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Ok, um, I'm going to give a short introduction in English.

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Shhhh! Ok, all children be quiet. That means you. Yeah, hahaha. Alright...

དང་པོ་ང་དབྱིན་ཇི་སྐད་ཐུང་ཐུང་བཤད་གི་ཡིན། བོད་སྐད་མང་པོ་ལབ་ཀྱི་མ་རེད། དེའི་མ་གཏོགས་ང་ངོ་ཚར་འགྲོ་ཀྱི་རེད། རེད་པཱ།

dang po nga dbyin ji skad thung thung bshad gi yin/_bod skad mang po lab kyi ma red/_de'i ma gtogs nga ngo tshar 'gro kyi red/_red pA/

First, I'm going to give a short speech in English. I'm not going to speak a lot of Tibetan. If I do, I'll be embarassed, right?

ག་རེ་ཡིན་ཟེར་ན།མི་འདི་ཚོ་བོད་སྐད་གྱི་ཐོག་ལ་དཔེ་མཁས་པ་ཆེན་པོ་ཡོད་རེད།

ga re yin zer na/mi 'di tsho bod skad gyi thog la dpe mkhas pa chen po yod red/

Because these people are experts in Tibetan language.

ཨ་ནི་ངས་མང་པོ་ལབ་ན་དེ་ནས་ཕན་ཐོགས་གཅིག་ཡང་མི་འདུག

a ni ngas mang po lab na de nas phan thogs gcig yang mi 'dug

So there's no sense in me speaking a lot.

བྱས་ཙང་དབྱིན་ཇི་སྐད་ལ་ཐུང་ཐུང་བཤད་གི་ཡིན།

byas tsang dbyin ji skad la thung thung bshad gi yin/

Therefore, I'll just give a short speech in English.

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So today, the University of Virginia is very happy to host a presentation by four of the pioneers of modern Tibetan comedy.

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And, I'd like to just briefly introduce them, and then say a few words about the subject of Tibetan humor and then go right to the program.

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So, we have, um, starting from right to left...

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uh, Thupten, from Lhasa...

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Migmar from Lhasa...

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Menla kyab from Amdo, or northeastern Tibet...

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and Pasang Tsering from India.

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So, in the present century, in the twenty-first century,

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I think many cultures around the world face similar challenges, in terms of the rise of global culture and homogenous ways of thinking, talking, and being.

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Namely, the challenge is how to preserve local sensibilities, local perceptions, and local ways of being in the world, even as those cultures and their members continue to thrive and participate fully in the modern world.

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And one of the things that I've noticed, as I've watched Tibetan humor over the last couple of decades, um, slowly develop in Tibet and outside of Tibet,

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is the way in which Tibetan humor, in fact any humor, is bound up with language and with perceptions in the world.

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and the four people that we have here are really genuinely the leaders of Tibetan humor,

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who have developed the distinctively modern brand of Tibet humor in central Tibet, uh, in India, and also in northeastern Amdo.

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Uh, Thupten and Migmar are the most famous Tibetan duo in central Tibet and all across the Tibet Autonomous Region,

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Um, Menla kyab has been a leader in stand up comedy in Amdo, in northeastern Tibet,

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and Pasang Tsering, he told me he is doing his 125th show tonight, over the last three years, and has been the most famous stand up comedian in India and in exile.

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Together, these four represent um, the pioneers, or the uh... of Tibetan humor.

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And in establishing, in establishing a vibrant humor tradition grounded in a Tibetan world, they have contributed to helping Tibetans gain a sense of gravity or centeredness in a modern world.

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It's a world of Tibetan expectations, and Tibetan surprises.

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A world where what is serious and what is funny is defined by Tibetan perceptions.

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And therefore I think when we consider the importance of Tibetan humor, it's not only a funny, a laughing matter,

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but rather, it's bound up with other figures, poets, drama...uh, novelists, people writing dramas, making Tibetan films, who are all... and teachers, who are all bound up with helping create and preserve a sensibility that's Tibetan.

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Um, in this case, again, it's about Tibetan humor. What we expect and what we don't expect. What surprises us, and what doesn't surprise us.

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So please join me in expressing our appreciation of having these four pioneers here today, and then we'll go right to the program.