Younger audiences warm to jokes based on topical material

Zheng Bowen, known to audiences as Xiao Mai, began to perform stand-up comedy in 2019 at a time when the entertainment genre was still struggling to win a local following.

Growing up in Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang province, Zheng started his stand-up career in the city by taking part in a performance just after graduating from a local college, where he studied art and design.

Zheng said that two years ago in Harbin, there were only 20 to 30 people in the audience for a comedy show he took part in, and such shows were usually staged in clubs or bookstores.

After giving free performances for six months, Zheng welcomed the chance to appear in his first paid show. Now, many new stand-up comedians can perform professionally within three months, he said.

"At that time, people in Harbin didn't know what stand-up comedy was. They only knew it was very popular online," Zheng said, adding that now the genre is much better-known and more venues have been made available.

Zheng said there have been obvious changes since the third season of the popular stand-up comedy show Rock & Roast, which aired on the Tencent Video streaming site last year.

"Watching stand-up comedy, especially in Shanghai, has become a way of life similar to going to dramas and musicals," he said.

As of October, Zheng had appeared in more than 500 shows, giving five paid performances and five free ones each week.

"In addition to making me happy, being a comedian gives me the opportunity to think. People generally don't like to think things through, but when you write the script for a show, you need to read a lot and learn to express your views. This is also a process of finding yourself," Zheng said.

He added that his parents didn't initially support him, because they only regarded stable jobs as a good career choice.

"They worried about me when they heard that stand-up comedians didn't earn much and that their source of income was unstable, but as the industry gradually improved, they accepted my decision," Zheng said.

He pointed out that since his graduation, he now earns more than most of his classmates, adding that the quantity and quality of the performances are directly related to his income.

"I hope that one day I can stage my own show, and audiences come just to watch me perform," Zheng said.