Chapter 255 Crosstalk performance without an audience!
If crosstalk is judged solely by who talks more and who talks less, then when Shaobing and Cao Heyang are on the stage, you absolutely cannot tell who is the funny man and who is the supporting man, as they are all chattering.
But it would be much better if the two of them didn't partner with each other.
Especially Shaobing, when he is playing the funny role, his voice may sound a bit noisy, but when he plays the supporting role, his voice becomes steady and he speaks less. At the same time, he can effectively stop the funny role from talking nonsense with his voice, and it doesn't sound so harsh!
And Shaobing has another excellent quality, that is: playing the role of a fool!
With that look and a dull expression, he looks like a big, dull guy, and he doesn't even need to act stupid.
Combining these two advantages, Qi Long thought of a traditional crosstalk job that was very suitable for him, namely: "Pulling Shadow Plays".
Again, when time is tight and you are not a pair, it is easier to do a traditional program that everyone can do.
Some of you may not know what foreign films are. They are just a large piece of curtain with pictures on it. You can only see the pictures by sitting there and looking through small holes. The pictures do not move, and you have to follow the stall owner's singing and explanation to look at the pictures one by one.
Passersby heard the shouting and were curious about what was inside. Driven by curiosity, they also paid money to watch the foreign films.
In the past, there were touts in all walks of life on the street. Performers had touts who would cheer them on and give them money first; those who performed foreign films would also hire people to act as touts to watch the films. This was a serious transaction.
This crosstalk is about the funny man pretending to be a foreign film performer and forcing the supporting man to watch the foreign film by using force.
Not only watch, but also the supporting actor has to praise whatever the funny man says. If he doesn't praise enough, he will be beaten. If his praise is false or exaggerated, he will also be beaten.
Shaobing plays the silly and unlucky guy, and Qilong plays the shadow puppeteer.
The next day, when Qi Long arrived at the crosstalk performance, he saw that his fellow apprentices were extremely nervous.
"what happened?"
"Uncle Master, something bad has happened!" Shaobing, the temporary partner, ran over and said, "There are no audiences today. There are only four people under the stage: my master, Uncle Yu, and Brother Yue's two apprentices!"
After hearing the news, Qi Long knew why they were nervous.
The audience is also an important part of a crosstalk performance. If the audience is enthusiastic, the actors will be more relaxed. If the audience is not happy about anything they say, the actors will become more and more nervous and the performance will become boring.
This is also why crosstalk is not easy to perform in Tianjin, the hometown of folk art. On the contrary, in provinces where people don't listen to crosstalk much, the audience mostly finds it fresh and interesting when you perform there, and they will support you enthusiastically, making it easier to perform.
Based on the experience of the first season of "Deyun Douxiaoshe", the crosstalk performance in this variety show is relatively easy.
Because the audience is invited to watch for free, the expectations of watching for free and paying to watch are completely different things, so naturally whatever the actors say is easy to make people happy and the atmosphere is likely to be good.
I didn't expect that the first episode of the second season would be performed without an audience. There were only Guo Degang, Yu Qian and his two nephews in the audience. It was like the admissions interview for the Dragon Class or an inspection by a master. Of course, these apprentices were as nervous as they could be.
Qi Long walked to the middle of the room and clapped his hands twice, drawing everyone's attention.
“Don’t panic, don’t be nervous, just treat it as a live performance at a gala. There are no audiences in the audience, but you should keep them in mind. Don’t mess up the rhythm, or it will be all over. Just tell a joke and if you think the audience is happy, that’s good!
And I tell you, don’t be afraid, not having an audience is actually a good thing!”
Everyone was listening carefully when Qi Long was speaking, but when they heard Qi Long say this, they still had some doubts. How could it be a good thing without an audience?
"Think about it, even if you say it's not funny without an audience, we can edit it later. We can cut out all the unfunny parts, right? I will let the staff of Waner Media watch your crosstalk collectively, keep the funny parts, and cut out the unfunny parts.
Even if you say you made a mistake, it was just because you performed wrong in front of your master and Brother Qian. It's not like you haven't been scolded by your master before, right?"
Everyone smiled softly, and when they thought about it the other way around, it was true!
"That's bad. I can't even make anyone funny. I'll just cut it off." Yue Yunpeng, who has also seen many big scenes, can still make people funny.
"Hahahaha" This time everyone's laughter sounded like a laugh of applause, not the genuine laughter they had when playing games yesterday.
Although the uncle said a few words and Brother Yue tried to be funny on purpose, they were only performing in front of two elders, so they were still nervous!
"Take it easy, we two will be the first to go on stage!" Qi Long comforted everyone and walked to the side stage.
He felt it was okay, because he had experienced situations where there were only a few audience members in the Shanxi Province Crosstalk Society before, and he just performed as he should, and at most two people who understood crosstalk would be unhappy.
The announcer Yang Hetong introduced: "Please enjoy the crosstalk "Pulling Shadow Play", performed by Qi Long and Shao Bing."
Ever since Qi Long became popular last year, there has never been a situation where there was little applause after the announcement, but it happened this time.
Guo Degang and Yu Qian below were hitting their hands with fans, but there was no sound. The two disciples stood there motionless, like security guards on guard.
On his way onto the stage, Qi Long was observing the scene. There was a huge curtain behind Guo Degang and Yu Qian, and behind them were two small blackboards. Next to the blackboards stood two disciples, ready to give scores at any time.
Shaobing was a little nervous and put both his hands on the table.
Qi Long was very open and said with a smile: "Hey, there are two distinguished guests coming to the theater today. Have you reserved the theater?"
The meaning of this sentence is to define the situation and tell Shaobing not to think that he is your master, or the uncle who paid to book the whole place!
Guo Degang and Yu Qian had stern faces and looked serious, looking like they were trying to scare people.
Otherwise, you can just put on a smile.
Shaobing pointed at the two nephews standing there: "Uncle, don't you know how to count? Four!"
"Yes, yes, yes, there are two bodyguards!"
The two standing there were Shang Xiaoju, who was short and looked like he had little fighting power, and Liu Xiaoting, who looked unfriendly but also had a skinny body.
Normally, if you were surprised and exclaimed “Is this a bodyguard?”, you would be embarrassed, but Shaobing didn’t say anything.
Seeing that he didn't say anything, Qi Long immediately continued, "We have to work hard if someone comes to support us. Let me introduce myself to the four distinguished guests first!"
"Introductions!"
"My name is Qi Long, this is a beaker" What can you do? Use the name to activate the pancake.
This is Qi Long's experience. When many students first go on stage, their brains may be blank. At this time, the easiest thing for them to refute is to say his name wrong. In Shaobing's current situation, his brain is not blank, but it is also a bit chaotic. Obviously, he was frightened by the two elders with stern faces on the scene and has not yet entered the state.
"I'll burn you to death!" Shaobing turned around immediately, pinched his fingers and shook them.
Qi Long could see with his own eyes that a smile appeared on Yu Qian's face and the corner of Guo Degang's mouth twitched. It seemed that Shaobing's performance as a sissy was still powerful enough.
"And you still say you are not a beaker?" Qi Long shouted.
Shaobing put down his orchid finger: "Aren't I just cooperating with you? You said my name wrong!"
"Oh, burn, play one"
"Eagle!" Shaobing corrected the pinyin: "Bai Yingbing!"
"Shaobing!"
Shaobing patted his chest gently: "By the way, you scared me to death!"
"I was just joking. It's a little trick of crosstalk. We are crosstalk performers!"
"That's right!" A small bag helped Shaobing get into the mood a little bit.
Qi Long continued: "This crosstalk was also called business in the past!"
"Correct!"
"When it comes to buying and selling, there is competition. If someone buys your products, they can't buy from others. So in order to get people to buy your products, there will be competition in buying and selling. Now there is a term for this, which is industry competition!"
"what?"
"Business war! I'm quite knowledgeable about business wars. This is what business wars in movies and TV dramas look like, secretary!" Qi Long said to Shaobing.
Shaobing pointed at himself blankly: "Me?"
"No, you have to cooperate with me and get into the role. If I call you secretary, you just play the role of secretary!"
"Oh got it!"
"Secretary"
"Hey, boss!" Shaobing lowered his body slightly with a smile on his face.
Qi Long was dissatisfied again: "You need a female secretary!"
"You need a female secretary?"
"Nonsense, who will take care of the men? You can be the one who does the work of a secretary when there is work to do and the one who does the work of a secretary when there is nothing to do." Qi Long commanded.
Shaobing nodded again.
Qi Long reentered the character: "Secretary!"
Shaobing knelt on one knee at the table and stretched out his hand towards Qi Long's waist.
"Go away, go away. We have something to do now. This is not the time to be idle." Qi Long quickly opened his hand.
At this point, Guo Degang and Yu Qian couldn't hold it anymore. They didn't expect that the two of them had such unexpected baggage.
"Hahahahaha!" Guo Degang and Yu Qian laughed together.
Yu Qian also waved his hand and asked Shang Xiaoju to add a bar to each of them. This expected and unexpected burden hit him!
Qi Long, who had sharp ears, heard something unusual. There was laughter behind the curtain behind Guo Degang and Yu Qian, the kind of laughter that was deliberately suppressed.
I see. There are audiences today, but we are pretending that there are no audiences.
The director really knows how to play.
Then it's not just about entertaining two old men.
"No, uncle-master, why do you have so many requests?" Shaobing stood up.
Qi Long just asked him to play the role of a secretary normally.
"This is what business wars look like in movies and TV dramas, secretary!"
Shaobing twisted his body and took two steps, folded his hands on his abdomen, and bowed slightly: "Boss!"
"This client is very important to us. The private jet of the rival company will land with the client and may intercept our client at the airport, so we need to find a way to change the route of their private jet!"
"Private route, change?" Shaobing widened his eyes.
"Humph, I have already bribed the captain of their plane in advance and contacted him via satellite phone!"
"The boss is wise!"
"Look, this is the business war in the TV series!"
"Oh, what about in reality?"
"In reality, there is no need to bribe the opponent's private jet pilots. You can just bribe their cleaning staff!"
Shaobing was dumbfounded again: "What's the point of bribing the cleaning staff? Throwing banana peels on the floor will make them slip and fall on their heads?"
Qi Long showed a mysterious smile. Well, since Shaobing was willing to tell the joke himself, it meant that the tense state was completely over.
"No need to go through so much trouble, just use boiling water to kill their money trees!"
"Huh? That's it!"
(End of this chapter)
