Stand Up For China. Des Bishop. Copyright: BBC
Stand Up For China

Stand Up For China

  • Radio documentary
  • BBC World Service
  • 2015
  • 1 episode

In this documentary for the BBC World Service, comedian Des Bishop explores what makes the Chinese laugh. Features Des Bishop, Jesse Appell, Mark Rowswell, Joe Wong and Jin Xing

Key details

Genre
Documentary
Broadcast
2015
Channel
BBC World Service
Episodes
1
Features
Des Bishop, Jesse Appell, Mark Rowswell, Joe Wong and Jin Xing
Company

Des Bishop explores what makes the Chinese laugh.

Des finds out the hard way and learns Mandarin to take his jokes to China. He discovers that there is a long tradition of comedy in China called 'Xiangsheng' or 'Crosstalk' often in the form of two comedians playing off each other.

However, the younger generation are keen to hear something new and more challenging and stand-up comedy is taking its place in clubs across Beijing. "Everybody in this crazily developing society is so busy," an audience member tells Des. "We need a channel to get our anger and stress out".

Des discusses with comedians what the government will allow them to say and what will be off limits. Join him in a comedy club in Beijing to find out what goes down well - and what does not - in Stand Up For China.

Additional details

Production
Studio

Broadcast details

First broadcast
Tuesday 14th April 2015 at 3:30am on BBC World Service
Episode length
30 minutes
All previous repeats
  • Saturday 18th April 2015 at 5:05am on World Service
  • Tuesday 14th April 2015 at 10:30pm on World Service
  • Tuesday 14th April 2015 at 5:30pm on World Service

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