On March 18, the closing ceremony of the first Macau International Comedy Festival and the "Laughter is the Antidote" cross-border experimental event between happy twist improvisational comedy and positive psychology were grandly held in Hengqin. Li Weinong, Secretary for Economy and Finance of the Macao SAR Government and Director of the Executive Committee of the Hengqin Guangdong-Macao Deep Cooperation Zone; Li Junxiao, Deputy Secretary of the Hengqin Working Committee of the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee; Member of the Hengqin Working Committee of the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee and Executive Committee of the Hengqin Guangdong-Macao Deep Cooperation Zone Fu Yongge, deputy director of the committee; Su Kun, deputy director of the executive committee of the Hengqin Guangdong-Macao Deep Cooperation Zone; Wu Zijian, deputy director of the executive committee of the Hengqin Guangdong-Macao Deep Cooperation Zone; member of the Hengqin Working Committee of the Guangdong Provincial Committee and deputy director of the Hengqin Office of the Provincial Government Director Wei Yijun; Director of the Publicity and Culture Department of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Macau SAR Bai Bing; representative of the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macau SAR Government and acting director of the Macau Cultural Center Li Luoqing; founder of Happy Twist and initiator of the Macau International Comedy Festival Zhang Chen, Kaixin Twist actor, director, screenwriter, founder of Macau International Comedy Festival Shen Teng, Happy Twist actor, producer, founder of Macau International Comedy Festival Ma Li; Happy Twist CEO, co-founder of Macau International Comedy Festival Han Mei; The famous actor and singer Wang Zulan , the musician and actor Wu Mochou , as well as Zhang Zheng, deputy dean of the School of Journalism and Communication, the Institute of Cultural and Creative Development, and the Research Institute of Tsinghua University; Ni Zijun, deputy director of the Social Psychology Research Center of Tsinghua University; Xu Zhongchao, Managing Director of CICC Capital; Dr. Lin Haoyi, Executive President of Hong Kong Lai Sun Group; Li Ming, Senior Vice President of Hong Kong Lai Sun Group and other leaders and guests attended the event. At the
event, guests and the audience discussed the psychology behind laughter through special improvisational comedy performances and comedy psychological experiments, and analyzed the psychological motivations for comedy to make people laugh. In an unprecedented cross-border form, they broke through the traditional forum concept. Make attendees feel immersed and happy.
After the comedy psychological experiment session, the organizers held a grand closing ceremony to announce the end of the first Macau International Comedy Festival. During the nine-day festival, the Macau International Comedy Festival was "overjoyed" through "lovable" plays and film performances. Street flash mob activities, "Happy Team Building" comedy peak forum, "Laughter is the antidote" comedy psychology cross-border forum and many other sections presented a variety of styles and categories to friends around the world who pay attention to the development of comedy and love comedy art. A rich, gluttonous feast that combines entertainment and exploration. Although the
event has come to an end, the exploration around the development of comedy will never stop. The innovative model explored during the comedy festival will continue to exert its influence in the future and affect the entire industry.
1
Improvisational comedy brings the "ultimate" touch
Shen Teng confesses to the performer on the spot: I love you!
The closing event of this year’s Macau International Comedy Festival started with an improvisational comedy performance by the Happy Twist Team. Since there is not much preparation before the performance, improvisational comedy has extremely high requirements on the performer's quick reaction on the spot, use of body and language, tacit cooperation with co-actors, and effective interaction with the audience. At the event, the performers invited guests and the audience to participate in the interaction through themed sessions such as "I am a tree", "Whose line does it fall to" and "Clap to stop", and used their own practices to popularize improvisational comedy, so that everyone can understand this kind of unrequited comedy. Literary scripts and performance forms in which actors accept propositions and improvise on the spot have the most personal perception. Immersive experience of the unique charm of "improvisational comedy" and the infinite joy of improvisational comedy scenes. The final "I Love You" segment of
's performance was completed by improvisational comedy performers, the audience and Shen Teng who watched the performance together. As a national-level senior comedian, Shen Teng was also infected by the live improvisational comedy performances. He did not hesitate to praise him and expressed his "love" to the live performers. Shen Teng said that he likes live performers who "can always insist on doing offline improvisational comedy and bring "very uncertain" happiness to everyone!" Shen Teng's quick on-the-spot reaction made the audience aware of the charm of improvisational comedy. a deeper understanding.
2
Laughter is the best "antidote" Positive psychology
and comedy "hand in hand" to explore the code of happiness
This closing event invited the well-known positive psychology expert Ni Zijun to the scene to conduct cross-border discussions with comedy creators and performers. Talk, explain comedy, explore comedy from a novel perspective of positive psychology, and discover the "core of happiness" deep in comedy.
In research on positive psychology, it was found that comedy can change a person's happiness index. Teacher Ni Zijun analyzed the comparison of photos of Shen Teng and Ma Li through the "Dixiang Smile Test"; and also used scale data to show that the audience's "happiness index" jumped from an average of 3.17 points to an average of 3.84 points (5 (out of 100 points) changes. In a way that is visible to the naked eye, it verifies the important role of comedy and proves that "laughter" is the best "antidote" to life.
At the event, teacher Ni Zijun also joined Shen Teng, Ma Li, and Wang Zulan to discuss "Which one can bring better results, pressure or relaxation in drama performances?" "Are comedians more likely to emo than ordinary people?" "Want to be angry" "What can you do when you are busy" and other topics close to life, and provide an in-depth analysis of how to combine comedy with positive psychology to jointly explore the secret to making people happy. Mr. Peng Kaiping, dean of the School of Social Sciences at Tsinghua University and a leader in international positive psychology in China, also taught everyone through videos the happy tips of "life is full of hardships, positivity is the countermeasure", expressing his deep understanding of the relationship between psychology and comedy. There are hopes for more cross-border collaborations in the future, and we look forward to the audience feeling the "flow of happiness" pursued by positive psychology in the laughter brought by comedy.
3
"Laughing" from Macao and Qin is known all over the world
Telling Chinese comedy stories with humanistic care
At the closing ceremony, representatives from all walks of life who participated in the closing ceremony fully affirmed in their speeches that the success of this comedy festival has brought great benefits to Macau and Hengqin. It is an important contribution to the two-way empowerment, building Macao into a “Performing City” and promoting in-depth cooperation between Macao and Qin.
Zhang Zheng, a professor at the School of Journalism and Communication at Tsinghua University, affirmed the holding of this comedy festival from the perspective of the development of the comedy industry. He believes that "comedy is like salt, an indispensable spice in life." The holding of this Macau International Comedy Festival not only brought joy to the audience, but also demonstrated the huge driving role of large-scale comedy festivals. It is in line with the national strategy of vigorously promoting the development of cultural industries and the core of Macau and Macau to build performing arts capitals. demands. "Laughter consumption has a broad market base, and comedy, as an important vertical category in the cultural industry, has broad room for growth." He also actively provided suggestions and proposed to the Macau International Comedy Festival his "optimizing the environment, developing new business formats, and "Strengthen IP, expand platform, and provide good services" thinking, "using comedy as an important entry point and focus of Qin'ao's cultural industry will surely form a rapid and healthy development, allowing the power of laughter and culture to continue to be transmitted."
Hengqin Su Kun, deputy director of the Executive Committee of the Guangdong-Macao Deep Cooperation Zone, pointed out: "The successful holding of the first Macao International Comedy Festival, which is international, innovative, entertaining and interactive, has set a solid foundation for the linkage of the Guangdong-Macao Deep Cooperation Zone and 'two places in one festival' It has created a successful model. The Comedy Festival has become an important link connecting Qinzhou and Macao." In the future, the local government will continue to support the holding of the Comedy Festival and strive to create "a grand event integrating production, performance, training, and copyright, in a physical We will increase our influence at the levels of globalization, industrialization, and chainization to better serve the regional diversified industry development strategy.”
At the end of the event, Zhang Chen, the founder of Happy Twist and the initiator of the Comedy Festival, announced the successful conclusion of the conference and invited comedians from all over the world to gather at the Macau International Comedy Festival in 2025 to "laugh" from Macau to the world and bring comedy to everyone. I have unlimited personal joy and continue to create miracles of comedy.
The first Macau International Comedy Festival will officially open in Macau on March 11, 2024, and end in Hengqin on March 18, as a tribute to the 25th anniversary of Macau's return to the motherland. I hope that the "Macau International Comedy Festival" will continue to be held in the future, and provide With the help of "an exchange and cooperation base with Chinese culture as the mainstream and multi-cultural coexistence", we will continue to contribute our strength to telling Chinese stories well.
Written by: Nandu reporter Yu Xiaoyu
