Chapter 134: Deyun Quiz
It’s eight o’clock in the morning at Deyun Society’s Tianqiao Theater. Usually at this time, there is no one in the small theater, let alone the crosstalk actors. Even the staff in the theater don’t have to go to work because there will be performances in the afternoon.
But at this time today, quite a few people came to the Tianqiao Theater because the Deyun Society was going to have a quiz.
"My fellow disciples will hate me so much after what you did!" Qi Long "complained" to his senior brother Guo Degang.
Guo Degang laughed loudly: "I just think your model is good, so I moved it here?"
In Qi Long and Dong Qiang's special performances, Qi Long will listen to the crosstalks of the guest performers, add to their crosstalks, and design more interesting gags; or reduce the nonsense that the actors find interesting but the audience may not find interesting, to make the crosstalk more complete.
After the two special shows, the performances of the guest performers were also well received by the audience.
Lao Guo thought it was a good idea and moved here. This time, Deyun’s New Year’s Eve special will be performed simultaneously in five cities. Each performance will have nine programs, at least six pairs of crosstalk performers, and as many as nine pairs.
The deployment of so many personnel means that not all the actors in this commercial performance are actors who have performed in their own shows. Most of them have only been supporting actors in other people's special shows or Deyun's overall commercial performances.
Although their program was researched by Vice President Luan Yunping and reviewed by Chief Instructor Gao Feng,
But Brother Guo felt that he should conduct an investigation. He hadn't had any apprentices for a long time, so he borrowed Qi Long's model and prepared to explain the work to his apprentices.
Qi Long was also one of the judges for the quiz. In addition to their fellow apprentices, there were also the head instructor Gao Feng and his partner Dong Qiang sitting in the audience, making a total of four judges.
Facing the three of them, the actors felt more nervous than facing hundreds or thousands of audiences.
When you are nervous, you are prone to making mistakes. Sun Jiufang and Guo Xiaohan, who were the first to go on stage, had problems. Because of nervousness, they spoke vaguely and missed words in some places.
Because of nervousness, the straight man shouted "how to say that" before the funny man finished the first half of his witty remark.
The funny thing is, "You, Guo Degang, suck milk!"
The supporting actor responded: "How do you say that?"
"You are dancing (suck)!"
As a result, before the word "sucking milk" came out, Guo Xiaohan had already said "how to say it" in advance, which caused the two of them to interrupt each other and caused chaos, and the audience might not be able to hear it.
Normally, this part should be the moment the funny man finishes the first half of his sentence, the straight man immediately continues, the funny man then throws in the punchline, and then the next part begins, as fast as a machine gun.
But they both made this stupid mistake.
Guo Degang's face was full of seriousness. After the two finished their performance, he asked: "How can you be witty when you can't even make a witty remark clearly?"
The two of them lowered their heads in shame.
Gao Feng also spoke up: "The audience is tolerant now. If this was played before, they would have been booed off the stage! Kong Yunlong and Luan Yunping were booed off the stage because of this, you know?"
The two men lowered their heads and nodded to show that they accepted the instruction.
Guo Degang and Gao Feng looked at Qi Long. Qi Long saw that they were both scolding each other, so he decided to stop scolding and give them some solutions.
"The problem with both of you is that you're nervous. I can't teach you this, but have you ever thought about how to make up for mistakes made on stage due to nervousness? For example, Xiaohan spoke before you finished the first half of your witty remark. At this point, you've already made a mistake. It all depends on how well you two understand each other!"
"What if something like this happened between you and Dongqiang on stage?" Gao Feng asked appropriately.
Qi Long glanced at Dong Qiang through Guo Degang and Gao Feng: "You are Guo Degang sucking milk!"
"How do you say it?" Dong Qiang spoke when Qi Long looked at him. He was already pregnant when Qi Long said he wanted to breastfeed: "How do you say it?"
The work was successfully disrupted, turning it into the scene of their stage accident.
"You're jumping and sucking!" Qi Long said even faster: "You're Guo Degang married to Kardashian!"
"What do you mean?" Dongqiang spoke even faster this time. He started speaking before Qi Long and Guo Degang had even finished.
"I don't know the depth!"
"you"
"how to say?"
Qi Long looked at Gao Dongqiang. Gao Dongqiang didn't even look at Qi Long. He just shouted contemptuously: "What do you mean? What do you mean? What do you mean!"
He shouted several times in different tones, one rising, one sinking.
Qi Long just watched him quietly as he continued to say things in different states. After Dong Qiang said four or five, he turned back to look at Qi Long and turned away awkwardly: "I'm almost there!"
"Aren't you happy that you stole all my lyrics? You're Sun Yue's belly is getting bigger again!"
"What does that mean?"
"A tape recorder!" Gao Dongqiang looked down at his stomach: "Abdominal congestion."
"Hahahahahaha!" Lao Guo and Gao Feng looked at each other and then laughed together.
When the two of them smiled, the tense atmosphere was much less than half, and the fellow apprentices standing and sitting at the back of the theater all applauded their uncles Qi Long and Dong Qiang.
The two uncles were so awesome. Their seats were separated from Guo Degang and Gao Feng, so there was no chance of them competing with each other.
Replicate the stage accident, and then use tacit understanding to easily turn the accident into a designed joke.
When Dongqiang accelerated, Qi Long also sped up. Dongqiang then used the method of repeating himself in "Vajra Leg" and kept talking.
Then Uncle Qi Long used a joke that was never heard of but was very effective as a punchline. If the two of them were not simulating a stage accident, who would have known that this was an accident?
Without an understanding of all the jokes in crosstalk, without years of stage performance experience, and without years of collaborative tacit understanding, it would be impossible to achieve such a perfect rescue effect!
That’s amazing! My fellow disciples are truly convinced. To be honest, given their position, could they have thought of such a solution?
No, you still need to practice!
The two crosstalk actors bowed to receive instruction, and then it was the turn of the next couple, Qin Xiaoxian and Sun Jiuxiang, who performed a "Sheep Climbing a Tree". Jiuxiang's fat body had a natural advantage in performing this kind of ethical gag, and he looked like an honest man. Qin Xiaoxian also acted cleverly by deliberately letting others call him dad to take advantage of him.
He is basically imitating Qi Long, who taught him this skill. When you first come into contact with crosstalk, you have to imitate. Now it seems that he is doing a good job.
At least Qi Long could judge in his heart that Junior Brother Qin in this world was more talented than the actor named Qin who followed the route of a young idol and crosstalk artist in another world!
There were also some flaws, which were pointed out and corrected by Guo Degang.
The nephews came on stage one by one. Guo Degang and Gao Feng commented on them one by one. Qi Long and Dong Qiang, on the contrary, didn't say much unless they were cueed. When they were cueed, they would say that the performance was already good, but it could be better if something was added or subtracted.
For example, the punchline should be crisp and clear. When dropping the punchline, try to reduce the number of words that can be reduced, such as nonsense, modal particles, etc.
You can't let the audience figure out what your joke is before you've even finished speaking. That's like someone intercepting your joke in mid-air. How can it make a sound?
Among so many crosstalk performers, a serious problem has emerged, that is, the problem of deconstructing crosstalk.
The so-called deconstruction of crosstalk is to break a complete crosstalk into pieces, so that old audiences who have listened to traditional crosstalk for a long time will have a novel experience when listening to this part.
Representative figures include: Jin Henan and Zhu Hecong.
The two of them do talk a lot, but their performance is effective.
Because looking around the whole society, Jin Henan is the most suitable to play the role of the bullied guy among the comedians. At most, he just yells a few words. Other comedians do not have this kind of image.
At the same time, looking around the whole society, the only one who stood there and made people laugh just by opening his mouth was Zhu Hecong.
There's nothing I can do, it's just a matter of audience appeal. When the audience sees his face and hears him open his mouth, they want to laugh. Others don't have this condition.
Therefore, only the two of them are born to be deconstruction crosstalk performers. If others perform like this, it would just be a poor imitation of them.
Even Qi Long and Dong Qiang are not good enough, because Qi Long's image is not that of a bullied funny guy, and Dong Qiang's occasional retort may be effective, but if the whole audience is disturbed, the crosstalk will be in chaos.
But, I don’t know if it’s because the supporting actors have been oppressed by the funny actors for a long time, but one or two of them on the stage want to learn from Zhu Hecong, and many crosstalks are so broken that they are unbearable to listen to!
Guo Degang looked at Qi Long and joked, "You are the one who led them astray. They used to be well behaved, but you brought up Zhu Hecong and he learned everything!"
"It has nothing to do with me. They just didn't find their own style. I helped them, but not every couple is Jin Henan and Zhu Hecong!" Qi Long shook his head, indicating that it was none of his business.
He kept telling his fellow apprentices that that kind of crosstalk was only suitable for Jin and Zhu.
"If you want to imitate, do you have the same train of thought as Zhu Hecong when he was on stage? Do you have Jin Henan, Zhu Hecong's partner who could smile even when he was pouted and speechless? If not, then don't deconstruct crosstalk and add weird jokes. The audience may not be amused and it may just make them feel awkward!" Qi Long said seriously to his nephews.
"For narrative crosstalk, just tell the story well. Don't think about interacting with the audience or making a big splash. The most important thing is to tell the story clearly, so throw away any insignificant baggage. Even if it's already in the script, don't feel like you're letting the master down by not saying it.
For interactive crosstalk, don’t expect to move forward so quickly. If the audience responds well, do it more often to achieve better results.”
The comments from the four judges are full of valuable information. Not to mention Guo Degang, who is a real master. Gao Feng is also the substitute master of most people and the chief instructor of Deyun.
Qi Long had no obligation to teach them, but he still came up with all the improvement methods he could think of.
In a small sense, it was for the effect of this performance; in a big sense, he also hoped that crosstalk would develop better and better.
He did not intend to accept any apprentices because he was not cruel enough and felt that he was not the type to educate others ruthlessly. At most, if Gao Dongqiang had a child in the future, he might accept one.
Moreover, Gao Dongqiang’s son may not necessarily be a crosstalk performer. Their Gao family does not interfere with the development of their descendants. They can just do what they like, as long as the things they like do not break the law!
"You have to be grateful to your uncle. In the past, these words would not be taught to outsiders unless the master kowtowed to you. Even the masters who kowtowed to you would hide them. But he didn't hide anything!" Guo Degang said to his disciples.
He remembered that when they first met in the morning, Qi Long said, "My fellow apprentices must hate me so much," so he told his disciples that they should not "complain" or "resent" their uncle, because he really taught them how to do their job, so they should be grateful!
Qi Long looked at Guo Degang teasingly: "Brother, what are you hiding?"
"I hid the story of my senior brother's family and didn't teach them. I am the only one in the crosstalk world who can talk about my senior brother!" Guo Degang responded quickly.
"Hahahahahahaha!" Qi Long, Dong Qiang and Gao Feng laughed together.
(End of this chapter)
