18.02.2023
In recent years, talk shows have risen in China, and online programs such as “Tucao Conference” and “Talk Show Conference” have become popular among young people. Because of the increasingly strict censorship system inside the wall, talk shows may violate the red line of censorship when laughing and cursing. But since the beginning of the year, some Chinese talk show performers including Chizi, Huang Xi, and Xiaoguo Culture have started touring in North America. After they left the censorship system inside the wall, they also began to try to talk about sensitive topics that they could not talk about before.
(Deutsche Welle Chinese website) With the liberalization of China’s epidemic prevention policy, Chinese talk show actors have begun to tour North America. First there was “Xiaoguo Talk Show – North American City Roaming”, and then there was Chizi Huangxi’s North American tour of the talk show called “Cultural Export”. Because of the popularity brought by variety shows, tour performances have become a hot topic among international students.
The talk show performance mentioned here corresponds to the Stand-up comedy in English, that is, the actor performs a stand-up comic performance on the stage alone. The content of the popular talk show stars in North America is usually closely related to the current news. They complain about celebrities from all walks of life, including political leaders, express their attitudes and output their opinions by criticizing current politics, laughing and cursing. Although China’s talk show performances are popular, they are subject to great restrictions in terms of the subject matter of expression, not only the possibility of failing to pass the censorship, but also the possibility of being violently attacked by the Internet. “Tucao Conference” was once criticized by Xinhua News Agency for a program that complained about the Chinese men’s football and basketball teams. Yang Li, who became famous because of participating in the program, was attacked for some relatively mild jokes about men. .
Some people once commented on Chinese talk shows as “dancing in shackles”. When Chinese talk shows went abroad and came to North America, these actors finally had the opportunity to tell jokes that they could not say in China.
“It’s all things that we don’t dare to hear”
named on youtube“North American King Inspector”In the video uploaded on February 12, his account mentioned his thoughts after watching Chizi and Huang Xi’s talk show. He said in the video, “Chizi talked for 40 to 50 minutes, except for one or two jokes that can be spoken in China. None of the others can talk about it” “It’s all things we don’t dare to listen to”. The fact that Chizi narrated sensitive content in North America has also attracted attention in China. “Chizi Huangxi” on Xiaohongshu has become a sensitive word, and no content can be found. Only three days after the release of the “North American Detective King” video, the title “Self-destructive Life!” can already be found on Netease, Sina and other websites. Chi Zi continued to speak without bottom line, in order to please foreign audiences, “Chi Zi and Huang Xi, in order to please American audiences, did a lot of deeds to forget their ancestors” “Chi Zi and Huang Xi’s American talk show overturned! About Dai Ang’s content in the country, Jiaojiao was dragged into the water” and other articles criticizing Chizi for slandering China for the sake of profit. However, most netizens did not buy the criticism of Chizi. Many high praise comments wrote, “I don’t know what I said. How can I criticize Chizi and Huang Xi?” “Do you know what they said?” “Why?” Focus on the good and the bad, not the true and the false” “I can’t say too much, but let everyone see what was said.”
Further reading—Talk show “Tucao” Xi Jinping’s official HBO website blocked
Deutsche Welle interviewed Xiao Lu, who watched Chizi Huang’s performance in West Los Angeles. Xiao Lu told the reporter that the talk show performance, especially Chizi’s performance, had a very good atmosphere and a lot of laughter. Xiao Lu felt that although many online comments mentioned that the content of the performance was very sensitive, he felt that “it is not enough to say how sensitive it is”. He recalled that most of the content of Chizi’s performance was about the restriction of freedom of speech in China, and the strict censorship of manuscripts.Talk show is hard to develop. Chizi also mentioned that some jokes were written a few years ago, and he really wanted to tell them, but he didn’t have the opportunity to say them until now when he was on a North American tour, and the audience can empathize with them. Although it is very common to mention presidents and former presidents in American talk shows, Chizi did not directly mention Xi Jinping’s name in the performance, nor did he mention the June 4th and Cultural Revolution topics. Xiao Lu thinks that the slightly sensitive content is that Chizi mentioned that a talk show actor from Xinjiang, Kam, has no way to get a passport, which is a little bit involved in the Xinjiang issue.But it was enough to make the audience happy to be able to mention some topics that were considered absolutely taboo inside the wall, Xiao Lu recalled those“Humiliation” stalk“Basically, the more insulted you are, the louder you laugh,” and a joke involving a leader “made everyone laugh like crazy.”
Another Xiao Yang, who watched the New York show, also felt that the on-site reaction was very good. When mentioning “censorship system” and “foreign forces”, the audience could understand the meaning and laughed knowingly. . She often reads the “anti-thief” comments on Twitter and other social networking sites, and said that she usually sees these topics, but she can only communicate with friends in private. Even so, sometimes it is like playing charades. It’s refreshing to hear those words being spoken now without any pretense.
Conquering overseas markets is not easy
However, an interviewee who did not want to be named did not give a particularly high evaluation of Chi Zi and Huang Xi’s performance. He believes that “the scale of Chizi talk show is very large for domestic people, but it is not worth mentioning for foreign countries.” In the sessions he watched, most of the content talked about some domestic epidemic control measures and the issue of reviewing manuscripts in the entertainment industry. He personally felt that “because the censorship system is not within our reach, so I don’t understand it, and the atmosphere is average. There are also many people with their heads down playing with their phones.”
Compared with Chizi and Huangxi’s talk shows, Xiaoguo Culture has more tours in North America, and the ticket prices are more expensive, comparable to the most famous talk show actors in the United States. Sandy, who watched the Xiaoguo Cultural Tour, said that she watched the show more because she watched several seasons of “Talk Show Conference” and wanted to chase stars. The ambiance is great. She believes that some content related to women’s rights, gender relations, divorce, etc. was mentioned during the tour. These topics are likely to cause online controversy in China. The discussions on the tour can be more in-depth than those on variety shows, but she doesn’t think it is involved. sensitive political topics.
These domestically popular talk show artists are targeting North American Chinese, especially the overseas students who pay attention to domestic talk show variety shows. Whether they can break free from the shackles set by the domestic censorship system, and whether their future development in the country will be affected is still unknown. Gao Zan commented on Xiaohongshu when referring to Chizi’s talk show, he said, “There is a feeling that the ticket money for Huahua is crowdfunding for him.” There are also many people commenting that they hope that Chizi will develop in North America and say what they want to say joke. However, there are a large number of local talk show entertainers in North America. They have accumulated popularity from countless offline performances, and they have long been accustomed to commenting on political figures and discussing sensitive issues such as race. It is not easy to get a share of them.
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