Jiang Zihao, a young man in his twenties: Ordinary and ordinary are the norm

This year is the fifth year for Jiang Zihao and to participate in the " Talk Show Conference ", and he finally waited for the four leading laughers to shoot the lights. In the second round of

, he wrote the emotions of the past five years into jokes, jealousy, frustration, the huge gap between his peers, and the psychological imbalance caused by the gap. He used a roaring way to describe the lives of young people in their twenties on stage, stomping his feet and shouting, "Ordinary and ordinary are the norm, fame and prosperity are perverts, and they are the problem."

in In the waiting area, Yang Li, who witnessed all this, said Jiang Zihao, "This breath has been held for four years, and I finally got it out."

Before that, he had always left the image of a frustrated person on the screen. In the third season of

"Talk Show Conference", he was half-jokingly asked by Luo Yonghao , "Why do you want to do a talk show?" He was the first to play and the first to be eliminated. These images constitute most people's impression of him, in his own words, "as if I really failed, very hard".

But in fact, in 2017, just after graduating from university, he directly signed with Xiaoguo Culture with the second place in the training camp of Xiaoguo . In that competition, there were later talk show kings Wang Mian , Yan Yi Yan Yue, and Pang Bo took the first place. Jiang Zihao laughed at himself, "That was the closest I got to Pang Bo."

For the past five years, he has been trying to prove himself again. But he also gradually realized the predicament. Since he joined Xiaoguo Culture at the age of 22, he has been involved in fierce competition. For the sake of the game, I constantly squeeze my life, experience, and even emotions. The creation of the talk show comes from life, but for Jiang Zihao, nothing in life can overwhelm the emotions of work.

Especially after 2020, the third season of "Talk Show Conference" made the niche art of talk show move from the fringe to the mainstream, and also made batch after batch of talk show actors become famous, embracing fame, money and praise. As a "normal person in his twenties" in this industry, Jiang Zihao admits that seeing his friends walking faster and faster, he is envious and anxious at the same time. He didn't know what else to do when the mic was opened on the ground. Many times, he could only use performances to numb himself.

He began to envy people in other industries who still have jobs to talk about, and his own "parents are also healthy, reasonable, no complicated or special family background, neither good nor bad, neither tall nor short, really an ordinary person. young people in their twenties".

He originally thought that this year's performance was very good, and that after the show was broadcast, it would relieve a lot of the pain of creation, but "it doesn't seem to be, it's still the same."

Jiang Zihao sincerely talked about his situation and troubles in the past five years. He didn't feel that he was disappointed, but he said that now he can accept that he may not be so successful. Perhaps, this is also the reality that many young people in their twenties face together.

以下是江梓浩的讲述——

文｜吕蓓卡

编辑｜姚璐

图｜受访者提供（除特殊标记外）

今年我写了一些自嘲的段子，读稿会的时候, Wang Jianguo helped me find a particularly suitable emotion to vent. He said that you are poor, and those people are abnormal. I am right, I am normal, and the emotion and direction will come out immediately.

I usually think the same when I talk to my parents and friends, half comforting myself, half I really think so, what else can I do? A lot of people think we are on the showI don't behave well, I say it as if I'm strong, but like I said in my manuscript, I'm not strong, this is normal.

There is a little interlude in the middle. This year, I wrote a lot of first-class passages. At the time of the manuscript reading meeting, I had a passage that said, shouldn't the first-class cabin also put away the small table board? Then the director said that you don't need to put away the small table in the first class cabin (laughs), you really have never sat, you really don't know. Hahahaha, what a shame, it was really shameful at the time, give me a meal. I wanted to include this paragraph too, but it didn't quite fit the mood.

I've been on The Talk Show for five seasons, and I'm a little bit out of it this year. These three manuscripts are almost all written now, and I regard that stage as a place similar to Open Mai.

is an old joke like last year. I played it many times for two months. So there will be psychological hints and expectations on stage. For example, you already know that the place will be very good, but when the stage is not so good, you will have a "crack" in your heart, and your sense of belief will not be so strong. But if the manuscript is very new, it may be worth it. When

opened the microphone, I said that the effect of this joke was not so good. I am still worried, I also ask others, I say what to do. But everyone told me that it's okay, you should use a little more force this time. They say the offline distance is very close, I can't be so close to yelling in front of you, throw your slippers, this thing can't show.

at the recording site, the second pair of slippers was thrown out. In fact, that place was the end of my entire performance, so I took a look, the laughing man stood up and laughed, everyone was very happy, I felt successful . I didn't even worry about whether I would advance or not. I said that if I didn't advance, the two people at the back would have to be strong enough to cover it up. I don't think Wang Mian could catch him (laughs). I feel that the presentation of my manuscript could not have been better.

After Jiang Zihao's "throwing slippers" joke was thrown, the audience was lit up. At the end of the fifth season of "Talk Show Conference"

, I bowed and put the microphone directly on the ground. Later, Pang Bo said that I was letting go of my past self. In fact, I didn't think about it that much, just to be handsome. I can't hold back my happiness, I am relieved, happy, and relaxed, because I think I have succeeded.

sat in the waiting area later, I was like watching TV, what they liked, I was relieved. My mind is still stunned, and I still can't slow down that happy energy.

When I returned to the hotel at night, I knew at the time that I would not be so happy when I woke up, and I would pass this feeling quickly, so I wanted to enjoy this happiness more quickly that night, but I didn't know how to express it. Like a neuropathy, alone in bed, read the manuscript again.

But this joy is really too short. I lost that happy feeling the next day because I had to record the next issue. into anxiety again.

I thought this year's broadcast would ease a lot of creative pain, but it doesn't seem to be the case.

I performed offline for the past two days. After the performance, Zhang Boyang asked me, why do you look unhappy. I said that I don't know how to describe it, but I just feel that happiness is fleeting. Happiness is passing so quickly, I don't know why.

Jiang Zihao participated in the fifth season of "Talk Show Conference" Photo source Jiang Zihao Weibo

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Forgot who said it before, this show should not be called "Talk Show Conference" in the future, it should be called "Who is the next son of heaven". If you perform well, you will be young and become famous overnight. If you don't perform well, like us, go back and keep working hard. So every year everyoneI still want to be on the show, go for something. Even if

can do well offline, sell a lot of tickets, and do special shows, but all these things combined can't compare with the stage of "Talk Show". Because you perform well on the show, what you bring to you is completely different, fame, money, and recognition. So every year there will be a group of particularly disappointed people.

At that time, Wang Mian was the first and most exciting to our group. Because Wang Mian has the best relationship with us, he really joined the company together, recorded the first season together, and made " Offends the Family " together. When we talk about Guan Pei Liuzi, we have a feeling of a little revolutionary friendship. At that time, we really played and ate together every day. How should I put it, it is the feeling of being in a foreign country, and the six people are dependent on each other, and the relationship is very good.

so he excites us the most. It can't be said to be jealous either, because he deserves it. But for me, I really had to face the growing estrangement from this group of friends. To the later Zhisheng, Guangzhi. I often open Weibo , and the screen is opened with a few of them there (in the mobile phone screen). Normally he should be here (next to the chair), but he is here (on the phone).

The further we go, the less contact we have at work, the less we perform together, the less we communicate, and the less fun it becomes. I used to be able to go to Wang Mian's house to play and so on, but later I killed him. I said yes, now Deng Chao , Luhan are more interesting than Zihao and Xingchen (laughs). I often joke that Xiaoguo doesn't have many friends left for me now (laughs), it's gone too fast.

So anxious too. It's because this thing suddenly exploded, and when that group of people went up, it would make everyone very impetuous and anxious.

After I was eliminated, I worked like crazy. I kept going to open mics, and I kept going to commercial performances. I also participated in improv performances. Humor, jokes. I don't know what to do, so I just keep writing and doing it. In fact, he is trying his best to paralyze himself.

is so anxious that you don't write anything for two days, and it feels like it's over, over, over, someone else is going to write a stalk, over, over, over. Or go directly to Open Mai to watch, and see a few people talking about stalks. When it's over, it's over, go home and write, and go home to think about it.

still have some friends around and start thinking about more practical things. For example, I want to go back to my hometown and start a club. But I told him it wasn't possible, did you really talk about it? Actually, no, he was just a little anxious in his heart.

Jiang Zihao talks about the offline talk show

My kind of desperate performance to numb myself may not be good, maybe it's better to relax. There are skills in writing memes, but emotions are not, they must be real. This kind of anxiety will lead me to be stuck in the mood of not being able to write jokes, and there will be no other emotions in life. Nothing in life can arouse my emotions anymore.

"Talk Show Conference" was my inner demon, because I tried several times to perform poorly on stage, and the audience did not accept myself. In fact, they would be very afraid and there would be shadows. But there is no other way, only to endure it and pretend to be strong.

is a funny thing, I get a dry cough when I get nervous. When I was about to record this year, I coughed a few days ago. They said I was so nervous, and there were 48 hours left, so I coughed so early.

Over the past year, I have used these two words in front of some of the offline compliments or whatever. All my compliments are preceded by "It's funny" or "I didn't expect it", it's all like that.

This is also the cruel point of the show. It was the five minutes that left everyone with such an impression, but that's not all. I didn't perform well on the show in the first four seasons, many people said Jiang ZihaoWhy are you still talking about talk shows? It just felt like I was struggling, like I was really failing. But not so.

Many people don't know that even if they have participated in the show, if their performance is not good, those who are eliminated in one or two rounds will have to participate in the sea election later. For me, I've beaten a lot of talent to get to this spot. I go up for five minutes every year, but I also beat a lot of people before I have the chance to lose face on it.

We have actually done a good job offline. Even if there are several actors who are not on the show, they have a lot of offline performances, and the performances are also very good, but they are not so famous. It's because those people seem like we're doing poorly, but it's not that bad.

I can be regarded as the peak of my debut. The first time I talked about a talk show was during the summer of my junior year, when I did a show at school.

I was the first to play. For 10 minutes, I talked nonsense, that is, the school was cut off from water and electricity, and the couple in the woods were caught by the teacher. The audience off the field laughed loudly, and I enjoyed it a lot. Since I was a child, I was the kind of person who liked to be grandstanding and wanted to make others happy. Maybe it was because of my dad's influence, he liked to joke very much. Sometimes I feel humorous, it can ease the atmosphere, and it can also appease myself. Some friends say that I am invulnerable and feel that nothing can hurt me, but I just feel that (injury) does not need to be shown, that is not cool.

In his junior year, Jiang Zihao spoke on a talk show for the first time

When I was graduating from high school, I wrote a graduation message on the wall. What I wrote on it was that I hope everyone will remember my words in the future, and they will remember that I am an interesting person people.

So it's a very happy thing to be able to open a special talk show. To put it simply, a special performance represents the strength of an actor. But what attracts me more is that one person can perform for an hour in the special show, and the audience is not watching the talk show, but watching "Jiang Zihao".

Hundreds or even thousands of people who like you get together to see you, which is a very happy thing in itself. I am willing to speak, everyone is willing to listen, I can share my troubles or grievances on stage, and share my slippers or leg hair . In that hour, there won't be any real-life mess, nothing but the audience and me.

So I think I'm pretty good. The first time I played and opened Mai , the people in the club said that I was the best performer among several people, that Zi Hao was very spiritual, and asked me if I wanted to join them. At that time, we were speaking Cantonese talk shows, and I had not been on a few open mics, so I was given a formal commercial performance, although it was free. But it was recognized very early.

went to Xiaoguo's training camp after speaking a few Cantonese talk shows, and took second place, Pang Bo first, that was the closest I was to Pang Bo (laughs). Can you imagine? At that time, the training camp was sponsored, and I had already started reading commercials (laughs). After the

training camp was over, Xiaoguo immediately asked me if I wanted to sign a contract, so I was very smooth at the beginning, I had the opportunity and the stage immediately, and it was very logical to start a talk show and record a program. And at that time I was very confident and in a very good state.

In 2017, Jiang Zihao (second from left), who just graduated from university, participated in the Xiaoguo training camp and won the second place.

Later, I also thought about whether it was too early to do a talk show and consumed some things very early. This is also the reason why many talk show actors say that it is getting harder and harder to do it later. It’s just that it’s consumed, and a lot of it has already been said, but there’s actually not that many things to write about. And I entered this industry as soon as I graduated, and I have been squeezing my life, resulting in only talk shows in my later life.

I'm talking mainly online. Offline is inexhaustible. There are many bad things in life that can be mentioned. For example, I didn’t bring it when I went out.The key, someone upstairs in our house happened to be doing the unlocking. He came down and took two iron wires and slammed it. As a result, I politely asked how much it was, and he actually asked for five hundred. This kind of thing can be talked about, but it's impossible to talk about it on the show, it's too small. The

program needs you to have a "personality" to show to the audience, of course it can't be fake, and that side needs the audience to remember you suddenly. Because an online performance is only five minutes long, you have to quickly eliminate the strangeness, let the audience know you quickly, and solve a question from the audience - "Why should I listen to you?" Worrying, I have been wondering who Jiang Zihao is? I say that I am handsome because I am really distressed, and handsome is not a comedy material, but I really feel that I have no other characteristics. I am a young man in his twenties, with little knowledge and limited knowledge, just as my joke said, my parents are also healthy, reasonable, no complicated or special family background, neither good nor bad, neither tall nor short, He's just an ordinary young man in his twenties.

and then never got a job. I studied hotel management at at Guangzhou Business School. Originally, my dad arranged for me to go to his friend's hotel (for work), but as soon as I graduated, I started talking about talk shows. Others say that they are a programmer, , and some things about his work, but I don't. Then I can't have a child just to tell jokes. So I can only find some points that everyone can remember me. In the first round of the show, I used the identity of Cantonese because I was the only Cantonese player in the show.

I started to realize this in the third and fourth seasons. When I see people from other industries on the show, I am very envious. I feel that they have a life and they have career stories to tell.

And I have no life, no experience, I can't hold back if I want to talk about a deep topic, say that I have nothing, and my life is relatively smooth. All the emotions come from emotions in this industry.

When you look at foreign actors, they usually don't become famous until they are in their thirties or forties. When they are young, no one knows them. They will go through life all the time, because talk shows are not their job.

But we have become a job, they just go to vent after work, talk about talk shows, they have to go through a lot of bad things in life, bad things in life, uncomfortable at work and so on. So they can say that if we have that kind of material, we don’t have it, and we can’t even complain about the company (laughs).

The things we have experienced in life are just that. Offline, I can tell a joke for a year, which is normal for a talk show actor. But online, it will be consumed quickly. You see, the emotions I have in my twenties have been exhausted. If I talk about it again, it will be a bit boring. It is difficult to talk about it as powerfully as I did last time. After four years of suffocation, five minutes may be consumed. The joke

may be a really big emotion in my current life. So this show is really brutal. It is consuming my life, my emotions and life experience. I only have a few things, and I can’t talk about them anymore. I can’t talk about this anymore, so it is very difficult.

This is not my dilemma alone. This year, everyone has a lot of controversy. They feel that we have been talking about internal stalks, but it is not what I want to talk about, that is what I have experienced, but when I say it, it is internal stalks. It can't be said to be labor-saving, but a last resort.

Picture source Xiaoguo Factory Weibo

This year I really feel that everyone is not very happy. Because it is a little too difficult, a little forced (feeling). You don't force him, everyone may not have as much motivation to create such good content, but forcing everyone, everyone is indeed creating a bit unhappy, a bit too painful.

I've had a short time with talk shows as a hobby, and I've been involved in this anxious competition very early on, so I rarely really experience the kind of creative enjoyment. This is a pity.

I originally understood that the charm of a talk show is that you can show everything you look like on stage. You don't have to be talkative, you can be introverted, you can be shy, you can be bold, you can be crazy, as long as you're funny. So it doesn't matter, that thing on stage has nothing to do with offstage, you don't have to be very talkative and outgoing to do this.

But in terms of program effects, the more popular talk shows are valuable output, and everyone will use screenshots to spread, which forces the actors to add more points of view in the jokes. This thing makes me a little bit squeamish, I think the talk show is happy, right? And I'm a stinky child, what values ​​can I have? I don't think I have such profound things, so I prefer Mancai, which is very pure, open-minded, and nonsensical. No need to teach you anything, you just have to be happy. That year, I was very satisfied with the jokes I created, but it was later separated from the ideas of my partner.

Of course, I do not exclude opinions and depth, because this is a more advanced form of comedy. But I don't like to talk hard for the sake of profoundness. I have been influenced by this standard for a while, and everything has to be valued. At that time, even our manga talents wrote with opinions.

has this standard here, and the audience will see it with this standard, but I think everyone's style is different. This restricts everyone in it, and I feel that comedy should be expressed. I always say that, the core of what comedy is tragedy . No, then I think the core of comedy is fun, that is, it is funny, that is, everyone is different. His comedy core may be tragedy, and mine may be happy. Some audiences like the profound, and some audiences just like the idiots.

Actually, I want to say that although "Talk Show Conference" has made the industry more visible and more mainstream, it is not the whole of talk shows. In the third season, Liang Haiyuan was said on the show, "Compared with talk show actors, I think you may be better at being a talk show screenwriter." Actually, I was a little desperate at the time.

When they asked me why I was still doing a talk show, I was not sad. I was actually a little helpless because I really didn't perform well. But when I said Haiyuan, I was very angry. My god, Haiyuan was already the chief screenwriter at that time, and he was already on tour. He was able to talk about a special performance in more than an hour, and Liang Haiyuan made a thousand people laugh on that big stage. For those five minutes, in your opinion, he is not suitable for talk shows, so you don't understand too much.

Haiyuan is tougher than me on stage. Because his stuff is better than mine, and such good jokes in previous years have not received good feedback, including even this year, his good jokes will be eliminated. The first two rounds were eliminated, why?

I think it's a pity, but the show is so cruel.

He later posted a long post on Weibo, disappointed with this thing, and didn't want to experience that kind of pain on it again.

I can feel the pain very much. Talk shows are not five minutes in the first place. For special shows abroad, people save up to an hour for a year or two and share them with you in the theater. In a very relaxed situation, love how to say how to say.

But "Talk Show" is a competition and a variety show. This is completely two logics. There will not be four laughing leaders sitting there in the theater, and the audience's mentality is not for you to compare. And the online is cruel, only five minutes. Offline you have an open mic and you can keep trying, but there is no audience during the online rehearsal. There is only one chance a year to find your own style in the experiment. So I used it for four years. It's so cruel, every yeartimes the open wheat.

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but I have no way to stop. The Goat Club (Goat) has a saying: Why is it called a goat? Because goats have the habit of climbing cliffs, they step on the 90-degree cliff wall. For us, this is especially in line with the living conditions of our talk show gang. Everyone is like a 90-degree wall, very dangerous edge, and it will fall off at the slightest (accidental) point. I can't say I'm standing still this year, I'm just standing, but I don't look down. In the third season of

, I said that I am very envious of Pangbo and Rock. They have opinions on everything they say, and everyone will be very happy. But I figured it out later, they have theirs, I have mine, the gap is something that doesn't need to be accepted, it's there. It's not my turn to choose to accept or not to accept this matter, can I (can) escape?

But I still feel confident that I still have talent, as long as I keep doing it, I can't say that I can be a master of the generation, but at least I can leave my name. Not all talent is sparkling, talent can be mediocre, and I feel like I can now accept that I'm not going to be very successful. But always give it a try to see the ceiling of your talent.

To be honest I'm a little envious of those who quit. Like Zhang Boyang, he felt that the thing was not good enough and he didn’t act. He felt that he didn’t want to participate if he didn’t bring out enough good things this year, including when he retired that year. He felt that I had nothing to write about now. Now, I don't want to present to you something that I am not very satisfied with. But I think differently from him. Even if it is not good, I will fight. If it is not good, it is not good. If I can do it, it will be shameful.

Zhao Xiaohui retired this year because of her job. It is really amazing that people who don't care about this thing. Because I will care, I can't retire. This thing is so important to me. It was the best opportunity and stage for me, but they gave up so easily, they couldn't say it, it was actually very powerful and dashing.

They no longer need to go up to prove themselves every time, because they have proved themselves, and I also hope that I can reach that (state), and no longer need to use this stage to prove myself. Including Haiyuan actually, I don't think he needs this show to prove that he is amazing, he is already amazing.

But you said you would let me gap for a year, but I dare not. I feel a little bit at a loss for not even picking up the show now. One is because of money, and the other is because of fear of being dumped. I'd be afraid if I went to play for a year and didn't write anything, what would I do? When I come back, there is no place for me in the industry.

Even if life has no inspiration or excitement, I have no way to choose a more exciting life. I can only wait for some inexplicable things to happen at work, and I will always experience some. No matter how mechanical our life is, you will also encounter it. Something interesting, or feeling a strong emotion.

I've been thinking about when I can reach the realm of such a handsome artist like Zhang Boyang. My ideal state of doing a talk show is to be able to integrate into my life naturally, to feel more, think more, write more, and open up as much as I want. I don't know when it will be done either, but I thought.

Source Jiang Zihao Weibo