跟TED演讲学英文：How to find laughter anywhere by Chris Duffy

How to find laughter anywhere

Link: https://www.ted.com/talks/chris_duffy_how_to_find_laughter_anywhere?utm_source=homepage_featured&utm_content=1&utm_term=video-title

Speaker: Chris Duffy

Date: April 2024

Introduction

Why are some people really funny and others … not so much? Comedian Chris Duffy shows how you can sharpen your sense of humor and start laughing every day — by seeing the world like a kid.

Vocabulary

hexagon and octagon： 六边形和八边形

period：句号；句点

unventilated： 美 [ˌənˈvɛn(t)əˌleɪdəd] 不通风的；未通风的；空气不流通的

improv: improvisation 即兴表演

“Improv” 是 “improvisation” 的缩写，指的是即兴表演。在表演艺术中，即兴表演意味着演员在没有预先准备或脚本的情况下，现场创作出对话、动作和情节。这通常用于喜剧表演中，演员会根据观众的建议或随机的情境，迅速构思并展现幽默的互动。

在这个演讲中，讲者提到他教的 “improv comedy” 课，指的是通过练习即兴喜剧表演来帮助成人学员释放他们的创造力，放下对自我的批评，从而更加自然和自由地表达他们的想法。

mischievous： 美 [ˈmɪstʃɪvəs] 调皮的；顽皮的；捣蛋的

intimidated：美 [ɪnˈtɪmɪdeɪtɪd] 害怕的；受到威胁的

Summary

这位TED演讲者分享了他在小学教学中的趣事。他回忆了与学生互动的有趣经历，例如学生回答奇怪问题或犯下意外的错误，展现了孩子们天马行空的想象力和毫无拘束的创造力。他通过这些例子展现了小学教学中难以预料的日常乐趣。

接着，他将这种自由和创意的思维与成人学员的即兴表演训练作对比，指出成年人往往因为害怕被批评而抑制了自己的想法。他通过训练这些成年人摆脱自我批判，开始接受并享受他们独特的想法和幽默感，最终取得了明显的进步。

最后，他分享了自己在职场平台LinkedIn上故意自称为CEO的搞笑经历，借此展示了幽默感如何打破僵化的社会规则。他鼓励大家在生活中带有更多的游戏精神，并大胆接受自我与他人的笑声，强调幽默与创意思维的重要性。

In this TED talk, the speaker shares humorous anecdotes from his time as an elementary school teacher. He recalls entertaining interactions with students, such as unexpected answers or funny questions, which highlight the unfiltered imagination and creativity of children. These examples show the unpredictable and joyful nature of working in an elementary school.

Next, he compares this free-flowing creativity with the more restrained mindset of his adult improv students. He points out that many adults, unlike children, suppress their creative thoughts out of fear of being judged. Through improv exercises, he helps them overcome this self-criticism and embrace their unique, quirky ideas, resulting in significant progress.

Finally, the speaker shares a hilarious story about pretending to be the CEO of LinkedIn on the platform, which led to an amusing series of events. This example emphasizes how humor can challenge rigid societal norms. He encourages people to bring a playful attitude into their lives and embrace laughter, both at themselves and from others, stressing the value of humor and creative thinking.

Transcript

My favorite part about working
in an elementary school

is that I could never predict
what was going to happen next.

Every day was a new, incredible day.

There was never a boring moment.

Sometimes, you think
that you’re handing out a worksheet

just reviewing the names of shapes.

But then instead of getting back
hexagon and octagon,

you get back this.

[“Amy” “Gabriella”]

(Laughter)

And I think we can agree
that is just correct.

(Laughter)

That’s right, that is Gabriella.

(Laughter)

Or, another time I was teaching a class

on human biology
to my fifth-grade students

when one of them afterwards
handed in this anonymous question card.

[What are balls for.]

(Laughter)

And you know what really
gets me about this, what kills me,

is we had spent so long
studying punctuation.

And he still used a period
instead of a question mark.

“What are balls for.” Period.

(Laughter)

At the same time that I was teaching
elementary school students,

I was also teaching adults improv comedy
at a local theater on the weekends.

This was a group of retired folks,

graduate students
and semi-successful business people

who were paying money
to spend their Saturday mornings

in an unventilated basement with me.

And most of the exercises
that we were doing together

were to get them to let go
of the self-critical part of their brain,

to release the idea that there was
a “right” answer to find,

and to instead be more comfortable
with their honest, creative,

idiosyncratic thoughts.

Now any elementary school
teacher can tell you

that getting kids to share
their honest, unexpected thoughts,

that’s not something
you have to cultivate.

They will do that
whether you want them to or not.

I mean, here are some real questions
that kids asked me out of the blue

with no context,

during what was supposed to be
a silent work time.

(Laughter)

“Is it possible to make myself live longer
so that I can see the Sun explode?”

(Laughter)

"Are pigs actually prejudiced
against women,

or is that just an expression?"

(Laughter)

"If your brother isn’t married yet,

why doesn’t he just marry your mom?"

(Laughter)

And actually, that brings up
a really important point,

which is that kids’ ideas
are not always good.

Sometimes they’re very bad.

I’m personally very grateful that my mom
and my brother are not married.

(Laughter)

There’s some research
that suggests that for many of us,

fifth grade is close to the peak
of this kind of wildly free,

uninhibited, creative thinking.

But that does not have to be the case.

In my experience, the difference between
people with an amazing sense of humor

and those without is often just
whether they are willing to accept

and notice their honest reactions,

or whether they try their hardest
to fit them into a box.

And that can shift over time.

I saw that shift with my adult
improv students.

At first, when we would do an exercise

where they were asked to name
seven things in a given category

as quickly and creatively as possible,

many of them would get stuck.

One guy, Rick, a corporate tax lawyer,

answered the prompt,

“Seven weird types of shoes”

by saying, "Brown shoes, white shoes,

black shoes, gray shoes."

I’m not going to name all the shoes,

it was all a lot
of boring shoes, you get it.

But then, after we practiced
celebrating our more bizarre thoughts

instead of repressing them,

Rick eventually came up with a list
a list that included things like,

"Shoes covered in mud,
shoes covered in gold,

shoes covered in the blood of my enemies.”

Which is like, that’s a lot, Rick,

actually, that’s a lot, it’s really a lot.

But it’s also definitely more interesting.

And I think that’s the point.

When we turn off our self-judgment

and we just notice the things
that stand out to us,

or that we think,

we can surprise ourselves in ways
that are hilarious and delightful.

Every comedian that I know
has a notebook or some sort of document

where they keep track of all
the little odd things

that they notice or think
throughout the day.

And what you find,
when you start keeping track,

is that there is no shortage
of material out there.

There [is] so much to laugh at.

And if you have a little bit of courage
to allow yourself to be laughed at

and to laugh at yourself,

you can make discoveries

that you never would have
otherwise, right?

If you want to know what balls are for,
sometimes you’ve got to ask.

I have found that you can find laughter
in even the driest places

if you bring some of that mischievous
fifth-grade energy

to the instructions and to what
you’re “supposed” to be doing, right?

It doesn’t have to be geometry class.

It can be an opportunity for you

to hang out with your
good friend Gabriella.

Now I have had the most fun
when I applied these lessons

that I got from my fifth graders
to self-serious adult spaces.

To places where I maybe feel intimidated
or like I don’t necessarily belong.

So, for example,
for me personally, LinkedIn.

Terrifying.

I’ve never had a professional resume,

I’ve never been comfortable
with business networking,

but I’ve also always been
kind of fascinated by LinkedIn.

Like, they let you make a profile,

and they don’t verify that you work
at the place you say you work.

So I decided I was going to test
this out and have some fun.

I made a profile on LinkedIn

where I said that I was
the CEO of LinkedIn.

(Laughter)

And I didn’t think they would
even let me do that.

But not only did they,
after I made the profile,

one of the most incredible things

that has ever happened
in my entire life happened.

Which is that LinkedIn sent this email
to everyone in my contact list.

They sent that email.

(Laughter)

"Congratulate Chris on the new job.

Chris Duffy is now CEO of LinkedIn."

(Laughter)

That’s a better joke than anything
I could ever write in my entire life.

(Laughter)

I was the CEO of LinkedIn
on LinkedIn for one year.

(Laughter)

And at that one-year mark,

LinkedIn sent yet another email
to everyone in my contact list

asking them to congratulate me
on my work anniversary.

(Laughter)

And at that point,

I received a message
from a woman named Faith

who worked on LinkedIn’s
Trust and Security team.

(Laughter)

She said my account was being locked
due to concerns about its inaccuracy.

So I sent her back a photo of my license,

front and back,

to prove that my name was,
in fact, Chris Duffy.

(Laughter)

Faith responded.

"The thing that we are concerned about
is not that your name is not Chris Duffy.

It’s that you are claiming
to be the CEO of LinkedIn."

So I responded,

"Faith, you are taking
a pretty disrespectful tone

for someone who works for me."

(Laughter)

10 seconds later, she permanently
deactivated my account.

(Laughter)

It was a short but glorious stint,
running my own personal social network.

(Laughter)

And now, what am I up to these days?

I’m so glad you asked.

I’m more than just a fifth-grade graduate.

I’m actually,

I’m the founder and owner of TED.

(Laughter)

Congratulate me, you know you want to.

Thanks for coming to my conference.

(Applause and cheers)

Afterword

2024年9月15日14点27分于上海。