MANDALAY, Myanmar — Emerging from behind a tawdry blue curtain in the garage of his three-story home here in Myanmar’s second largest city, U Lu Maw made his way onto a makeshift stage to do what he does best: tell jokes.

缅甸，曼德勒——这里是缅甸第二大城市，卢茂(U Lu Maw)来到自家三层楼房的车库，他从俗丽的蓝色帷幕后面探出身子，在这个临时舞台上做自己最擅长的事：讲笑话。

‘‘I don’t trust the government,’’ Mr. Lu Maw, 66, bellowed into the microphone in English one evening last month to an audience of foreigners. ‘‘The cronies — they like to take things for free, like Jesse James. It’s the five-finger discount.’’

“我不相信政府，”上个月的一天晚上，66岁的卢茂对着麦克风，向台下的外国观众们用英语大叫道。“那些狐朋狗友喜欢免费拿东西，就像杰西·詹姆斯(Jesse James)，这是顺手牵羊。”

Though his attire is modest — a traditional wraparound skirt known as a longyi under a red T-shirt emblazoned with “The Moustache Brothers,” the name of his comedy troupe — Mr. Lu Maw delivers jokes that are a dark and bold reminder of what life was like under decades of oppressive military rule in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.

卢茂穿着名叫“罗衣”的传统包裹式服装，外面套着有“胡子兄弟”(The Moustache Brothers)图案的红色T恤——这是他所在的喜剧团体的名字。尽管衣着普通，卢茂的笑话黑暗而大胆，让人想起几十年来缅甸在军政府压迫下的生活，

The group, which has been performing for more than three decades, is renowned in the country for a political satire that can carry a prison sentence if performed in a public venue in Burmese. Since 2001, the troupe’s members have shared their popular comedy act from their garage seven nights a week for gatherings of as many as 40 foreigners, who pay the equivalent of $10 each.

这个团体已经表演了30多年，他们因擅长进行带讽刺政治意味的表演而出名。他们如果在缅甸的公共场所演出，会可能招来牢狱之灾。自2001年起，这个团体开始在家中的车库上演他们受欢迎的喜剧节目，每周七个晚上都会演出，可以吸引不少于40个外国人，每人付相当于10美元的门票。

It was jokes like the five-finger-discount one that landed two of the three founding performers, U Par Par Lay and his cousin U Lu Zaw, in a hard-labor prison camp for five years in the late 1990s. And the performances have continued even after the death of Mr. Par Par Lay, who was Mr. Lu Maw’s brother and the group’s leader, two years ago.

“胡子兄弟”的三位创始成员中，巴巴列(U Par Par Lay)和堂弟卢造(U Lu Zaw) 曾在90年代蹲过五年劳改监狱，就是因为“顺手牵羊”这样的笑话。巴巴列是卢茂的哥哥，也曾是“胡子兄弟”的领队，于两年前去世，在那之后，表演仍在继续。

It was not until 2011 that the military regime, which had jailed an estimated 2,000 political prisoners, was succeeded by a quasi-civilian government determined to open the country. Many of those prisoners have since been released, though as of last month, 169 political prisoners remained incarcerated, with 446 activists awaiting trial, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a human rights group in Thailand.

缅甸军政府关押了大约2000名政治犯，直到2011年，这个政权才被决心打开国门的准平民政府所取代。其后很多政治犯都得到释放，但是根据泰国人权组织援助政治犯协会(Assistance Association for Political Prisoners)统计，截止到上个月，仍然有169名政治犯被关押，446名活动分子在候审之中。

Mr. Par Par Lay was himself a pro-democracy activist and avid supporter of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, now the country’s opposition leader, and took part in the violent nationwide democratic 1988 uprising before dying in August 2013, at the age of 67. His cause of death was never verified, but Mr. Lu Maw blames a kidney infection caused by years of drinking contaminated water at two prison camps in northern Myanmar.

巴巴列本人就是一位支持民主的活动分子，也是缅甸反对党领袖昂山素季的狂热支持者，曾参与1988年全国范围内的民主起义。他于2013年8月去世，享年67岁。死因无法证实，但卢茂说，这要归结于巴巴列多年前被关押在缅甸北部两座监狱期间饮用受污染的水，从而导致肾脏感染。

‘‘My own brother passed away from a government killing, but not only my brother — over 2,000 people died,’’ he said, referring to Myanmar’s population of prisoners, which ran into the tens of thousands. Many of them died from prison-related injuries or illnesses. Myanmar’s poor treatment of its political prisoners has for decades drawn sharp criticism from human rights groups and the international community.

“我的兄弟被政府杀害，但不仅仅是我的兄弟，有2000多个人死了，”他说，缅甸有数万名囚犯。他们当中有很多人都死于服刑期间所发生的伤病。几十年来，人权组织和国际社会一直严厉批评缅甸虐待政治犯。

When the trio began performing more than three decades ago, comedy troupes like theirs were a regular fixture at celebrations and public events throughout Myanmar. More than 40 touring troupes from Mandalay each employed a mix of apolitical slapstick comedy and traditional dance together known as a-nyeint pwe.

“胡子兄弟”三人的表演始于30多年前，当时类似的喜剧团体遍布缅甸全境，是庆典和公众活动中不可缺少的一景。在曼德勒，就有40多个巡回演出团体，把无关政治的喜剧性闹剧和名叫“阿迎戏”(a-nyeint pwe)的传统舞蹈结合起来。

The field of troupes became so oversaturated, however, that Mr. Par Par Lay and Mr. Lu Maw grew mustaches to differentiate themselves and then sought to push the boundaries of a-nyeint pwe even further. During an event in 1996 at the house of Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi for Independence Day, the pair introduced a far riskier brand of political satire to more than 1,000 of her supporters, poking fun at the junta.

然而这种团体的市场有些饱和，巴巴列和卢茂便蓄起了小胡子，把自己与其他团体区分开来，之后又开始突破阿迎戏的边界。1996年，他们在昂山素季家做庆祝独立日的演出，在她的1000多名支持者面前做了更为大胆的政治讽刺演出，拿军政府取笑。

‘‘They confirmed the disdain of great parts of the population for the generals and their methods of ruling,’’ said Franz-Xaver Augustin, the Yangon director of the Goethe-Institut, the German cultural center.

“他们的表演证明，大多数缅甸人对将军们和他们的统治方式心怀鄙视，”德国文化中心歌德学院仰光分院长弗朗兹·哈维·奥古斯汀(Franz-Xaver Augustin)说。

At the show last month, Mr. Lu Maw repeated the brand of humor showcased at the 1996 performance.

在上个月的演出上，卢茂再现了他1996年的招牌幽默表演。

‘‘We don’t have medicine and education here,’’ he told the crowd. ‘‘Everybody starving except for the government. They love to take things. So when you are in Burma, please don’t steal — the government doesn’t like the competition. ’’

“我们这里没有医药和教育，”他对人们说，“除了政府，所有人都在挨饿。他们喜欢拿走人们的东西。所以你们来缅甸不要偷东西，政府可不喜欢竞争。”

Mr. Lu Zaw, now 64, said that after the 1996 event, later that evening, the military police arrested him and Mr. Par Par Lay.

卢造今年64岁，他说1996年的演出当晚，军警就逮捕了他和巴巴列。

‘‘I was here in the house when it happened,’’ he said. ‘‘K.G.B. came knocking on the door that night and said ‘follow me,’ ’’ Mr. Lu Zaw said in a jocular tone.

“事情发生时我还在那栋房子里”他说。“当晚，秘密警察就来敲门，说‘跟我走’，”卢造用滑稽的口吻说。

They were sentenced to seven years of hard labor for their act, and the Moustache Brothers were forbidden to perform publicly in Myanmar.

他们因为这些表演被判七年劳改，“胡子兄弟”也被禁止在缅甸公开演出。

Of his time in the labor camp, Mr. Lu Zaw said, ‘‘At nighttime we were all scabby from working, but every day before bed the other inmates asked us to perform for them and show them what we told Suu Kyi.’’

卢造说，在劳改营的日子里，“到了晚上，我们都因为白天的工作遍体鳞伤，但是每一天上床之前，其他犯人都要求我们为他们表演，他们想知道我们对昂山素季说了什么。”

When Mr. Lu Zaw and Mr. Par Par Lay were arrested, the Moustache Brothers were so well known as advocates of free speech that their detention provoked an international outcry from rights groups and American entertainers like Bill Maher and Rob Reiner as well as a petition by the cosmetics retailer Body Shop that produced three million signatures.

卢造和巴巴列被捕后，“胡子兄弟”成了广为人知的言论自由倡导者。这一事件激发了全球的强烈抗议，从人权组织到比尔·马赫(Bill Maher)和罗伯·莱纳(Rob Reiner)等美国娱乐界人士；化妆品牌美体小铺(Body Shop)为此组织了请愿，征集到300万个签名。

Partly as a result of those efforts, the sentence was commuted to five years and seven months, and in July 2001 the two rejoined Mr. Lu Maw and began performing every night from their home to skirt the ban on performing for the general public.

部分是由于这些努力，两人的刑期分别被减至五年和七个月。2001年7月，两人与卢茂重聚，为避开公开表演的禁令，他们开始每天晚上在家里表演。

Without a change at the helm of government, the risks were high. Still, they refused to back down. Even though police officers were stationed outside the house, ‘‘the tourists and journalists continued coming,’’ Mr. Lu Zaw said, explaining that the presence of a foreign audience probably prevents the authorities from cracking down again. The police are no longer deployed there.

当时政权尚未更迭，他们冒着很高的风险。但他们绝不屈服。尽管警察就驻扎在门外，“游客和记者还是络绎不绝地前来，”卢造说。他还说，当着外国观众的面，当局很可能不敢严厉打击他们。现在，他们家外面已经没有警察了。

Now, on the second anniversary since the death of Mr. Par Par Lay, the troupe is made up of the two surviving members, their wives and five other relatives. Their determination to continue defying the government, they said, is in part a tribute to their lost brother, and today they perform an updated version of the very jokes that Mr. Par Par Lay created and still play well in a country where the military remains in control.

如今，巴巴列去世已经两年了，这个组合由卢茂和卢造，他们的妻子以及五个其他亲戚组成。他们说，他们决定继续挑衅政府，这也是对亡兄的纪念，如今，他们的节目在巴巴列创作的基础上有了更新，在这个仍由军人控制的国家里依旧广为传播。

‘‘Before shows, I am very sad in my heart,’’ Mr. Lu Zaw said before the June performance. ‘‘When I start to perform though, I have to change my face. Now, I talk about my brother’s story and I have to put on a smile. I have to be strong.’’

“演出之前，我心里其实非常悲伤，”卢造在6月的演出之前说。“但是等我一上台，我就得换上另一副面孔。现在，我必须面带微笑地讲起哥哥的故事。我必须坚强。”

Most other comedy troupes in Myanmar have long since disbanded as performers struggle to make a living. Today, fewer than five remain, Mr. Lu Maw said.

缅甸的大多数喜剧团体因生存艰难，早已解散，现在全国还有不到五个剧团，卢茂说。

‘‘The tourists demand us, so we cannot stop,’’ he said. ‘‘My life depends on them and that’s why I cannot leave them.’’

“游客想看我们演出，所以我们不能停下来，”他说。“我的生命都要依靠他们，所以我不能离开他们。”

Mr. Lu Zaw and Mr. Lu Maw consider their work a calling and plan to continue it for the rest of their lives, or at least as long as they can keep performing.

卢造和卢茂将他们的工作视为一种召唤，并计划余生都继续演出，至少也要到演不动为止。

‘‘I think I have 10 or 15 years more in me,’’ Mr. Lu Maw said, his arm wrapped around his cousin. He added, joking, ‘‘For him, I don’t know, maybe only five.’’

“我觉得我还能再演10到15年，”卢茂说，他搂着堂弟开起了玩笑，“他嘛，大概也就剩五年吧。”