Comedian brings funny business to Forbidden City

(China Daily) Updated: 2012-12-12 00:45

Guo goes with the flow of the Internet age.

His Sina Weibo micro blog has more than 20 million followers, and each of his tweets easily gets thousands of re-tweets.

"Weibo is a very good platform for promotion and audience interaction," Guo says.

"With my Weibo, I feel like I own several newspapers."

Cross-talk became popular throughout North China throughout the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

However, the art form declined after the 1960s because of China's political movements and the planned economy under which cross-talk artists had to be recruited by State-owned troupes.

The genre has undergone a revival since the late 1990s, as independent artists have been staging more shows in teahouses and theaters.

Guo and his colleagues at Deyun Co are a major force in the revival movement.

He's certainly the most successful among the independent cross-talk artists and private troupes performing in Beijing, Tianjin and other cities.

He not only performs cross-talk, but also hosts TV shows and acts in films and TV dramas.

He owns five theaters where his contracted artists perform, a clothing brand and a restaurant.

He ranks 32nd on the 2012 Forbes China Celebrities Chart. He earned 27.1 million yuan ($4.35 million) this year, making him by far the richest cross-talk performer.

Guo was born into an ordinary family in Tianjin and didn't finish secondary school. But he made millions through witty interpretations of the urban poor's perspectives.

He's a hero for many youth with comparable backgrounds. More than 100 students from across the country apprentice under him through Deyun.

Guo gave talks about the culture of cross-talk at two top US universities — Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Columbia University — at the invitation of their Chinese students' unions.

One young woman at Columbia asked if she could become Guo's apprentice. He suggested she remain a listener.

"Listening to cross-talk is very easy and enjoyable, but performing it is extremely difficult," he says.

"Otherwise, why would you pay to hear me talk?"

Contact the writer at muqian@chinadaily.com.cn.