美國(guó)版“小沈陽(yáng)”火了！

Self-titled as an “all American immigrant,” Joe Wong came a long way from a rosy-eyed new immigrant to a blossoming comedian. His jokes range from ethnic, personal, political, observational to bizarre. It’s not always easy to categorize his humor, but it is always inspired.

In China, Joe enjoyed watching traditional Chinese standup comedy and sketches. He wrote and starred in two comedy sketches that won accolades from audiences. Continually fascinated by the vibrant American culture, he tried to learn about it through rock music from static-laden radio stations and a limited amount of books and movies.

Joe finally made the leap to the United States in 1994 and ended up at Rice University in Texas. In 1996, Joe honed his writing skills by becoming a columnist for the campus newspaper The Thresher. He was thrilled to find out how much people enjoyed his humor.

Moving to Boston in late 2001 to take advantage of the well-established comedy scene, Joe enrolled in standup, acting and improvisational comedy classes. He quickly became a Boston favorite among comedians and audience members alike. Joe has won the Lizard Lounge weekly comedy contest six times, thus standing out in the comedy club in Cambridge, Massachusetts noted for its smart comedians.

In 2003, Joe wrote and produced the short film, "Joe Huang For President," which won Best Short Film at the 2003 Cambridge Fringe Fest beating out nationwide competition. After the Fringe Fest, he appeared on the local television show Chowdah (Comcast).

Cheered on by his fellow comedians, Joe was a finalist in the 2003 Boston International Comedy Festival, thus making his way to the top eight of some 300 contestants from all over North America. During the competition, scouts from NBC and CBS, as well as reporters from local newspapers took notice. One of his jokes was quoted in the Boston Herald.

In the 2005 Boston Comedy Festival, Joe participated in the David Letterman Showcase show where his performance won rave reviews from the press. Later that year, he was interviewed by WBUR the public radio station who also broadcast part of his live performance.

In 2006 and 2007, Joe performed and headlined in numerous high profile shows such as the Autism Speaks Show, the ACDC Benefit Show and the Ticket to Asia Show. He was featured and interviewed in three newspapers, two magazines and the NECN and ABC TV stations.

Currently, Joe Wong performs regularly in major comedy clubs and colleges throughout the country, as well as benefits and corporate events. His volume of comedy material, his originality, and his "cut-from-a-different-kind-of-mold" character create a persona that audiences can't help but love.

今年39歲的黃西有著典型的中國(guó)留學(xué)生經(jīng)歷。主修化學(xué)、畢業(yè)于吉林大學(xué)的他，1994年赴美攻讀博士學(xué)位，畢業(yè)后順利找到了一份工作，接著結(jié)婚生子，留在了美國(guó)。

1999年，黃西取得得州萊斯大學(xué)生化博士學(xué)位，2000年開(kāi)始到馬薩諸塞州一家制藥公司上班。白天，他在實(shí)驗(yàn)室做研究，到了晚上他搖身一變成為搞笑藝人，穿梭在新英格蘭地區(qū)的酒吧、夜總會(huì)、俱樂(lè)部和大學(xué)禮堂，表演他的單口相聲，波士頓是他起家的地方。

還在吉林大學(xué)讀本科時(shí)，黃西就喜歡寫(xiě)笑話和講笑話，平時(shí)經(jīng)?？疵绹?guó)《讀者文摘》中的笑話集錦。在得州念書(shū)時(shí)，為排遣學(xué)習(xí)生活的枯燥，黃西除了繼續(xù)看《讀者文摘》外，開(kāi)始大量閱讀笑話書(shū)，馬克·吐溫和著名導(dǎo)演伍迪·艾倫的作品對(duì)他的啟發(fā)很大，讓他了解了更多的美式幽默與美式笑話。

在制藥公司工作后，黃西曾利用業(yè)余時(shí)間就讀過(guò)當(dāng)?shù)氐囊粋€(gè)“笑話寫(xiě)作成人教育班”，但他自稱并“沒(méi)有真正學(xué)到東西”。惟一的收獲是通過(guò)這個(gè)渠道接觸到了波士頓的一些喜劇團(tuán)，并開(kāi)始了自己的表演活動(dòng)。

黃西首次登臺(tái)是在2002年，但相當(dāng)不容易，“因?yàn)槿思也辉敢馓峁C(jī)會(huì)”。不甘放棄的他努力地進(jìn)行笑話創(chuàng)作，有時(shí)寫(xiě)了100個(gè)笑話段子，只有一個(gè)是好笑的。他的第一個(gè)聽(tīng)眾是做會(huì)計(jì)師的太太。功夫不負(fù)有心人，2003年，黃西打入了波士頓國(guó)際喜劇節(jié)決賽。

2005年，專門為《大衛(wèi)·萊特曼秀》物色人才的節(jié)目制作人布瑞爾在波士頓看了黃西的表演，認(rèn)為他很有潛力，并著手培養(yǎng)他。經(jīng)過(guò)3年的觀察，當(dāng)布瑞爾去年在波士頓再度觀看黃西的表演后，感到他為萊特曼秀試鏡的時(shí)機(jī)已經(jīng)成熟。布瑞爾深信，這個(gè)中國(guó)人一定能夠大紅大紫。

布瑞爾把黃西寫(xiě)的幾則笑話進(jìn)行次序上的整理，使其更有節(jié)奏感，同時(shí)還指導(dǎo)了他一些講笑話時(shí)的技巧。4月17日，黃西在《大衛(wèi)·萊特曼秀》的演出結(jié)束后，主持人萊特曼拉著黃西的手說(shuō)：“你是個(gè)天才?！彼€罕見(jiàn)地拉著笑得合不攏嘴的黃西一起謝幕。

作為獨(dú)具慧眼的伯樂(lè)，布瑞爾認(rèn)為黃西的表演是自己近幾年來(lái)所發(fā)掘到的“最清新、最成功的演出”。黃西在制藥公司實(shí)驗(yàn)室的同事聞?dòng)嵑蠖即蟪砸惑@，紛紛跑來(lái)道賀，祝他將來(lái)名利雙收。

一炮而紅的黃西將于近日在紐約參加“喜劇中心”頻道的試鏡。這將是第一位華人應(yīng)邀在這個(gè)全美最熱門的喜劇頻道上演出。對(duì)此，黃西異常興奮，但他還是冷靜地表示，“目前這只是副業(yè)，一直到我能確定走這條路的收入充足穩(wěn)定之前，還是要努力上班”。

黃西說(shuō)，如果講笑話能維持生計(jì)的話，他會(huì)考慮改行，因?yàn)椤皩W(xué)術(shù)界不缺我這個(gè)中國(guó)人”。更重要的是，黃西已對(duì)講美式笑話這份職業(yè)，產(chǎn)生了一份使命感。