The Great LOL of China | You people from X are all so Y: The challenge of localising Chinese comedy

It’s the classic D-list travelling comedian shtick to mistakenly shout out “Thank you, Cleveland!” at the end of a show that takes place in Wichita.

Or, in my case, to shout out “Thank you, Changsha!” to a show that took place in Wuhan.

Travelling is part of a comedian’s life, and a good local joke can draw in the local crowd. Even in one’s home country, a comedian oftentimes performs for strangers in a town they have never visited, so localising jokes is a trick of the trade.

But coming up with more than a few local jokes between arriving at the airport and stepping onstage is hard. Most of the time, comedians rely on a set of tricks in order to make the audience feel that the show is local. Hidden beneath the surface of an ordinary local joke is really a series of Mad Libs.

Traditional Xiangsheng performers have been localizing their shows for decades. I once performed a Xiangsheng piece where I sung a short bit of 吕剧, or Shandong Opera. The original piece was part of an old opera, and went:

There once was an old scholar, with a book in both hands
Walking down the road, he shouted poetry to the air
He studied well and become a government official
And returned home to celebrate with his mother.