Stand Up Open Mic Night @ Bookworm

[China Bohs]

On the first Thursday of every month The Bookworm hosts a stand up comedy open mic night. Due to the holiday this month’s is on Thursday May 8th. Entrance is free.

Anybody is welcome to come along and perform a 5 minute slot, two free beers for anyone who is brave enough to do so.

See you there!

[China Bohs]

You can find more information here

[Ray]

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/05/can-stand-up-comedy-succeed-in-china/361801/

“Peter Hessler described Da Shan as a “trained monkey” 🙂

[Charlie]

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/05/can-stand-up-comedy-succeed-in-china/361801/
“Peter Hessler described Da Shan as a “trained monkey” 🙂

Wow – “A joke is simply not funny if it’s not true. In China, the truth is just not talked about.” Great article.

I kind of wanted to see Dashan’s comedy routine in Chengdu just to see what topics he touches upon. My fantasy is that his comedic persona is Bob Saget to his “Danny Tanner on Full House” public image. Hesler’s description (which is accurate) is what makes the comedic possibilities of Dashan so great. But China isn’t the kind of place where you can sacrifice your harmless caucasian public persona when so much time and energy has been put into building and reinforcing him as a figure of harmony, stability and obedience.

[China Bohs]

There is a lot of cool stuff going on in Shanghai at the moment, there is now a weekly mandarin open mic comedy night as well as the English one. Many locals but also ex-pat comics get up. Many foreign comics who regularly gig in English have translated parts of their set for these nights. These nights are popular and Chinese language performers are growing.

Also there are more and more Chinese comics performing in English. The support act we are bringing down on May 17th is a Shanghai local who performs in English.

They don’t have any problems with censorship as they are not trying to reach a large audience or go on CCTV like Da Shan.

If by succeed you mean mass television audiences then no it can’t, but as a live entertainment form, comedy clubs can succeed and are succeeding in Shanghai, Beijing, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Wuxi and other places. Hopefully Chengdu one day (:

The ambitions of many comics I meet are greatly different than that of Da Shan and Joe Wong.

[Author]

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