PBS高端访谈:喜剧演员哈桑·明哈杰谈人生

JUDY WOODRUFF: Finally, the latest in our Brief But Spectacular series, where we ask interesting people their passions. Tonight, actor and comedian¹ Hasan Minhaj of The Daily Show on tackling serious topics with the tools of comedy.

HASAN MINHAJ, Actor/Comedian: I personally feel, as elder siblings², and specifically the first children of immigrants, we kind of are like the first-round draft pick for our for our parents. We are the LeBron James for them. So, we are the franchise³ player. And then, if it doesn't work out with us, they keep drafting. And that's what second, third and fourth children are for them. I grew up in Davis, California, which is sort of the forgotten part of California. I had a very unique relationship with what it meant to be a brown kid in America. My dad really has this lens through which he sees America, where he sees it through eyes of an immigrant. He's so grateful to be here. And so he's willing to go through whatever it takes to survive and be successful here. He's willing to pay the American dream tax, whereas, for me, as a first-generation child of immigrants, I actually have the audacity⁴ of equality. The American dream tax is sort of this concept that I came up with where I noticed that my dad, when he would see either micro-aggressions or full-on aggression⁵ happen in America, he sort of considers that to be the cost of entry. So, you're going to endure, you know, racism⁶ or bigotry⁷ or micro-aggressions. And if it doesn't kill you, well, you know, it's worth it. Pay the tax. When I told my dad I wanted to pursue comedy, he said, do you have a drug habit?

HASAN MINHAJ: Jon Stewart to me was kind of like comedy, dad. I don't think my parents thought he was a comedian. I legitimately⁸ think that they held him to the same esteem⁹ as like a Dan Rather. I was like, dad, you know, the show is a comedy show, right? And he is like, no, no, no, no, it's much more than that. Usually, you get to pick or choose one or the other. You either work on stuff that's meaningful, but not funny, or that's funny, but not meaningful. The Daily Show is one of the rare cases in show business where you get to do both. People turn to political satire¹⁰ shows to actually get the news. And I talk about specific issues in regards to bigotry, racism, Islamophobia. So a lot of times, people are like, well, what's your hot take on this? And I'm like, hey, man, I have got to internalize this and think about it before I can just be the Nelson Mandela to this issue, you know? Jon gave me this really great piece of advice. You know, there is no joke or TV show that will solve these problems. Art, music, culture, all of these things, they're kind of lightning rods that just strike people's hearts at the right moment. Hopefully, that song or that movie or that show strikes at a moment and strikes a chord in people that makes them take action. But the necessary condition is the action of people, not a TV show or a joke. So I appreciate everybody being like, you're my voice. But I'm just a very small piece of the larger puzzle of change. Hey, my name is Hasan Minhaj. This is my Brief But Spectacular take on political comedy.

JUDY WOODRUFF: You can watch all our Brief But Spectacular episodes at PBS.org/NewsHour/Brief.

1 comedian   

n.喜剧演员；滑稽演员

参考例句：

• The comedian tickled the crowd with his jokes.喜剧演员的笑话把人们逗乐了。
• The comedian enjoyed great popularity during the 30's.那位喜剧演员在三十年代非常走红。

2 siblings   

n.兄弟，姐妹( sibling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A triplet sleeps amongst its two siblings. 一个三胞胎睡在其两个同胞之间。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She has no way of tracking the donor or her half-siblings down. 她没办法找到那个捐精者或她的兄弟姐妹。 来自时文部分

3 franchise   

n.特许，特权，专营权，特许权

参考例句：

• Catering in the schools is run on a franchise basis.学校餐饮服务以特许权经营。
• The United States granted the franchise to women in 1920.美国于1920年给妇女以参政权。

4 audacity   

n.大胆，卤莽，无礼

参考例句：

• He had the audacity to ask for an increase in salary.他竟然厚着脸皮要求增加薪水。
• He had the audacity to pick pockets in broad daylight.他竟敢在光天化日之下掏包。

5 aggression   

n.进攻，侵略，侵犯，侵害

参考例句：

• So long as we are firmly united, we need fear no aggression.只要我们紧密地团结，就不必惧怕外来侵略。
• Her view is that aggression is part of human nature.她认为攻击性是人类本性的一部份。

6 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

7 bigotry   

n.偏见，偏执，持偏见的行为[态度]等

参考例句：

• She tried to dissociate herself from the bigotry in her past.她力图使自己摆脱她以前的偏见。
• At least we can proceed in this matter without bigotry.目前这件事咱们至少可以毫无偏见地进行下去。

8 legitimately   

ad.合法地；正当地，合理地

参考例句：

• The radio is legitimately owned by the company. 该电台为这家公司所合法拥有。
• She looked for nothing save what might come legitimately and without the appearance of special favour. 她要的并不是男人们的额外恩赐，而是合法正当地得到的工作。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

9 esteem   

n.尊敬，尊重；vt.尊重，敬重；把…看作

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• The veteran worker ranks high in public love and esteem.那位老工人深受大伙的爱戴。

10 satire   

n.讽刺，讽刺文学，讽刺作品

参考例句：

• The movie is a clever satire on the advertising industry.那部影片是关于广告业的一部巧妙的讽刺作品。
• Satire is often a form of protest against injustice.讽刺往往是一种对不公正的抗议形式。