Now a woman gets the joke
- Source: Global Times
- [09:26 August 26 2010]
- Comments
Hu Qingyun performs at the Lyceum Theater. Photo: Courtesy of Wang Wei
By Hu Bei
"Aman kisses a woman without thinking about it; but a woman only kisses a man after thinking about it." "If a married man is having an affair, he thinks he has the same IQ as Einstein." "The top half of a man is where he is a human being, the bottom part is where he is an animal."
Punchlines are being machine-gunned from the stage and the audience is sending back salvoes of laughter.
On stage is a smiling middle-aged woman with bright red short hair. She is wearing a black close-fitting suit and a pair of large silver earrings that constantly glitter under the light as she speaks. Her hands and her brightly painted fingernails dance with joy and laughter.
Hu Qingyun, formerly a leading actress from the Shanghai Comedy Troupe, is the female version of Haipai Qingkou, Shanghai's unique stand-up one-man comedy style - which until now has been strictly one man. The style was created by Zhou Libo, one of the most famous comedians in China today.
Her show is called in Chinese The Rose with a Golden Mouth and Hu's performance shares the general form of Haipai Qingkou where the performer speaks directly to the audience, commenting on life and people in the Shanghai dialect. The performer's personality is crucial.
"Although I have been acting as a professional comedian for decades and the Shanghainese audiences are familiar with me as a host of a television cooking show, this is the first time I have done a one-person comedy show and I'm also the first woman to try this, not just in Shanghai but anywhere in China. It's a really big challenge for me. But thank goodness audiences trust and help me," she said.
In early August in her first three shows at the Lyceum Theater there were hardly any spaces in the 700-seat venue. "The theater staff told me for one performance the audience was recorded as having laughed up to 334 times - that exceeded all my expectations."
This kind of result also surprised Sun Xuchun, the executive producer of The Rose. "If you haven't booked in advance then you will not be able to buy a ticket unless you get one from a scalper and they are costing 500 yuan ($73) for one." Standard tickets range from 100 to 300 yuan.
In this opening season, The Rose will have three more performances from Friday to Sunday and there are only a few tickets left, Sun said.
Unlike Zhou Libo, who makes sharp personal comments on urban living, the economy and political issues in Shanghai and China, for the first performances, Hu has focused on "men."
