上海：中国单口喜剧之都

罗南·奥康奈尔

Norah Yang is riding a wave of2 laughs. I can’t decipher3 what the 30-year-old Chinese comedian is saying， but whatever it is she’s eliciting4 a rapturous5 response from the crowd. And the longer I watch her， the funnier she becomes—not because I’m suddenly starting to understand Mandarin， but because there are elements of comedy which transcend language. From within her tangle6 of foreign words I begin to identify and appreciate Norah’s canny7 pacing， her manipulation8 of cadence9， her use of body movements and the way she employs facial expressions to emphasise every punch line10.

Everything Norah’s doing feels familiar to a lifelong standup fan; there’s an international quality to her comedy， coupled with levels of calm and confidence that belie11 her youth. If she can make me smile without the power of words， it’s little wonder she has the rest of the audience in the palm of her hand. It’s Friday night and Norah is killing it at Shanghai’s Kung Fu Komedy Club.

Shanghai is the undisputed12 standup capital of China. That’s the opinion of every performer I speak to at Kung Fu， a comedy venue13 offering weekly open mic nights， as well as regular English language and Mandarin shows. Every day there are standup shows spread across more than half a dozen venues in the city—but the major advantage Shanghai has over other Chinese destinations is the presence of its own dedicated14 club.

Andy Curtain， an Australian comedian who performs in both English and Mandarin， opened Kung Fu Komedy Club in 2015. He started organising gigs15 in Shanghai in 2009; after years of moving from one dingy16 venue to the next and being ripped off17 by landlords， he was on the verge of18 giving up when he found their current venue in the city’s downtown.

Having a permanent home has helped Kung Fu grow. It now hosts standup shows five or six nights a week， attracting well known international acts like American comedians Ari Shaffir and D. C. Benny. What makes Andy most proud， however， is the way the club has helped foster the talents of young Chinese comedians such as Norah and 21-year-old Rocky Chan. There are now so many Chinese standups emerging in Shanghai， he finds it hard to keep track19.

Yet just a decade ago the city didn’t have a standup scene to speak of at all， mirroring much of Asia. It’s a decidedly Western pursuit; in Asia， comedy is something performed mainly by groups who improvise20 or act out sketches21. Solo comedy performers tend to lean on physical， slapstick22 humour， as opposed to the storytelling and satire which characterises standup.

Sure， you can find standup gigs in Singapore， Thailand， Malaysia and even Vietnam， but these shows are dominated by expat23 performers and visiting Western comedians. I’ve been to shows in Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City that felt identical to ones I’d attended in London and Perth.

But in Shanghai， it’s different. Unlike Thailand and Vietnam， the members of the audience here are mostly locals， and the jokes are mainly in Mandarin.

Norah and Rocky are newcomers to the circuit， with just 18 months and nine months of experience in standup respectively. Both have ambitions of becoming professional comedians. Rocky says he wants to use standup to show young Chinese people they can “express their views bravely”.

Neither does Kung Fu Komedy Club manager Mohammed Magdi. The 29-year-old Egyptian， who’s been doing standup for five years， believes Chinese comedy is set to become a juggernaut24. “Oh it’s going to be massive，” he tells me as he stands behind the club’s neon-lit bar. “It’s already a multimillion dollar industry in China and it’s only going to get bigger and bigger as the Chinese audience gets more and more familiar with the concept of standup as a one-man show.

“There are so many good Chinese comedians at the moment， some of them are legitimate25 celebrities， they’re on TV a lot， they tour the country selling out26 shows. In 10 years， I believe standup is going to be one of the pillars27 of the entertainment industry in China.”

杨诺拉赢得了满堂笑声。我听不懂这位30岁的中国喜剧演员在说些什么，可不管她说的是什么，此刻她引起了观众的热烈反响。我越看她，越觉得她滑稽——并非我突然能听懂普通话，而是因为那超越语言的喜剧元素。听她讲着那对我来说错综复杂的外语，从中我开始发现并欣赏到，诺拉能高明地掌控节奏，巧妙地把握抑扬顿挫，善于运用肢体动作，并利用面部表情突出每一处点睛妙语。

在单口喜剧的终生铁粉看来，诺拉的举手投足他们再熟悉不过。她的表演具有国际化特色，加上年轻人少有的高度镇定和自信。她不用言语的力量便可把我逗笑，难怪能掌控其他观众的情绪。这是某个周五的晚上，诺拉在上海功夫喜剧俱乐部的表演棒极了。

上海是中国公认的单口喜剧之都。我在功夫喜剧俱乐部采访过的表演者都这么认为，这家喜剧表演馆定期举办英语和中文演出，每周还有开麦之夜。上海有不下六七个这样的场所，每天都有单口喜剧演出遍布各处。而比起中国其他地方，上海的主要优势是拥有本地专属的俱乐部。

柯安迪是一名来自澳大利亚的喜剧演员，能用英语和中文表演，2015年他创办了功夫喜剧俱乐部。2009年，他在上海开始组织现场喜剧表演。多年来演出场地换了又换，尽是些简陋脏乱之地，被好几个房东敲了竹杠，差点要放弃，就在这时他在上海的市中心找到了现在这个地方。

功夫喜剧俱乐部有了这个固定的家才得以成长。现在，这里每周有五六个晚上举办演出，吸引了国际知名的演员，如美国喜剧演员阿里·沙菲尔和D. C.本尼。不过，让安迪感到最自豪的是，俱乐部培养了诺拉和21岁的陈洛基这样的中国青年喜剧演员，帮助他们施展才华。如今，上海不断有许多单口喜剧演员崭露头角，他发现很难随时掌握新动向。

[6]   然而仅十年前，上海根本没有任何单口喜剧表演场所，反映出当时亚洲大部分地区的情况。显然那是西方人的爱好;在亚洲，喜剧主要是团体即兴表演或以小品的形式呈现。独角喜剧演员往往依靠肢体或打闹来表现幽默，而不是用单口喜剧特有的讲故事和讽刺的方式。

当然，在新加坡、泰国、马来西亚，甚至越南都可以看到单口喜剧现场演出，但主要由移居当地的外国演员和来访的西方喜剧演员出演。我在曼谷和胡志明市看过演出，感觉跟我在伦敦和珀斯看过的一模一样。

上海可就两样了。与泰国和越南不同，这儿的观众多数是本地人，笑话大多用中文讲。

诺拉和洛基是俱乐部里的新人，分别只有一年半和9个月的单口喜剧表演经历。他俩都有志成为职业喜剧演员。洛基说，他想通过单口喜剧来告诉中国的年轻人，他们可以“勇敢地表达自己的看法”。

功夫喜劇俱乐部的经理穆罕默德·马吉迪也这么认为。这位29岁的埃及人从事单口喜剧有5个年头了，他相信中国喜剧注定会强大起来。“啊，肯定能发展到很大规模。”他站在俱乐部霓虹灯照耀的吧台后面，这样跟我说：“喜剧在中国已经是价值数百万美元的行业，中国观众越来越熟悉独角表演形式的单口喜剧，这样下去只会越做越大。

“如今有这么多优秀的中国喜剧演员，其中有些是真正的名人，他们经常上电视，在中国的巡回演出场场爆满。我相信，十年后单口喜剧将成为中国娱乐业的一大支柱。”

（译者为“《英语世界》杯”翻译大赛获奖选手）