Interpreting Humor In English Entertainment Programs From The Perspective Of The Relevance Theory

English entertainment programs arouse an increasing number of Chinese people’s interest because of their ability to convey happiness. Interpreting humor in the programs can not only bring gladness to the audience but also enhance their understanding of English culture. Based on the interpretation of the7th episode,38th season of Saturday Night Live, this paper analyses different types of humor and discusses strategies to interpret humor.Relevance Theory defines interpretation as an ostensive-inferential communication with communication as the purpose. Thus, interpreting humor should achieve humorous effect, even at the cost of the form and meaning of the source language.Guided by Relevance Theory, this paper explains how humor is produced and attempts to convey humor in SNL by means of direct interpretation and indirect interpretation. For most situational humor and language humor without cultural connotation, direct interpretation is able to express the humor; however, for humor with religious and cultural information, indirect interpretation, including supplementary explanation, adaptation, interpreting the reference and functional interpretation, is more effective to realize humorous effect. Whether adopting direct interpretation or indirect interpretation, the interpreter should achieve the purpose of humor.