Stand-up Comedy In China? You Might Be Surprised
I was recently interviewed by Rong Xiaoqing, a reporter for Sing Tao Daily, the largest Chinese language newspaper in the U.S. The focus of the interview concerned the impact on stand-up comedy and comedians as a result of having an African American as President.
I made it clear that being President (or any highly visible goverment official) makes one a target for jokes from any comedian in this country without regard to race, color or creed. There were a wide variety of interesting issues covered and as soon as I get a copy of the final article, I will cover aspects of this amazing interview in more detail.
But here’s the cool part—I got to ask Rong questions about stand-up comedy in China. And you might be surprised to find out that stand-up comedy not only exists, but appears to be flourishing there in several ways.
There are actually two different forms of stand-up comedy in China. In Hong Kong, which is now a part of China, “traditional” stand-up comedy is not only available, but is actually less restrictive when it comes to topics and issues that are considered sensitive here (politics and religion just to name two).
It also appears that in Hong Kong, stand-up comedy is delivered in both English of Chinese forms depending on the venue and the comedians performing.
In mainland China, complete freedom of speech in a comedy presentation is not the case. But while addressing topics such as sex and politics are strictly taboo, there is a large and growing community of comedians who do perform comedy, in what appears to be a style similar to a “vaudeville” style presentation called “cross talk” in clubs where the comedians perform skits to entertain audiences.
It would be my guess that it won’t be long before the more modern, “monologue style” stand-up comedy becomes a part of the mainland China culture as well.
Before this interview, I had no idea that stand-up comedy in any form existed in China. Well, I’m happy to report it does and seems to be doing quite well.
It was fascinating for me to discover these stand-up comedy details for a country that does have restrictions on freedom of expression and it just goes to show you that…
You simply cannot “suppress” the humor or the need to laugh out of people with rules and politics. People do want to laugh, no matter where they live in the world and no matter how restrictive their governments may be.
And at the very core of that laughter — no matter where someone lives in the world, you will probably find…
A comedian holding a microphone, letting you know that they will be there all week. 
Cheers,
Steve Roye
The Professor of Funny for Money
About the Author/Founder of The Stand-up Comedy Professional
Steve Roye is the author of the Killer Stand-up Comedy System and author of the content made available in the Comedy Pro Membership Program available on this site. Over the past decade, Steve has established himself as a leading, globally recognized expert in the field of stand-up comedy material development, delivery and entertainment business strategies for comedy entertainers as well as speaking professionals.
For more information about Steve, please check out the About The Author section on this site.
A fellow comic from Hawaii, now thriving in the comedy community of LA, has been going to Hong Kong regularly to do stand up comedy for a couple of years now. I know you’re not a big fan of Shecky magazine, but he writes a blog there called the Big Move, his name is Paul Ogata. He did one on doing stand up in China, and you might find it interesting and informative. Paul is one of the best comics I know, and is helping to bring stand up to China. The man responsible for the whole stand up movement there is Jamie Gong and you can find out more about him in that article.
Thought you might be interested.
I did stand up comedy in both English and Chinese to European/Chinese crowds. 400 people were in the room in Beijing. More and more foreigners are doing stand up there entirely in Chinese on TV or at private events. Usually they prefer to be a two people team rather than one person telling jokes but you can see more and more of american style stand up although it remains more character and very aloof and not as much as based on your personal story kind of stand up like it is the case in USA.
.-= Klaus Pierre´s last blog ..Stand Up Comedy at the Comedy Store =-.
It’s always good to have folks comment from first hand experience. Excellent!
The Prof