Highlights
- Crosstalk, known as xiangsheng in Chinese, has traditionally been the most common form of comedy in mainland China
- Stand-up comedy culture, which originated in the West, is growing rapidly in China
- Many Chinese international students are now trying their hand at stand-up comedy in places like Australia where they can evade Chinese censorship
It’s Thursday night at a dumpling restaurant in the heart of Melbourne where the steam and smell of freshly made soupy steam buns, a.k.a xiaolongbao, rises to the second floor, the weekly scene of Chinese international students trying their hand at stand-up comedy.
To an outsider, a bunch of amateur Chinese comedians executing jokes and often missing punchlines may be easily disregarded by passers-by.
But to its organiser and rising Chinese-born comedian Sean Diao, this incubator of fledgling performers is key to his future success.
“Running this comedy room definitely helps my own career. Asian audiences are probably more interested in Asian comedians so we need to support each other and build on our collective fan base,” says Mr Diao.
Melbourne-based Mr Diao, 27, is among a growing crop of Chinese international students turned stand-up comedians around the world.
Sean Diao prefers to perform in English. Source: Supplied
They’ve been pulled along in the slipstream by Joe Wang, a Chinese American former biochemist whose performance went after he mocked then Vice-President Joe Biden during a 2010 radio TV correspondents' dinner.
The comedy industry in mainland China is also rapidly advancing off the back of Rock & Roast, a last-person-standing televised competition now in its fourth season.
“Stand-up like shows in China are huge so more and more people want to do it,” says Mr Diao.
“You can say and express whatever you want without thinking about [repercussions]. We like discovering ourselves and individualism in Australia or in the West because back in China, we’re oppressed as individuals.”
Frustration over ‘gigging’ in mainland China
Mr Wang’s friend and fellow comedian Huang He instantly developed a local fan base after hit performances at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
This year, the 32-year-old from Chongqing in southwestern China has plans to take on stand-up comedy full-time based out of Sydney.
“It’s quite ambitious for my fifth year to do comedy full-time,” says Ms Huang who relied on office admin work when the pandemic crippled the local performing arts industry.
Ms Huang has a master's in public policy but turned to stand-up comedy as an exit route out of her “boring” desk job.
After leaving a saturated US market, she then returned to and toured around mainland China before discovering neither place suited her well.
“It’s very strict and very sensitive for everyone and people tend not to want to hear or talk about anything controversial in public,” Ms Huang says of performing gigs in major mainland China cities.
It’s not uncommon for shows or whole festivals to be cancelled if comedians talk about a politically sensitive issues in their set.
When I was there, gigs were actually being cancelled by the government.
On stage, Ms Huang expresses her opinions about sex and dating, which she says don’t work in mainland China, among fart and toilets jokes, as it contrasts with the “highbrow and clever” nature of Chinese comedy.
“They [the audience] just don’t feel comfortable,” she says.
“That was not the case when I was at university in Beijing, but I think so many things have changed since I left.”
As a result of experiencing “reverse culture shock” in her homeland, Ms Huang says she became determined to find a visa friendly, English-speaking country, able to nurture a transpiring foreign comedian such as herself.
Melbourne: the comedy hub
Phoning around to other performing artists, Ms Huang was told Melbourne was home to one of the largest international comedy festivals in the world, behind Edinburgh’s Fringe Festival and ahead of Montreal’s Just for Laughs.
Ms Huang landed in Melbourne in 2019 before the pandemic eager to impress a new audience and venture into political territory without pre-approval by censors.
Her dig at Victorian premier Dan Andrews, labelled “Dictator Dan” by protesters because of his strict handling of the Covid-19 crisis, was well received among locals.
“I was like, dictator … Well, he looks nice. He stands outside and answers your questions on TV one by one,” she says.
Other comedians like Mr Diao are also not afraid of telling political jokes despite being told about the presence of “Chinese spies” in Australia.
Huang He performing at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Source: Jim Lee Photo
He says he’s mocked Chinese president Xi Jinping – an act that would land him in jail if he were in mainland China – but refrains now because his Chinese audience “wouldn’t laugh” and his mainstream English audience “wouldn’t understand”.
“I used to do it but turns out they are not really familiar with Chinese politics,” he says.
Advantages of performing in non-native language
SBS Chinese is aware of a handful of Chinese-born English-speaking comedians who reside in Australia. Slightly more are known to perform in Mandarin.
Mr Diao performs in Mandarin and English, the latter attracting a larger and more appreciative audience, he says.
Ms Huang says she appreciates listening to comedy in Chinese but doesn’t have the “passion” for performing in her mother-tongue.
“I tried it three times, but I was not good at it because I started comedy in English,” says Ms Huang.
“Humour is very localised. You need to be in that environment for a long time to practice. Being a comedian there for a short amount of time doesn’t make me a good comedian in another language.”
Wangdi Cao is another China-born comedian based in Australia who prefers to perform in her second language.
Ms Cao says she jokes in English due to the financial gain of attracting bigger audiences
“If we just do stand-up in Mandarin, there will probably only be international students [in the crowd},” she says.
Expected boom of more Chinese comedians
Ms Huang says the boom in stand-up comedy in China has attracted more Chinese youths to follow suit. A small number in Australia were born out of the pandemic.
“It’s a very small circle of us. When I first did comedy, I didn’t know anyone. I was the only one doing it [in English],” she says.
Ms Huang believes a boom in Chinese-born comedians in five to seven years away.
“Everyone else just started. Joe Wang is the only comedian we look up to and see how many years of experience there is between him and us. There are years,” she says.
“There’s no one in between that I can name with a Chinese background. He’s the only one."
“And then my year, like [people with] five years' experience, super few of us. It might take five years to possibly have a boom.”
Ms Huang says many of the comedians with her level of experience or less still have a limited understanding of how the industry works.
Ms Huang organises her owns gigs, flights, campaigns and sponsorship.
“I think it stops a lot of comedians from developing their audience. It’s a lot of contacting and back and forth,” she says.
It’s hard. The industry is not actively seeking Asian comedians.
The newcomer
The career path of Chinese-born stand-up comedians is often uncertain. That’s perhaps a reason why few in Australia are willing to give it a shot.
“You know Asian values, if you have all the education, why do you want to go through this shitty route to get good if you could be a good surgeon or lawyer or teacher and you can earn a decent income and have a house,” says Ms Huang.
But not all are involved in the Australian comedy scene to evade censors or strike it rich and famous.
Ms Cao, who works in marketing during the day, says her goal is to one day have her own solo show but not to be a full-time comedian.
Chinese-born stand-up comedian Wandi Cao. Source: Supplied
“I feel most of the friends I know, they’re not rich even for full-time comedians,” she says.
Some are invested in comedy as a side hustle and personal challenge.
Ms Cao, a self-confessed social hermit off the stage, says she doesn’t indulge in small talk, in fact the thought of it makes her feel uncomfortable.
But stand-up has given her an outlet to socialise and being behind the microphone allows her to not worry about the audience’s reactions to her jokes, many relating to sex and women’s rights.
“For me, I’ve got five minutes under the spotlight. It’s a chance for me to stand and talk to people. I don’t need to worry about their reaction. They’re either lost or not lost. That’s it.”
