After work on Friday, I went to watch a live stand-up comedy show.
Stand-up comedy is known as the art of offense, offending colleagues, offending the audience, creating an emotional resonance. However, in our country, there are red lines; many social phenomena cannot be randomly offended. If you offend, you might face serious consequences, so the space for performers is quite limited.
I had only watched stand-up comedy online before. The advantage of live shows over online ones is the atmosphere; even if a joke doesn't resonate with you, you might laugh along because the people around you are laughing.
Tonight, there were three performers: a hilarious one who joked about the differences between Northeast China and Shenzhen, a chubby guy with a beard who shared his experiences of love and being a security guard, and the last one was a comedy boss named Dai Wei who dug up jokes from parenting.
Personally, I felt that the jokes from the chubby guy and Dai Wei were of higher quality, rooted in life and resonating with the audience, which is the type I prefer. Among many stand-up comedians, I like He Guangzhi's authentic and slightly self-deprecating style the most; here’s a clip of his performance:
One more thing worth mentioning is that the host, Da Yang Ge (the only woman in the audience), did a great job controlling the rhythm and connecting the acts, interacting with the front row to create an atmosphere, paving the way for the subsequent performers. However, I always felt something was off, and later when I saw the ticket stub that said "Save emo," I found it a bit ironic.
The irony is that while trying to save emo, it might have made many people in the audience even more emo.
There are many types of emo: unemployed, failed in relationships, and family discord. There were a few audience members who were unemployed or had relationship issues, and they were likely wrapped in negative emotions like anxiety, disappointment, and sadness, hoping to relieve themselves by being there.
However, the host casually mentioned her undergraduate studies at Harbin Institute of Technology, her master's at Hong Kong University, and her work at a design institute in Shenzhen, while also dabbling in stand-up comedy.
What does this make those wanting to relieve their emo feel? I came here to have fun, not to face harsh realities; you just went straight to the intensity, and I bet many office workers in the audience became even more emo right there.
An emo stand-up comedy is not good stand-up comedy.
Regardless, I still appreciate the company reimbursing the ticket and the tea, adding a lot of laughter to a wonderful Friday.