Hello! Welcome to this edition of CBN Friday Special. I’m Stephanie Li.
“Not only are men adorable, but also mysterious. They can look so mediocre, yet still manage to be so confident.”
(相关资料图)
Sounds familiar?
Yes, it’s the widely circulated line of Chinese female stand-up comedian Yang Li in her best-known bits incorporate stories of her confusion and satire in men and relationships, on a show now considered as the one that brings the newly-found popularity of China’s stand-up comedy.
“Rock & Roast”,the popular stand-up comedy competition on Tencent’s streaming platform, is one of the most-watched online shows these days, with the first season aired in the summer of 2017 and now entering its fifth season. The show, co-produced by Xiaoguo Culture, a leading comedy show content provider in China, has garnered nearly 15 billion of views on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like social media platform. It"s the spin-off of "Roast Convention”, the Chinese equivalent of the U.S. show "Comedy Central Roast”. The two shows were viewed as thelaunchpadfor stand-up comedy gaining nationwide attention in China.
Stand-up comedy, a Western import, began making inroads in China little more than a decade ago, and became popular only in recent years. A microphone, a spotlight, and sometimes a chair. That"s all what needed for most stand-up comedy performances.In China, stand-up was inaccurately known as“脱口秀”, the Chinese translation of talk show.
Take Out Comedy, the first Chinese stand-up comedy club, was founded in Shenzhen in 2009 when few Chinese had heard about this form of entertainment. The Chinese capital got its first stand-up comedy club, Beijing Talk Show Club, in 2010. The club nurtured a number of famous stand-up comedians including Yang Li and Zhou Qimo, who is a season champion of "Rock&Roast."
Audiences in Guangdong Province came to know stand-up much earlier as it was first introduced by pioneer comedian DayoWongTze-wah from neighboring Hong Kong in the 1990s, which has the name “栋笃笑”in Cantonese.
Yet Chinese tried their hand at stand-up in the US long before this. Joe Wong started to perform in Boston after getting a PhD in biochemistry in Rice University in 2002. Wong is one of the early performers on this stage. When it comes to Chinese stand-up comedy, he is a pioneer who cannot be ignored.
Wong gained instant fame both in the US and China for his calm yet razor-sharp performance at the annual Radio & Television Correspondents" Dinner during which he roasted the in-attendance then-vice president Joe Biden without mercy.The show was such a success that Wong wasgiven a standing ovation by the audience.
In 2012, a stand-up variety show named“Tonight Post-80s Talk Show”hosted by Wang Zijian, a crosstalk comedian, aired on Shanghai’s Dragon TV. During each themed episode the host discussed hot social issues and events that concerned young people the most. The show, the first of its kind, acquainted a wider Chinese audience with stand-up.The show"s scriptwriters and supporting actors such as Li Dan and Wang Jianguo are known as the "original gangsters" of the stand-up business in China.
In a society defined by harmony and self-discipline and where grabbing attention is shunned at all costs, poking fun at others or standing out in front of a crowd seems unlikely. Yet stand-up comedy is under the spotlight in China, owing to online programs that brought it to the mainstream.
Li Dan, the host of “Rock & Roast”and CEO of Xiaoguo Culture, is the one behind the wheel that helped spearhead stand-up comedy, which used to be a subculture,onto the front stage. The 33-year-old leader of China"s stand-up comedy co-produced the show in 2017 to promote stand-up comedy culture with Tencent Penguin Pictures.
Liu Lijuan, vice president of Xiaoguo Culture, said in aninterview that there were about 50 proper comedy clubs in China as of 2020, about 10 times the number of clubs nationwide in 2017. Ticket prices range from 99 to 380 yuan, depending on the lineup.According to an initial calculation, comedy clubs in the country reached over 140 in 2022, most of which were founded between 2017 and 2019 when “Rock & Roast”gained huge traction among Chinese audience.
Multibillion-dollar companies are now inviting standup comedians to their annual meetings or hiring them to boost their products’ images.The annual grant gala on Chinese New Year’s Eve organized by state media CCTV invited musician/stand-up actor Wang Mian to perform a musical sketch this year. It was the very first time the gala had a stand-up comedian in its 38-year history.
Originated in Europe and North America, stand-up comedy allows performers to express their own opinions and talk about things from ordinary life, which makes it easier to connect with the audience.The art form has swept young audiences in China by the feet in particular, because comedians tackle topics that easily spark heated debates on social media, such as gender inequality or hidden rules in the office.
Chinese netizens even see comedians as their own “internet doppelgangers”, meaning that they dare to expose and speak out some underlying truths in society that people wish they’d be able to say out loud, even though sugar-coasted with jokes.
For instance, Yang Li skyrocketed to popularity by focusing on gender issues, a hot-button topic, in her performances. With a style that’s been described as “delivering the sharpest barbs in the softest way”, Yang Li is one of the few Chinese female stand-up comics who have shot to fame.
Other top female stand-ups such as twin sisters Yan Yi and Yan Yue, Li Xueqin, and Niao Niao, made viral sensations of their refreshingly outspoken anecdotes about awkward romantic encounters, body image and annoying male traits. Each performs in their unique style with sharp observations of the circumstances that ordinary women are dealing with every day, clearly striking a chord with the audience.
Still, the increasing popularity of performance comedy art in China shows that even fun has no borders, not everything’s on the table. Compared with anything-goes Western stand-up comedians, Chinese comedians remain cautious about the topics they target. There’s an unwritten rule that they shouldn’t talk about anything that’s vulgar or too extreme.
Norah Yang, a Shanghai native stand-up actress that performs in both English and Chinese, said she wasn’t comfortable talking about things like politics in China. “It’s an overall rule, but I don’t see censorship as a constraint of Chinese stand-up comedy, because the market is so big and we’re at a so early stage of what’s going on. Give us some time and interest, and we’ll tell you what China really is,” said the 32-year-old Duke University postgraduate.
According to the Rock & Roast Marketing White Paper released by Tencent Video, the audience for stand-up comedy is mainly higher-income people aged between 18 and 35 in first-and second-tier cities who have relatively higher social status, incomes, and spending power. For popular comedians whose tickets usually sold out instantly, scalpers even found buyers willing to pay 3,500 yuan for a 380-yuan ticket.
Yet there are a variety of problems confronting the budding industry. Among them, despite the staggering appearance and advertising fees ofA-list comedians, most comedians are poorly paid for offline shows, and earning a living through stand-up comedy is not easy in China. Most of the time, comedians have to take up other jobs in order to make ends meet.
Ya Qian, a freelance stand-up comedian, who now runs a WeChat official account teaching stand-up comedy, said for the majority of comedians in China, "a monthly salary around 4,000-7,000 yuan would be good enough.”
He expressed his hope that one day doing stand-up comedy can be considered a "proper job." And in order to achieve that goal, a shake-up of the entire industry is needed, he said.
And that change is probably happening. Young Chinese comedians are learning from outstanding comedians around the world and are growing up very fast, Joe Wong said in a recent interview, predicting that stand-up comedy will be one of the biggest and most popular forms of entertainment in Chinese cities in the future.
During his national tour from 2013 to 2016, Wong found that most audiences were young people, but by 2018 he also started seeing elderly people and even children in the crowd.
The late, great comedian Richard Pryor said, "all humor is rooted in pain". But then Wong responded with his view toward life and comedy, "life is so short, why not be happy?"
After all, the show must go on.
“为什么有的男人明明很普通，却可以那么自信？”
这一句占据微博热搜引发网络上广泛讨论的“金句”，出自2020年《脱口秀大会》上脱口秀女演员杨笠之口，这个热搜也仅仅是脱口秀这一欧美舶来品在国内火出圈的一个缩影。
2017年1月8日，腾讯视频上线一款喜剧类综艺节目《吐槽大会》。截至2017年3月28日收官，该节目单季总播放量竟达到13.8亿，单期播放量最高破2亿，成为那年最火网综节目。同年7月11日，《吐槽大会》姊妹节目《脱口秀大会》上线，单季播放量破6亿，位列该年网综播放量第四名。两档节目的策划人、常驻嘉宾李诞，一夜之间，爆红网络，通稿满天，频频与“才华”、“人间不值得”这些关键词，共同登上各大头条与营销号，一时名声大噪。
2019年、2020年、2021年，连续三季《脱口秀大会》热度居高不下，其中第四季仅用20天，播放量便破10亿，最终单季平台总播放量破30亿。
2022年8月30日，《脱口秀大会第五季》上线。截至9月22日，已7次夺得全网正片播放市占率日冠军，舆情热度异常火爆，节目演员频频登上热搜。
短短几年时间，不仅李诞，他的笑果文化也红遍大江南北，脱口秀作为一种表演形式更是迎来年轻人的追捧，线下一票难求，线上造星不断。脱口秀大会成为近几年最成功的综艺节目之一。
脱口秀是“舶来品”，最早起源于18世纪英格兰地区的咖啡吧集会，人们讨论任何社会话题；20世纪60年代，脱口秀在美国有了新的形态——单口喜剧，即一位喜剧演员站在麦克风前，直接面对观众讲述来源于真实生活的梗或段子；随着媒体技术的发展，脱口秀又出现在了广播和电视上，从民间漫谈发展成广播、电视节目，走进了美国的千家万户。
“中国式脱口秀”缘何如此火爆？若把时间轴拨回30年前的香港，也许能找到一丝端倪。
1990年，香港TVB喜剧演员黄子华首次表演脱口秀，因其“针砭时弊、反映社会现实”的鲜明特点，受到了观众的热捧。随后，脱口秀开始在内地兴起。2009年，中国内地第一家脱口秀俱乐部外卖脱口秀在深圳成立。2010年，北京脱口秀俱乐部成立。被誉为“脱口秀天花板”的周奇墨和因性别议题引发争议的杨笠都来自于此。
2012年5月13日，东方卫视推出主打80后主题的国内首档脱口秀节目——《今晚80后脱口秀》，节目的主持人是王自健。节目首播后微博讨论高达2万条，第4期播出后，收视率飙升至全国第二。王自健声名鹊起，开始在年轻观众中走红，被观众称为中国大陆脱口秀一哥。接下来的几年，《今晚80后脱口秀》凭借新锐、潮流的年轻人态度以及对社会热点的辛辣点评迅速占领年轻人市场，脱口秀这种演绎形式也在以上海为中心的南方地区流行起来。
当然，这一切不仅仅是王自健自身的功劳，更是幕后一干优秀写手的功劳。这帮写手后来正是脱口秀演员中的主力，而李诞正是他们中的一个。
时间回到2017年。
如今脱口秀行业的领头羊公司——上海笑果文化2017年成立。同年笑果文化推出的《脱口秀大会》和《吐槽大会》两档节目，一经播出便成为爆款综艺，是脱口秀在中国获得全国性关注的开端，为行业新人提供了优质的输出平台。
而《今晚80后脱口秀》也在2017年停播。这个节目的名字，使得“单口喜剧”（stand-up comedy）误打误撞地以“脱口秀”（talk show，谈话节目）的名称在国内广为流传。2017年，笑果文化在策划《脱口秀大会》时，考虑到大众的接受程度，依然沿用了“脱口秀”的说法。
现在，每一季的《脱口秀大会》都有约十亿次的观看量，并在微博上引发热烈讨论。这大大扩展了脱口秀在中国的受众。
而今，中国脱口秀的市场已越来越大。根据腾讯视频发布的《脱口秀营销白皮书》，脱口秀的受众主要是一、二线城市18-35岁的高收入人群，他们的社会地位、收入和消费能力相对较高。《白皮书》还指出，2018年全国的脱口秀俱乐部不到10家，但现在至少有179家。而2021年的线下商业演出数量比2019年增长了50%，达到18500场，而收入达到2.24亿元，吸引了220万观众。2016年，脱口秀从业者不到100人，现在中国约有1万名从业者和1585名签约的脱口秀演员。
2020年7月，笑果工厂升级版开幕。笑果文化负责线下业务的副总裁刘丽娟介绍，这里满座时可容纳160名左右的观众，每周约10场演出，视演出产品类别和卡司阵容，票价从99元到380元不等，但每场演出都是秒光。“国庆8天总共五千张票，出票即空。后面的演出都不敢开，怕流到黄牛手上。”曾有一位观众表示，他花了3500元买了两张原价只有180元的黄牛票。
刘丽娟认为，无论是从节目流量、话题关注度、知识普及，还是对线下演出市场的带动，《脱口秀大会3》都让脱口秀实现了真正意义上的“破圈”。刘丽娟直言，在笑果内部，早在做完《脱口秀大会2》之后，就已经看到了脱口秀市场的明显涨势，并着手线下演出布局。
跃跃欲试等待和借助这波流量的，不仅是笑果，还有全国的脱口秀俱乐部以及剧场、演出商们。刘丽娟介绍，笑果做过粗略统计，从2019年开始，国内脱口秀俱乐部开始明显增加，现在国内拥有相对固定的演出频率和演出场地、组织管理比较正规的脱口秀俱乐部，已有50多家。有媒体统计，目前全国以“省份及其主要城市名+脱口秀”为关键词搜索而计算出的脱口秀俱乐部数量高达142家。
从一种脱胎于异质文化、具备高辨识度的新型喜剧形式，到高度综艺化、景观化的节目类型，经过中国化、本土化、大众化的脱口秀，越来越成熟，已经发展成一种在中国广泛传播并受到中国受众普遍喜爱的，在内容创作、演员构成和传播方式上都形成了自身独特属性的艺术范式——“中国式脱口秀”。
中国传媒大学传播研究院教授赵如涵解释，随着社会的快速发展，观众对娱乐形式的要求也越来越高。而脱口秀作为一种互动型娱乐形式，能帮助人们释放快节奏社会带来的压力。
然而，这个刚刚起步的行业也面临着各种问题。其中，尽管头部喜剧演员的出场费和广告费惊人，但大多数脱口秀演员的线下演出报酬很低。同时，女性在行业比例偏低，不少女性脱口秀演员不管说什么似乎都容易被贴上性别标签。她们的表演具有极强的风格，也是话题制造者，如李雪琴、杨笠、颜怡颜悦段子中有关老板、男性盲目自信、女性身材等话题，总能迅速引爆舆论场。
笑果文化的创始人之一、脱口秀演员李诞就有这样一句名言：“每个人都可以当五分钟的脱口秀演员。”这句话道出了“中国式脱口秀”的“全民参与性”。《脱口秀大会》作为“中国式脱口秀”的代表，每当它开播之时，都会迎来“舆论炸裂”。当下，《脱口秀大会》第5季正在热播，与其相关的话题已经几度冲上热搜，“house引发股市震荡”“黄大妈说脱口秀”等话题沸腾网络，使脱口秀一跃成为近期全民讨论的热点。
随着市场经济的发展，社会竞争越来越激烈，人们对感官娱乐和感性释放的需求越来越迫切，反映在文化领域，就是对喜剧的热衷和追捧。一方面，人们希望通过“笑”来释放压力，治愈焦虑，尤其对年轻人来说，这种需求更为强烈。另一方面，人们希望用“笑”来与世界和解，并在和解中获得力量和勇气。
喜剧演员理查德·普赖尔(Richard Pryor)说，所有的幽默都源自痛苦。华人脱口秀鼻祖级人物黄西也说，“遇到绝大部分困难时，你都可以选择是哭还是笑。人生挺短，干嘛不选择笑呢？”
Executive Editor: Sonia YU
Editor: LI Yanxia
Host: Stephanie LI
Writer: Stephanie LI
Sound Editor: Stephanie LI
Graphic Designer: ZHENG Wenjing, LIAO Yuanni
Produced by 21st Century Business Herald Dept. of Overseas News.
Presented by SFC
编委: 于晓娜
策划、编辑：李艳霞
播音：李莹亮
撰稿：李莹亮
音频制作：李莹亮
设计：郑文静、廖苑妮
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