥小夥子

These are two Danish guys

who come in and sit down next to the hidden camera.

正好坐在隱藏的鏡頭旁邊

那個戴棕色外套的就是我

And that's me right there in a brown coat.

外面只有30華氏度（攝氏零下1度）

It's about 30 degrees outside.

I'm wearing a hat. I'm wearing a scarf.

我戴著帽子和圍巾

那女孩很快就要注意到我了

And the girl's going to notice me right here.

（笑聲）

(Laughter)

And as you'll see now, I'm not wearing pants.

正如你們所見，我沒穿褲子

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

這時候

At this point --

這時候她注意到我了

at this point she's noticed me,

但是紐約地鐵上到處都是奇怪的人

but in New York there's weirdos on any given train car.

一個像我這樣的也不是多稀奇

One person's not that unusual.

所以她繼續回頭看她的書，不過很不巧的是她的書名叫“強姦”

She goes back to reading her book, which is unfortunately titled "Rape."

（笑聲）

(Laughter)

那麼，即使她注意到了這不尋常的景象

So she's noticed the unusual thing, but she's gone back to her normal life.

但仍選擇了回歸到她正常的生活裡

Now, in the meantime, I have six friends

與此同時，我還有六個沒穿褲子的朋友

who are waiting at the next six consecutive stops

在接下來的六個站等著

in their underwear as well.

They're going to be entering this car one by one.

他們會一個一個地接連上車

我們都裝作互相不認識對方的樣子

We'll act as though we don't know each other.

And we'll act as if it's just an unfortunate mistake we've made,

好像這只不過是我們碰巧犯下很不幸的錯誤

forgetting our pants on this cold January day.

在這個寒冷的一月忘記穿我們的褲子了

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

(Laughter continues)

在這個時候

So at this point,

she decides to put the rape book away.

她終於決定把她的“強姦”放到一邊

（笑聲）

(Laughter)

她不能再對周圍發生的一切表現的毫不在意了

And she decides to be a little bit more aware of her surroundings.

In the meantime, the two Danish guys to the left of the camera,

與此同時，鏡頭左邊的兩個丹麥小夥子

已經笑得不行了

they're cracking up.

They think this is the funniest thing they've ever seen before.

他們覺得從沒見過這麼搞笑的事

注意女孩和他們兩個的眼神交流

And watch her make eye contact with them right about now.

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

我超喜歡這一幕

And I love that moment in this video,

因為在這成為共享的經驗之前

because before it became a shared experience,

it was something that was maybe a little bit scary,

我們的表現可能有點嚇人

or something that was at least confusing to her.

或是讓她感到困惑

但是一旦這成為共享的經驗

And then, once it became a shared experience,

它就變得很有意思，女孩甚至因此笑出來

it was funny and something that she could laugh at.

現在地鐵進入了

So the train is now pulling into the third stop along the 6 line.

6號線的第三站

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

這段影片並不會把所有的內容都顯示出來

So the video won't show everything.

同樣的事情在接下來的四站都發生了

This goes on for another four stops.

一共有七位不知名的、沒穿褲子的小夥子

A total of seven guys enter anonymously in their underwear.

At the eighth stop, a girl came in with a giant duffel bag

在第八站，上來一個拖著巨大行李袋的小姑娘

兜售她一塊錢一條的褲子

and announced she had pants for sale for a dollar --

like you might sell batteries or candy on the train.

就如同平常會在列車上看到有人推銷電池或糖果一樣

我們也就真的一人買了一條褲子穿上

We all very matter-of-factly bought a pair of pants, put them on

接著說：「謝謝，這褲子來得真及時」

and said, "Thank you. That's exactly what I needed today,"

and then exited without revealing what had happened

然後裝作什麽也沒發生一樣

很自然地朝不同方向離開了車站

and went in all different directions.

(Applause)

（掌聲）

謝謝

Thank you.

So that's a still from the video there.

這也是剛才那個影片裡的一幕

And I love that girl's reaction so much.

我太喜歡那姑娘的反應了

And watching that videotape later that day

那天之後我繼續看這一段

inspired me to keep doing what I do.

我對我要做什麽有了靈感

"Improv Everywhere"的目的之一就是

And really one of the points of Improv Everywhere

is to cause a scene in a public place

在公共場合製造一些

that is a positive experience for other people.

給人們帶來正面體驗的情境

It's a prank, but it's a prank that gives somebody a great story to tell.

這其實是一個惡作劇，但是這惡作劇給了人們一個值得講述的好故事

姑娘的反應激勵了我

And her reaction inspired me

to do a second annual No Pants Subway Ride.

進而組織第二屆“年度不穿長褲的地鐵之旅“

And we've continued to do it every year.

我們把這個一年一度的傳統保持下來

This January, we did the 10th annual No Pants Subway Ride

這個一月份將是第十屆“年度不穿長褲的地鐵之旅“了

這次我們有3500個不同背景的人參與

where a diverse group of 3,500 people

rode the train in their underwear in New York --

只穿內褲的他們將會出現在

紐約的幾乎每條地鐵線上

almost every single train line in the city.

另外，在世界上其他50個城市的地鐵裡

And also in 50 other cities around the world,

也都有人參加

people participated.

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

As I started taking improv class at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater

當我開始在"正直公民旅劇院"講授即興表演課程的時候

遇到了很多其他表演者、喜劇演員和有想像力的人

and meeting other creative people and other performers and comedians,

我開始把有興趣做這種表演的人

I started amassing a mailing list of people

都加到一個郵件列表裡，

who wanted to do these types of projects.

這樣我就可以做一些大企劃了

So I could do more large-scale projects.

有一天我走過聯合廣場的時候

Well, one day I was walking through Union Square,

看到這棟

and I saw this building, which had just been built in 2005.

剛在2005年建好的樓

有一個女孩在一扇窗戶裡跳舞

There was a girl in one of the windows and she was dancing.

這看起來非常奇怪

It was very peculiar, because it was dark out,

因為外面當時很黑，燦爛的燈光從裡面把她照亮

but she was backlit with florescent lighting.

她看起來就像在舞臺上表演

She was very much onstage

我想不出來她到底想做什麽

and I couldn't figure out why she was doing it.

15秒後，她的朋友出現了

After about 15 seconds, her friend appeared --

之前她一直藏在一個陳列品後面

she had been hiding behind a display.

她們擁抱大笑，然後一起離開了

They laughed, hugged each other and ran away.

看起來像是她們在玩真心話大冒險

Maybe she had been dared to do this.

所以我從這個獲得了靈感

So I got inspired by that.

Looking at the entire facade -- there were 70 total windows --

我們來看看大樓的這一面，一共有70個窗戶

我知道我該做啥了

and I knew what I had to do.

（笑聲）

(Laughter)

So this project is called Look Up More.

這個企劃叫做"多抬頭看一些"。70個演員全身穿黑色的衣服

We had 70 actors dress in black.

完全沒有人授權

This was completely unauthorized.

We didn't let the stores know we were coming.

我們也沒有提前通知商場

And I stood in the park giving signals.

我站在下面向他們發信號

The first signal was for everybody to hold up these four-foot tall letters

第一個信號是讓他們一起舉起這些四英尺高的字母

拼成這個企劃的名字：

that spelled out "Look Up More,"

"多抬頭看一些"

the name of the project.

The second signal was for everybody to do jumping jacks together.

第二個信號是讓所有人一起"開合跳"（跳起來雙臂舉起，雙腿向外展開的一個動作）

你們看到的是剛開始的時候

You'll see that start right here.

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

And then we had dancing. We had everyone dance.

接下來是跳舞，所有人一起跳

然後是獨舞，一個人跳

And then we had dance solos

where only one person would dance and everybody would point to them.

其他人都指著他

（笑聲）

(Laughter)

然後我手上再發一個信號

So then I gave a new hand signal,

告訴"永遠21（Forever 21）"下面的那個獨舞者

which signaled the next soloist down below in Forever 21,

讓他開始跳

and he danced.

還有一些其他的動作

There were several other activities.

有人跳上跳下

We had people jumping up and down, people dropping to the ground.

有人摔倒在地上

And I was standing just anonymously in a sweatshirt,

我只是穿著運動衫的路人甲

把手在垃圾桶拿上拿下

putting my hand on and off of a trashcan to signal the advancement.

來指揮表演的進程

And because it was in Union Square Park, right by a subway station,

這是在一個地鐵站旁邊的聯合廣場公園

所以最後有好幾百人

there were hundreds of people by the end who stopped and looked up

停下腳步抬頭看

and watched what we were doing.

看我們在做什麽

There's a better photo of it.

這是一張更棒的照片

So that particular event was inspired by a moment

這一個特別的行動

是我從感到困惑的一幕中

that I happened to stumble upon.

獲得靈感的

The next project I want to show

下一個我想給大家看的企劃

was given to me in an email from a stranger.

是由一個陌生人發給我的電子郵件而來的

A high school kid in Texas wrote me in 2006

德州的一位高中生在2006年寫信給我

and said, "You should get as many people as possible

說：「你應該召集盡可能多的人，

to put on blue polo shirts and khaki pants

都穿上藍色短袖開領衫和卡其褲，

and go into a Best Buy and stand around."

到百思買（Best Buy）去閒逛。」

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

(Applause)

（掌聲）

So I wrote this high school kid back immediately

於是我立刻回信給這位高中生

我說：「你說得很對，

and I said, "Yes, you are correct.

我這週末就這麼做，謝謝。」

I think I'll try to do that this weekend. Thank you."

這就是當天的影片

So here's the video.

這是2005年（之前說是2006）

So again, this is 2005.

在紐約市的百思買（Best Buy）

This is the Best Buy in New York City.

We had about 80 people show up to participate,

我們一共80個人左右

一個接一個地走進店裡

entering one by one.

There was an eight-year-old girl, a 10-year-old girl.

其中有8歲的小女孩、10歲的小女孩

還有一個65歲的老頭

There was also a 65-year-old man who participated.

一起參加這個活動

So a very diverse group of people.

非常多樣化的一群人

(Laughter)

我告訴他們：「別幹活，別真的工作。

And I told people, "Don't work. Don't actually do work.

但是呢，也別買東西。

But also, don't shop.

Just stand around and don't face products."

就在店裡轉轉，別面對著商品。」

Now you can see the regular employees

現在你可以看到的這些真的員工

by the ones that have the yellow tags on their shirt.

他們襯衫上有黃色標籤

所有其他人都是我們這些演員

Everybody else is one of our actors.

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

The lower-level employees thought it was very funny.

基層的員工覺得這很好玩

以至於有幾個還從休息室拿來他們的相機

Several of them went to go get their camera from the break room

跟我們合影

and took photos with us.

許多人開玩笑讓我們到後面

A lot of them made jokes about trying to get us to go to the back

去幫顧客搬很重的電視機

to get heavy television sets for customers.

可是經理和保安們

The managers and the security guards, on the other hand,

就不覺得這有什麽好玩的了

did not find it particularly funny.

你們看到在這個片段裡

You can see them in this footage.

他們穿著黃色或黑色的襯衫

They're wearing either a yellow shirt or a black shirt.

And we were there probably 10 minutes

10分鐘之後

before the managers decided to dial 911.

經理就決定打911報警了

（笑聲）

(Laughter)

So they started running around

然後他們開始在店裡四處亂竄

telling everybody the cops were coming, "Watch out, the cops are coming."

告訴大家警察就要過來了，注意點，警察馬上就要過來了

And you can see the cops in this footage right here.

你們看到這個片段裡，警察真的過來了

That's a cop wearing black right there, being filmed with a hidden camera.

有個隱藏的鏡頭正在拍這些穿著黑色制服的警察

最後，警察只好告訴經理

Ultimately, the police had to inform Best Buy management

在百思買（Best Buy）裡穿藍襯衫、卡其褲

that it was not, in fact, illegal to wear a blue polo shirt and khaki pants.

事實上，並不犯法

（笑聲）

(Laughter)

（掌聲）

(Applause)

謝謝。

Thank you.

(Applause)

（掌聲）

So we had been there for 20 minutes; we were happy to exit the store.

我們在那兒待了20分鐘，然後高高興興地出去了

One thing the managers were trying to do was to track down our cameras.

期間經理一直想要

追查到我們的攝影機

And they caught a couple of my guys who had hidden cameras in duffel bags.

他們搜到了好幾個人藏在袋子裡的攝影機

但是有一個他們永遠也查不到

But the one camera guy they never caught

因為有個小夥子只帶了一個空白的帶子

was the guy that went in just with a blank tape

然後徑直走到店裡的攝影機部門

and went over to the Best Buy camera department

把帶子放進其中一台店裡的攝影機裡

and just put his tape in one of their cameras

然後假裝在買東西

and pretended to shop.

So I like that concept of using their own technology against them.

我很喜歡這個"以其人之道還治其人之身"的概念

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

I think our best projects are ones that are site-specific

我想我們那些最好的企劃都需要一些特定的地點

在一些特別的場所發生，並有著明確的原因

and happen at a particular place for a reason.

有天早晨，我搭乘地鐵時

And one morning, I was riding the subway.

要在53街站那兒轉車

I had to make a transfer at the 53rd St. stop

那兒有兩個巨大的電扶梯

where there are these two giant escalators.

早晨的時候那裡很擠，讓人很沮喪

And it's a very depressing place to be in the morning, it's very crowded.

所以我決定在試試舉辦一場演出

So I decided to try and stage something

使那早晨盡可能讓人開心一點

that could make it as happy as possible for one morning.

所以就有了這個：2009年冬天

So this was in the winter of 2009 -- 8:30 in the morning.

早上8:30

上班的高峰期

It's morning rush hour.

It's very cold outside.

外面非常寒冷

People are coming in from Queens,

從皇后區過來的人們

transferring from the E train to the 6 train.

要在這兒從E線轉到6號線

And they're going up these giant escalators

他們乘坐這些巨大的電扶梯

準備去工作

on their way to their jobs.

[Rob wants]

[to give you]

（笑聲）

(Laughter)

[a high five!]

(Laughter)

[Get ready!]

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

(Applause)

（掌聲）

（謝謝）

Thank you.

So there's a photograph that illustrates it a little bit better.

這裡是張更清楚點的照片

He gave 2,000 high fives that day,

那天他擊了2000次掌（high five）

在這前後他都去洗了手

and he washed his hands before and afterward

之後也沒有生病

and did not get sick.

這個活動也沒有得到相關部門的批准

And that was done also without permission,

雖然似乎沒人在意

although no one seemed to care.

這麼多年來

So I'd say over the years,

one of the most common criticisms I see of Improv Everywhere

YouTube上的匿名評論裡

left anonymously on YouTube comments

對Improv Everywhere最多的批評

is: "These people have too much time on their hands."

就是：「這些人太閒了。」

And you know, not everybody's going to like everything you do,

你知道，並不是每個人都會喜歡你做的每件事

and I've certainly developed a thick skin thanks to Internet comments,

感謝這些網民的評論，我的臉皮越來越厚了

但是這個評價一直讓我很不舒服

but that one's always bothered me,

因為我們恰恰缺的就是時間

because we don't have too much time on our hands.

Improv Everywhere這些活動的參與者們

The participants in Improv Everywhere events

並不比其他普通的紐約客來的閒

have just as much leisure time as any other New Yorkers,

他們只是偶爾

they just occasionally choose to spend it in an unusual way.

用不尋常的方式打發這些時間

You know, every Saturday and Sunday,

你們知道，每年秋天

hundreds of thousands of people each fall

成百上千的人們在週六週日

gather in football stadiums to watch games.

聚在體育場看橄欖球

我也從沒見到有人看著橄欖球賽

And I've never seen anybody comment, looking at a football game,

評論說：「這些看球的人都是太閒了。」

"All those people in the stands, they have too much time on their hands."

當然他們並不是這樣

And of course they don't.

到體育場看橄欖球

It's a perfectly wonderful way to spent a weekend afternoon,

是個非常好的度過週末下午的方式

watching a football game in a stadium.

但是我也認為下面這些都是

But I think it's also a perfectly valid way

度過週末下午的好方式：在中央車站

to spend an afternoon freezing in place with 200 people

與200個其他人一起靜止不動

in the Grand Central terminal

或者打扮成“捉鬼特工隊”（魔鬼剋星）

or dressing up like a ghostbuster

and running through the New York Public Library.

跑過紐約公共圖書館

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

Or listening to the same MP3 as 3,000 other people

或是與其他3000人聽同一首MP3

在公園裡一起悄無聲息地跳舞

and dancing silently in a park,

or bursting into song in a grocery store

或是在雜貨店放聲唱歌

as part of a spontaneous musical,

創作即興音樂劇

or diving into the ocean in Coney Island wearing formal attire.

或是穿上正式服裝跳進康尼島（Coney Island）的海裡

你看，我們還是孩子時，別人教我們玩

(Laughter)

You know, as kids, we're taught to play.

從來也沒人告訴我們玩需要什麽理由

And we're never given a reason why we should play.

大家都認為玩是一件很好的事

It's just acceptable that play is a good thing.

我想這正是Improv Everywhere的動機

And I think that's sort of the point of Improv Everywhere.

It's that there is no point and that there doesn't have to be a point.

就是沒有目的，也不需要什麽目的

我們不需要原因

We don't need a reason. As long as it's fun

只要有趣

and it seems like it's going to be a funny idea

看起來像個好玩的主意

and it seems like the people who witness it

而且在現場目擊的人們也會覺得這很有意思

will also have a fun time,

那對我們來說就夠了

then that's enough for us.

And I think, as adults, we need to learn

我也認為，作為成年人，我們要學習認識

that there's no right or wrong way to play.

在玩這件事上，並沒有什麼對或錯的方式

非常感謝

Thank you very much.

(Applause)

（掌聲）