Reviews: TV

Talking up funny business

The 2007 Starry Night New Year Happy Gala featuring Guo Degang was a hit on Beijing Television and its re-run is still popular with viewers. Between Christmas and New Year's Eve, its ratings soared to 10.6, while top TV dramas only scored 6.0. As one netizen said, the show was timely in the barren TV landscape: "Good rain finally comes to a drought-ridden land".

Xiangsheng, or comical cross-talk, was hugely popular in the early 20th century. Masters left some 1,000 pieces that still can win hearty laughter. But in recent years, it has become outdated. When Guo set up xiangsheng club Deyunshe 10 years ago, few believed he could revive the art in the traditional small-theatre format.

Last Saturday, when Guo appeared at the Beijing Book Ordering Fair, fans vied for an autograph of his book Non-Famous Xiangsheng Actor, which narrates the hardships of survival with humor and pictures.

On TV, Guo and his students sing Peking, Yuju and other folk operas. Though lacking the tinge of professionals, they do remind people of master Hou Baolin.

At the end of the show, Guo's mentor Hou Yaohua, son of Hou Baolin, came onstage to hug Guo, as if he was holding his own son and the future of xiangsheng.

(China Daily 01/16/2007 page20)