I'm going to be talking about designing humor,

我今天要和大家談一談如何設計幽默

which is sort of an interesting thing, but it goes

這應該算是很有趣的題目

to some of the discussions about constraints,

也會談到設計幽默的限制

and how in certain contexts, humor is right,

還有在某些情境下幽默是對的

and in other contexts it's wrong.

但在另一些情境下則不妥

Now, I'm from New York,

我來自紐約

so it's 100 percent satisfaction here.

所以我是百分百對幽默很滿意

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

其實這很荒謬, 因為講到幽默

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

你最多只能期待有75%的滿意度

Nobody is ever satisfied 100 percent with humor

世界上沒有人可以100%的滿意度

except this woman.

除了這個女人

(Video) Woman: (Laughs)

(影片女人大笑)

Bob Mankoff: That's my first wife.

這是我的第一任老婆

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

That part of the relationship went fine.

我們那時候關係很好

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

Now let's look at this cartoon.

現在我們來看看這個漫畫

One of the things I'm pointing out is that

我想先指出

cartoons appear within the context

這漫畫是在紐約客雜誌中

of The New Yorker magazine,

插在內文之中的

that lovely Caslon type, and it seems

文字是可愛的卡斯龍字型

like a fairly benign cartoon within this context.

在這樣的情境下看起來是個相當良善的漫畫

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

它對變老這件事開了個玩笑

and, you know, people might like it.

你知道的, 人們可能會喜歡

But like I said, you cannot satisfy everyone.

但像我說的, 你無法滿足所有人

You couldn't satisfy this guy.

你無法滿足這個傢伙

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

"另一個開年紀大白人的玩笑, 哈哈, 很好笑

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

很好, 我肯定你是即年輕又粗魯

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

但有一天你也會變老, 除非你猝死 - 像我期待的那樣"

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

The New Yorker is rather a sensitive environment,

紐約客雜誌是一個相較敏感的環境

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

讀者很容易不滿

And one of the things that you realize

然而有一件事你們可以感受到

is it's an unusual environment.

現在這裡是一個特別的氛圍

Here I'm one person talking to you.

我一個人和各位演說, 你們是一個群體

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

你們可以聽到彼此的笑聲, 也知道彼此在笑

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

而在紐約客, 面對的觀眾很廣

and when you actually look at that,

當你去檢視這一點

and nobody knows what anybody else is laughing at,

沒有人知道其他人在笑些什麼

and when you look at that the subjectivity involved in humor

而且會發現幽默的主觀性

is really interesting.

是很有趣的

Let's look at this cartoon.

讓我們來看看這個漫畫

"Discouraging data on the antidepressant."

"令人失望的抗憂鬱藥物研究結果"

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

Indeed, it is discouraging.

這確實令人失望

Now, you would think, well, look,

現在你會說, 看吧

most of you laughed at that.

大部分的人都笑了

Right? You thought it was funny.

覺得這很有趣

In general, that seems like a funny cartoon,

一般而言, 這是一個很有趣的漫畫

but let's look what online survey I did.

但是讓我們來看看我做的線上調查

Generally, about 85 percent of the people liked it.

大體而言, 近85%的人喜歡它

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

109個人給了最高分十分, 有10人投了一分

But look at the individual responses.

看看這些人的回應

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

"我很喜歡動物! 但看看他們呢.."

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

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

"我不想傷害他們, 我覺得這看起來不有趣"

This person rated it a two.

這個人給了兩分

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

"就算只是漫畫, 我也不喜歡看到動物受苦"

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

對這些人, 我會說我是用加了麻醉藥的墨水

Other people thought it was funny.

其它人認為這很有趣

That actually is the true nature of the distribution of humor

實際上這是當你沒有幽默感時

when you don't have the contagion of humor.

群眾很自然地對幽默的一種散播

Humor is a type of entertainment.

幽默是一種娛樂

All entertainment contains a little frisson of danger,

每一種娛樂都隱含了一些危險因素

something that might happen wrong,

有些時候可能會出錯

and yet we like it when there's protection.

但有所保護的時候, 我們會喜歡它

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

像是動物園, 老虎很危險, 但有柵欄保護

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

這樣就感到一點有趣了, 對吧

That's a bad zoo.

這是一個不好的動物園

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

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

這是一個政治正確的動物園, 但不是一個好的動物園

But this is a worse one.

更糟的動物園則長這樣

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

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

所以, 處理在紐約客文章中的幽默

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

你必須知道老虎會在哪裡

Where is the danger going to exist?

哪裡存在著危險

How are you going to manage it?

你又會如何去面對

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

我的工作是每週檢視一千個漫畫

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

但紐約客只能留下16到17個

and we have 1,000 cartoons.

然而我們有一千個

Of course, many, many cartoons must be rejected.

因此有很多很多的漫畫必須被退回

Now, we could fit more cartoons in the magazine

當然我們可以在雜誌中放入更多的漫畫

if we removed the articles.

前提是把文章都拿掉

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

But I feel that would be a huge loss,

我覺得那會是很大的損失

one I could live with, but still huge.

我是可以接受, 但還是很大的損失

Cartoonists come in through the magazine every week.

每週很多漫畫畫家進來雜誌社

The average cartoonist who stays with the magazine

平均來說, 他們每週畫10到15個漫畫

does 10 or 15 ideas every week.

但它們大部分會被退稿

But they mostly are going to be rejected.

所有創意工作都是如此

That's the nature of any creative activity.

這些人多數隨時間離去, 有些人會留下

Many of them fade away. Some of them stay.

Matt Diffee 是其中一個

Matt Diffee is one of them.

這是他的漫畫

Here's one of his cartoons.

（笑聲）

(Laughter)

Drew Dernavich 的 "在劇場的會計之夜"

Drew Dernavich. "Accounting night at the improv."

"這是表演的一部分, 我們會請觀眾隨機地給我們一些數字”

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

Paul Noth 的 "他沒問題的, 只希望他扮演以色列人能更專業一點"

to shout out some random numbers."

(笑聲)

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

各位, 我很了解退稿

(Laughter)

因為當我休學, 事實上是我被踢出心理學學校

Now I know all about rejection,

決定要當一個漫畫畫家, 一個很自然的決定

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

我從1974到1977年，送出了2000個漫畫去紐約客

and decided to become a cartoonist, a natural segue,

然而2000個漫畫都被紐約客退回

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

在1977年的某個時間點, 退稿單從這張：

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

"很抱歉我們無法採用您的材料，謝謝您給我們機會參考您的作品"

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

神奇的變成這張：

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

”嘿，你賣掉了一個！不是蓋的，你真的成功的賣出了一個漫畫給他媽的紐約客雜誌。”

magically changed to this.

（笑聲）

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

當然, 這不是真的狀況, 只是我心理上的感受

(Laughter)

想當然爾, 那不是紐約客的幽默

Now of course that's not what happened,

什麼是紐約客幽默?

but that's the emotional truth.

在1997年後, 我闖進了紐約客雜誌並開始賣我的漫畫

And of course, that is not New Yorker humor.

終於在1980年, 我收到了令人崇敬的紐約客的合約

What is New Yorker humor?

我模糊掉了一部分因為那跟你們無關

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

”在1980, 親愛的曼考夫先生, 確認了合約..."

Finally, in 1980, I received the revered

"所以... 啦啦啦啦... 啦～”

New Yorker contract,

”對於任何構想畫作...”

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

"關於構想畫作..."

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

在合約中從頭到尾都沒有提及"漫畫" 這個字

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

"構想畫作" 這個字, 是紐約客漫畫的必要條件

"for any idea drawings."

所以什麼是構想畫作? 構想畫作是..

With respect to idea drawings, nowhere in the contract

會讓你思考的東西

is the word "cartoon" mentioned.

這不是漫畫, 這需要部分畫家的想法

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

和部分你的想法

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

讓它畫成一個漫畫

that requires you to think.

(笑聲)

Now that's not a cartoon. It requires thinking

這裡有一些範例, 你可以從這了解我的漫畫思維

on the part of the cartoonist and thinking on your part

”世界沒有公義, 世界上有一些公義, 這世界就是公義的”

to make it into a cartoon.

"這是旅鼠相信的" (按: 跳下懸崖會上天堂)

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

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

當我和紐約客在下註解的時候

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

漫畫帶著一種模糊的意義

This is What Lemmings Believe.

這真的是關於旅鼠的漫畫嗎?

(Laughter)

不, 是關於我們

The New Yorker and I, when we made comments,

這基本上是我對宗教的觀點

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

真實世界中宗教之間的

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

爭論著誰有最佳的幻想朋友 (按：小朋友常常會有的那種)

No. It's about us.

（笑聲）

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

這是我最有名的漫畫

that the real conflict and all the fights between religion

"不, 星期四不行. '永不' 如何... '永不' 你可以嗎?"

is who has the best imaginary friend.

這漫畫被印了上幾千次, 超夯的

(Laughter)

甚至印在丁字褲上

And this is my most well-known cartoon.

但被簡化成「'永不' 如何... '永不' 你可以嗎?」

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

他們看起來像是非常不同形式的幽默

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

但其實他們有很多的共通點

It's even on thongs,

每一個例子中, 我們的預期被挑戰

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

每一個例子中, 敘事被調換了

Now these look like very different forms of humor

有著一種不協調與對比

but actually they bear a great similarity.

在 "不, 星期四不行. '絕不' 如何... '絕不' 你可以嗎?"

In each instance, our expectations are defied.

你看到的是有禮貌的句子結構

In each instance, the narrative gets switched.

和很粗魯的訊息

There's an incongruity and a contrast.

這就是幽默運作的方式

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

認知的綜效. 將兩個互相矛盾的東西混在一起

what you have is the syntax of politeness

並且暫時存留在我們的腦海裡

and the message of being rude.

它同時表現禮貌和無理

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

在這, 你有紐約客的禮貌和語言的粗俗

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

基本上, 這就是幽默運作的方式

and temporarily in our minds exist.

所以, 你可以說我是一個幽默的分析師

He is both being polite and rude.

E.B. White 說, 分析幽默就像是解剖一隻青蛙 (按：E.B. White 是紐約客的知名作家)

In here, you have the propriety of The New Yorker

沒有人會有興趣，而且青蛙會死

and the vulgarity of the language.

我會殺死一些, 但不會造成種族滅絕

Basically, that's the way humor works.

但它讓我...

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

我們來看看這張圖, 這是一幅有趣的圖

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

在笑的觀眾們

Nobody is much interested, and the frog dies.

上面這些紈褲子弟

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

除了一個人, 每個人都在笑

But really, it makes me —

這一位

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

他是誰? 他是評論家

The Laughing Audience.

他是幽默的評論家

There are the people, fops up there,

說真的, 我是被強迫做這事的

but everybody is laughing, everybody is laughing

在紐約客, 有很高的機率

except one guy.

會變成這個人

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

這裡有一個 Matt Diffee 做的短片

He's the critic of humor,

他們如何誇張的想像我的工作

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

歐.. 不

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

呃

that I will become this guy.

歐, 恩, 太過好笑

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

通常我會讓他過, 但是我現在心情不好

how they imagine if we really exaggerated that.

這, 或許我留著自己享用

(Video) Bob Mankoff: "Oooh, no.

不, 不, 不

Ehhh.

畫太多, 畫太少

Oooh. Hmm. Too funny.

畫得剛剛好, 但是不夠好笑

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

不, 不

I'll enjoy it on my own. Perhaps.

我的天, 一千個不 !

No. Nah. No.

(音樂)

Overdrawn. Underdrawn.

不不. (四個小時以後)

Drawn just right, still not funny enough.

嘿.. 太好了, 你那有什麼?

No. No.

火腿起司裸麥麵包? 不要

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

醃燻牛肉發酵麵包? 不

(Music)

煙燻火雞培根? 不

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

沙拉三明治? 讓我看看

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

呃, 不要

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

烤起司? 不要

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

BLT? 不要 (按：BLT 是培根生菜番茄三明治)

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

黑森林火腿和白乾酪配蘋果芥茉? 不要

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

綠豆沙拉? 不要

Eh, no.

(音樂)

Office worker: Grilled cheese?BM: No.

不, 不

Office worker: BLT?BM: No.

肯定不 (午餐後幾個小時)

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

(警笛聲)

Office worker: Green bean salad?BM: No.

不要, 給我滾

(Music)

(笑聲)

No. No.

這就是將我的工作誇大之後的樣子

Definitely no. [Several hours after lunch]

我們拒絕很多很漫畫

(Siren)

多到市面上有好幾本書叫做 : 退件漫畫大全集

No. Get out of here.

《退件漫畫大全集》不是紐約客式的幽默

(Laughter)

你可以看到路邊喝醉的流浪漢和他的腹語人偶在嘔吐

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

這不會是紐約客的幽默

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

其實這是我們其中一位漫畫家 Matt Diffee 的作品

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

我來舉一些《退件漫畫大全》裡的例子

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

”我考慮來生個小孩”

And you might notice the bum on the sidewalk here

(笑聲)

who is boozing and his ventriloquist dummy is puking.

瞧, 你們這是有趣的內疚笑聲

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

跟你們良好判斷力作對的笑聲

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

(笑聲)

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

”屁頭, 幫幫我" (按：說自己是屁頭 但暗指對方屁頭)

"I'm thinking about having a child."

(笑聲)

(Laughter)

事實上, 在這本書的脈絡中

There you have an interesting -- the guilty laugh,

”這裡都是不曾也不會在紐約客上看到的漫畫”

the laugh against your better judgment.

這些幽默是完美的

(Laughter)

讓我解釋一下

"Ass-head. Please help."

幽默有一個概念是善意的作對

(Laughter)

換句話說, 關於一個好笑的幽默

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

我們可以認定同時是錯誤和正確的

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

如果我們認為是全盤錯誤的, 就不好笑了

in The New Yorker," this humor is perfect.

如果完全正確, 就不會是笑話了, 是吧

I'm going to explain why.

所以在 "不, 星期四不行. '絕不' 如何... '絕不' 你可以嗎?" 的善意中

There's a concept about humor about it being

它是無禮的, 現實世界不會是這樣的

a benign violation.

在這脈絡下, 我們覺得這是可以接受的

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

但在 ”屁頭, 幫幫我"

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

這是善意的作對

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

在紐約客雜誌內文中

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

”T細胞軍隊: 身體免疫反應能幫忙治療癌症？”

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

天吶

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

你正在讀這篇有水準的文章

Within that context, we feel it's okay.

一篇關於免疫的詳細文章

So within this context, "Asshead. Please help"

結果一眼就瞧到

is a benign violation.

”屁頭, 幫幫我"　天吶！

Within the context of The New Yorker magazine ...

所以這樣算是惡性的作對, 不被接受的

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

這樣的內容並不有趣