Stand-up comedy hits new heights

Numerous reasons

There are many reasons for the genre's rise, one of them being that stand-up comedy mainly attracts young people.

Liu said it not only makes people laugh, but is also a way to engage with the younger generation seeking to escape life's hardships through humor.

He Xiaoxi, co-founder of Shanghai Xiaoguo Culture Media Co, said: "Young people like new things, and they will connect with and even pursue a performer who has good content. As long as you have sustainable content, this will win audiences, which gives us a lot of confidence."

Compared with when the '80s Talkshow launched nine years ago, audiences now attracted by the company's performances are from the post-2000 generation, some of them still in junior and high school, He said.

"Young people never like those who only please themselves. They like cool things. Cool people are those who do things sufficiently well. As long as you do something well enough, they will follow you," He added.

Moreover, people from different industries and backgrounds have joined the stand-up comedy industry, infusing new energy into the market, while others are seeing the infinite possibilities of these shows.

Huang Jun, a traffic police officer in Shanghai, tasted instant stardom after appearing in the fourth season of Rock& Roast. He said he wanted to break the stereotype and let people know that police officers are not always serious, but also interesting people.

Zhang Jiaxin, another participant in the show's fourth season, has difficulty moving his limbs due to a lack of oxygen in the brain at birth. But he made light of these problems on stage, with his unique take on life touching the hearts of many. Even though more people have entered the stand-up comedy business, the market still has a long way to go.

He, the company co-founder, said, "Compared with the mature comedy market overseas, although there has been explosive growth in China in recent years for our online, offline and other ventures, stand-up comedy is still in its infancy."

He cited Li Dan as saying that China's stand-up comedy shows have entered a "depopulated zone" and have nothing to refer to or imitate.

However, as many people have yet to see an offline stand-up comedy show, this is a market opportunity, He said, adding, "I always believe that more jokes, more interesting people, and choosing more interesting lifestyles are the way meet people's inner needs.

"As the current crop of stand-up comedy performers is mainly based in Shanghai, we will look to the market in that city as our next step.

"Comedy itself is a good connecting tool. After people are attracted to the genre, it can spread its wings in the future.

"Our goal is not to build a theater－it has always been to build an offline entertainment consumption experience space."