Finding Joy in Laughter

　　Life in a first-tier Chinese city can bestressful， and in Beijing there is a growing market forone of the most powerful antidotes to a bad mood：laughter.

　　Each Wednesday night， in a dimly lit dive barcalled Hot Cat Club， hidden inside a hutong neighborhoodsouth of the Lama Temple， around 20amateur stand-up comedians are given five minuteseach to get on stage at an open mic to entertain anaudience of around 80 people. A crew of around adozen seasoned comedians practice their routinesbefore going on to perform at paid weekend gigsheld at more spacious locales.

　　The host， a 26-year-old American named DavidFertitta， introduces new comics and performs someof his own material between sets. After warming upthe crowd he called to the stage a first-time comedian，who paced back and forth on stage， occasionallypeeking into his notebook to recall jokes that were，to him， hilarious - at the time. He trudged througha rite of passage known in stand-up parlance as“bombing，” or failing to connect with the audience，the attention of which a comic must command andplease or risk being ignored - or worse yet， openlyridiculed.

　　After the newcomer stepped off the raisedplatform and out of the spotlight， Fertitta introducesone of Beijing’s most promising stand-up comedians，28-year-old Gus Tate， a native of Kentucky inthe United States. He has a mostly “clean” set，which is free of the more crude content othercomics often use to shock their listeners intohysterics. Tate instead charms the audiencewith anecdotes， clever observations， and lessonsfrom his interactions with China.

　　Having performed stand-up regularly inEnglish for the past year， Tate said he’dlike to try performing in Chinese. “Thelanguage barrier makes certain thingsfunny that wouldn’t necessarily be funnyin your native language，” he said， addingthat the spectacle of a foreigner onstage， in a way， primes a Chinese audienceto laugh.

　　Tate believes his sense of humor is sharednot just with his fellow expats but with diversecrowds of both Chinese and foreigners.

　　“I want to believe that things I think are funnyare just funny，” he said.

　　Stand-up comedy first became popular inthe United States following the appearancesof comedians on late night television talkshows such as Johnny Carson’s， and has seena resurgence in recent years as the Internetallows performers to reach wider audiencesthrough video streaming sites like YouTubeand social networking like Twitter.

　　In a similar fashion， the Internet has createdopportunities for comedians in China tofind outlets for creative expressions beyondthe standard television format， which involveproducers and outside pressure throughoutthe script-writing process. Jesse Appell，an American who has spent time in Chinaresearching comedic forms and appeared on staterunChina Central Television (CCTV) as a cross-talkperformer， said stand-up has been getting biggerand bigger as more people are willing to devotelarger budgets to create content designed to be puton the Internet. “At this point， TV and the Internetare almost interchangeable，” he said.

　　Joe Wong， a Chinese comedian who performedat the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner，helped bring exposure to the art of stand-up inChina after his performance found a global audiencein 2010.

　　Another internationally recognized comedianhas spent the past year living in Chinaand filming his experiences for an upcomingdocumentary. Des Bishop， who was raised inNew York， moved to Ireland as a teenagerto attend boarding school and went on toentertain audiences with his observationsof life in the country， taking on issues suchas poverty and alcoholism.

　　Bishop， 38， was in the process ofmoving into a new apartment north ofBeijing’s Second Ring Road when he spokewith ChinAfrica. After living with a host family forone year， his Mandarin skills have improved to apoint where he has now met his goal of performingstand-up comedy routines in Chinese. At a recentevent held at The Bookworm， a bookshop， library，bar， restaurant and events space in downtown Beijing- where he performed in a live show featuringChina’s most famous foreigner， Canadian cross-talkperformer Mark Henry Rowswell (better known byhis Chinese name， Da Shan) - the audience was asreceptive to the humor as any despite being a relativelynew phenomenon， Bishop said.

　　At a show he headlined in December， Bishop’scommentary on life in China was on point， describingthe often chaotic patterns of traffic in thecountry as being ruled not so much by law than by amix of suggestion and instincts， which flow togetherin a kind of Tao state of fluid movement. His act alsoplays with the Chinese script， illustrating the bewildermentof trying to tackle an utterly alien language.

　　Bishop’s stage presence and energy come acrosswhether he is performing in Mandarin or English，displaying both showmanship and scholarshipwhile delivering a perceptive view of contemporaryChinese life. And as his language skills improved， hediscovered that his understanding of and interactionwith society grew. “Once you learn Chinese， it opensup a whole new world，” Bishop said.

　　In working with and offering guidance to a groupof emerging Chinese comedians， such as CCTVreporter and part-time comic Tony Chou， Bishopsaid the stand-up form of entertainment is quicklyreaching domestic audiences. “These guys arepretty pioneering，” he said. “It’s incredible that theyhave - on their own - brought a brand new cultureto China.”

　　In 2008， Bishop produced a television seriescalled In the Name of Fada documenting his attemptto learn the Irish language and explore socialissues in Ireland. The experience was so successfulthat in 2013， he chose to translate the formula intoChinese. Through his first year collaborating with agroup of promising stand-up acts in Beijing， Bishopfeels optimistic enough to continue living and workingin China.

　　Bishop said China’s emerging middle class is eagerto find new forms of entertainment， and standupcomedy offers an affordable alternative to therock concerts and traditional performance arts thatrun upward of 500 yuan ($80) per ticket. And whilecross-talk remains more relevant to modern Chinesecultural life than some give it credit for， stand-upcomedy is the faster-growing genre.

　　And in a city where the pressures of cutthroatcompetition can make life seem a little too seriousat times， there are bound to be more in search of alaugh.