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there are many students with comedy talent in peking university, and almost everyone’s first draft is very good, but not many can stick to it.

reporter: ying chen

"the wheel of history rolled forward and weighed down on grandpa."

"the college entrance examination is like a thousand troops crossing a single-plank bridge. i am awesome. i can run back and forth on the single-plank bridge."

in the variety show "talk show and his friends", the performance of talk show newcomer xiaoyu was remarkable. in her first appearance, she competed against lu gengxu of shuimu nianhua. the competition between tsinghua and peking university made everyone feel that xiaoyu's level was not low. the setting of the upper and lower doctors seemed to be prepared for the phrase "the lower is the higher". in the second show, the experience of taking the college entrance examination three times "broke people's stereotypes about repeating the exam. the phrase "college entrance examination 1900" not only made the audience laugh, but also triggered a debate on "how many points did xiaoyu get in the third college entrance examination?"

"in fact, i got more than 670 points in the third test. all three times there were integers and zeros, so the total must be more than 1900." in an interview with xinmin weekly, xiaoyu said that what he said in the program were his real experiences, "some people may not believe it, but in some remote small places, there are indeed parents or schools who don't take it that seriously."

as an undergraduate student of the school of public health of peking university, class of 2020, although some people jokingly said that "he worked his way onto the talk show stage through his summer job", this time on the show was an unprecedented experience for yu xiaoyu - he was ignorant while recording the show, but he made many jokes when telling jokes, and he advanced smoothly in the stages that have been aired.

starting from campus, heading to a bigger stage

during the program, the host zhang shaogang introduced xiaoyu as the president of the peking university student talk show association. when asked, "how did you compete for this position?" xiaoyu said, "starting from the grassroots." this answer, which was full of "official flavor" yet cute, received a burst of laughter from the audience.

however, xiaoyu did start from the grassroots. at the end of 2021, xiaoyu, as one of the 20 initiators, participated in the establishment of peking university's first student talk show club, the fun listening talk show association, and is a veteran member.

"because i have loved comedy since i was a child, i watched programs such as "tonight's 80s talk show" on tv and many stephen chow's movies. later, i watched "tucao conference" and "talk show conference" online. when i saw some classmates wanting to set up a talk show club on the forum, i immediately responded." xiaoyu admitted that his personality did not really enjoy the stage, but he just wanted to challenge himself.

in the first year of the association, since there were no professional comedy instructors, the students could only figure it out on their own. "i thought it was funny, but it turned out to be embarrassing." xiaoyu recalled those days of "messing around". "later, everyone felt that this was not working, so they bought some comedy textbooks available on the market. at least they had to master the basic principles of comedy, and then they continued to hone their skills in the few open mics on campus. now we require all new students to do the same, which has helped them avoid many detours."

in xiaoyu's opinion, many students at peking university have comedic talents. they have strong learning and insight abilities, and have high cultural literacy. almost everyone's first draft is highly praised, "because it is what they want to say the most." however, they are also more likely to have high expectations for themselves. once the audience is cold, many people are unwilling to try again; some people fail to persist due to various reasons such as academic pressure.

"when you need to continue creating later, that's when your comedy ability is truly tested. many students in the school can't make it to that stage." xiaoyu said that although the number of members in the club exceeds 100, the number of active members throughout the year remains at 20 to 30.

due to his seriousness and outstanding performance at work, as well as his rapid improvement in stand-up comedy skills, xiaoyu gradually gained a certain influence in the club and was successfully elected as the president for the 2023-2024 academic year in the election.

during his tenure as president, quting also experienced rapid development. in this year, the association completed 5 rounds of 9 performances with more than 200 people.

open mic is a place for stand-up comedians to hone their jokes. as a stand-up comedian, what i look forward to and what excites me the most is hearing the audience laugh out loud. laughter and applause are a very natural recognition. a funny joke can prove myself instantly, which gives me a great sense of achievement.

gradually, campus performances could no longer satisfy xiaoyu. "my jokes easily resonate with my classmates." in his opinion, if he wants to improve his comedy skills, he still needs to go outside the school and tell his jokes to all kinds of people. so xiaoyu actively signed up for open mic performances of various comedy labels outside the school, including danliren, goat, xifan, owl and many other well-known labels.

at the same time, in the absence of online programs, participating in offline competitions is almost the only way for newcomers to enter the commercial performance stage. xiaoyu actively signed up for many competitions and won three runner-ups in one year - the first runner-up of the xifan comedy newcomer competition, the eighth runner-up of the new stalk competition, and the runner-up of the beijing division of the sixth original comedy competition of danliren.

"although i was the runner-up, all of them were beyond my expectation, which was a kind of affirmation for me." xiaoyu, who had just emerged as a rising star, quickly received invitations for commercial performances from well-known brands such as xifan comedy and danliren comedy. through the accumulation of commercial performance experience, xiaoyu further improved his comedy ability and officially became a contracted actor of xifan comedy, which is committed to continuously discovering new talents.

there, xiaoyu got more performance opportunities and improved his performance through exchanges with comedy predecessors. xiaoyu, who stood on a bigger platform, also naturally attracted the attention of the director team planning online programs and stepped onto the stage of "talk show and his friends".

above: xiaoyu (center) during an offline performance.

i prefer insightful expressions

because of his slow and leisurely tone on the show and the fact that they are both students from peking university, xiaoyu is often compared to his predecessor niaoniao in the barrage of comments, and he is even called the "male version of niaoniao".

"the only thing we have in common is that we hold back when we go on stage. but niao niao also speaks in this style, and i am just nervous when i go on stage." xiaoyu told the reporter that he still gets nervous when he goes on stage, whether online or offline. but fortunately, this nervous state is quite consistent with what he says, and it does not affect the comedy of the performance.

the bigger advantage is that xiaoyu's performance will not be affected by the screen.

"some contestants speak very well offline, and the audience on the show finds it amazing, but the audience watching through the screen finds it average and therefore doubts the score. but i probably won't, because it seems like i'm just 'reciting' both offline and online." xiaoyu calls himself a "human-machine comedian", "so everyone praises my text in the barrage, because i don't perform. compared to my performance, my text is really good."

in the past, because of the phrase "everyone can do a five-minute talk show", people felt that talk shows had a sense of "i can do it too", but if you take a closer look at these seemingly casual jokes, you will find that their logic is clear and their explosive points are dense. a closer look reveals that the actors behind the jokes are increasingly highly educated players, and they are very popular.

"the threshold is low, mainly referring to the threshold for entry. but it is very difficult to be at the top of this industry. a high degree may bring some advantages, but without a large amount of knowledge and rich life experience, it is difficult to make people feel relaxed and happy while touching the heart about trivial things in life." xiaoyu admitted that compared with family-friendly comedies, he prefers texts with insight and thinking. "perhaps from the current situation, comedies with satire will spread more widely and cause discussion, and everyone will think you are very good. but in fact, there is no difference between the two."

xiaoyu said that actors are very sensitive, especially herself, who pays special attention to online comments. "every day i search all platforms to see if i have been scolded, and even searched dianping." xiaoyu joked, "fortunately, except for those who say i am not handsome, everything else is quite positive."

recently, xiaoyu just stepped down as the president of quting and has been accepting a lot of commercial performances. "i have to make more money while i am a little famous." behind this joke is xiaoyu's anxiety as a newcomer, "i don't have enough jokes. after the show is broadcast, i can't tell these jokes offline anymore."

xiaoyu said that in the coming october, he will start to concentrate on creating some new jokes. "i am now in my fifth year of college. my current idea is that i should still work after graduation, and then consider becoming a full-time talk show host after i have gained some life experience."

taking over xiaoyu's baton, more young "comedians" continue to turn the fragments of peking university life into funny jokes. in the storytelling, complaining and mocking, the concentration of happiness in yanyuan has never decreased.