Zhao Shilin, a comedian of the Southern School: Exploring Chinese Humor Culture

took a group photo with Mr. Zhao Shilin.

Speaking of the comedian Zhao Shilin back then, older audiences are mostly familiar with him through CCTV Spring Festival Gala. In the well-known sketch "Password", the image of the southern businessman who speaks "bird language" has left a deep impression in the national cross talk and sketch art circles.

That year, seven sets of CCTV came to the hometown of Yangcheng Lake hairy crab --- Suzhou City Kunshan Bacheng, Mr. Zhao Shilin was invited to be the guest host of this program. Under the guidance of CCTV director Lao Qiu, I interviewed him at the shooting site.

1, his entry into the industry was unexpected and reasonable

Zhao Shilin is a versatile humorist, but people generally don't know that his true identity is a military actor in the Guangzhou Military Region Song and Dance Troupe. It is said that he was an introvert since he was a child and did not like to "show his face" as an actor, and his father also felt that he was not an actor. Seeing that he liked to paint, his father took him to a painting studio to learn painting. During the period of learning to paint, Zhao Shilin participated in many exhibitions and won some awards. The teacher said that he had a talent for painting, and Zhao Shilin also dreamed of being an outstanding painter.

But by chance, Zhao Shilin's dream changed. That was when he was in middle school. He accompanied a classmate to the local art troupe. When his classmate went in for an interview, he went backstage to watch other people make up their clothes. Facing all kinds of ancient clothes, Zhao Shilin became interested, he secretly He put on one piece and danced around in front of the mirror, and was discovered by a teacher of a cultural and art troupe. In the Guangzhou Military Region Song and Dance Troupe, he not only sang bel canto, but also sang popular songs, and also performed operas, becoming the "magic oil" in the troupe. It was another chance that he was temporarily entrusted with an important task and acted in a sketch, due to his background in the Liyuan family. It became an instant hit, allowing people to discover a real potential newcomer. Since then, his side business has become the main business, especially his natural imitation ability, which has enabled him to form his own "speaking, singing, and acting" style, and he has actually embarked on the road of a comedian.

However, the growth of comedians depends on both talent and hard work. Since all the programs were created by Zhao Shilin himself, he often worked through the night, leaving him with insomnia. He often woke up at one or two o'clock in the middle of the night, opened his eyes until dawn, and was extremely painful. Another time, he also broke his leg in order to do a good move, and after a week of rest, he appeared on the rehearsal field again. Speaking of his sketch "Wine Gallbladder" co-starred with famous female comedian Gao Xiumin , Zhao Shilin also has a really drunk story. The skit was about to be rehearsed, but Zhao Shilin had not yet found the feeling of "borrowing his courage". Simply, let's do the fake show, go down with a bottle of Erguotou , and feel dizzy, but after a while, Zhao Shilin fell on the bed and couldn't get up. The rehearsal time was almost here, and the staff asked everywhere, who saw Zhao Shilin?

2, dedicate more happiness to the audience

"A person, a family, and a society cannot be without happiness. Happiness means health, harmony, positivity, and progress." Zhao Shilin has his interpretation of his career, "My The pursuit of art is to dedicate more happiness to the audience, and I would like to be the happy fruit of the people."

Although he does not want others to call him a "master", his achievements and influence in cross talk and sketches are obvious to all. Since his debut, he has participated in the National Comedian Contest twice and won the highest award - the performance of the sketch "Love in the Rain" in the 3rd China Sketch Competition and won the Gold Award, and the first China "Comedy Show Competition" Gold Cup Award. Zhao Shilin has participated in CCTV's "Spring Festival Gala" and "Quyuan Zatan" for many times, "Heart to Heart", "The Same Song" and other large-scale evening parties, performing many popular comedy works.

in CCTV Spring Festival Gala sketch comics, often showing "North-South disputes", the northern comedians are superior in terms of number and quality. As one of the "rare" comedians in the south, Zhao Shilin uses his southern humor to "confront" the comedians in the north, often forming a sharp artistic contrast, resulting in a strong comedy effect. Among them, he and the famous female comedian Gao Xiumin co-starred in the sketches "Password" and "Wine Gallbladder", which are still fresh in the memory of the audience. In "Wine Gallant", he played a young man from the south who became his boyfriend to a girl from the north. The woman's mother thought that the young man had a good temper and lacked masculinity, so she made things difficult when they met. As a result, her boyfriend drank spirits in a fit of anger and became the type approved by his mother. Today, when people mention this sketch, they still remember Zhao Shilin's "Ouch, Mom" ​​sung in a nasal voice like a bleating sheep. And the line ".Let's find a big man in the Northeast, don't say anything else, at least stop there, we can see if it's a man or a woman" has become a "classic" line that people are talking about now.

Zhao Shilin and Gao Xiumin perform sketches.

commented in the industry, "Zhao Shilin's performance is humorous but not tacky, funny but not low-level, and he is good at infecting the audience with a healthy comedy effect". In recent years, the rise of "folk songs" has made Zhao Shilin like a duck to water. Zhao Shilin makes full use of his language skills and voice modeling ability. He can not only learn and speak dozens of dialects authentically, but also is good at imitating the voices of men, women, children, and foreigners. Street" was an instant hit, and was known as the "King of Funny Singers". He leads the lead singer of "Chinese Food Singing", which can be described as witty and well-known. Among them, the toothless old lady in "Bingtang Hulu", the Shandong accent in "Pancake Roll with Green Onions", the Cantonese flavor in "Buddha Jumps over the Wall", and the grandfather's Shenyang dialect in "Shaobing Fritters", she sings well and says Live and act like each other, all of them are so vivid and impeccable, which is a must.

3, develop the "humor culture" of the motherland

Talking about the current development of domestic humor art, Zhao Shilin said that taking my country as an example, the understanding and acceptance of humor in the north and the south are not the same, and its artistic expression is also different. As far as humorous quyi is concerned, the humorous arts in the north focus on language, such as cross talk; the humorous arts in the south focus on exaggerated performances in form, such as burlesque . Southerners do not accept cross talk in the north very much, and northerners can't appreciate the very popular comics in the south. He believes that this difference is mainly caused by the language barrier between the north and the south, and the two sides cannot understand each other's words; The difference is also an important reason for the difference in the styles of northern and southern quyi. The southerners are more delicate and gentle, while the northerners are rougher and more realistic, so the southern actors seem to perform less vigorously, while the northern actors' typhoons are more "heavy", and they will be difficult to perform as soon as they take the stage. Full of momentum. Zhao Shilin believes that with the popularization of mandarin and , the exchange of humorous quyi between the north and the south is also increasing, and there are some forms of quyi that both parties can recognize, such as double reed , which emphasizes both language and performance, and is very popular among audiences. He said that sometimes when he went to the north to perform or participate in competitions, he even used Cantonese , and the audience responded very well, which showed that although there are some language barriers, people's love for humor is common.

Zhao Shilin's old lady is very good.

Zhao Shilin also talked about his future plans. He said that at this stage, one of the general goals of my country's social development is to build a harmonious society. The establishment of a harmonious society is nothing more than two aspects: one is the harmony between man and nature; the other is the harmony between man and man. Harmony between people requires the improvement of the quality of public civilization, and "humor quality" is an extremely important part of "civilization quality". Because "humor" is an excellent "lubricant", it can often play a role in adjusting the atmosphere, resolving conflicts, dispelling knots, and enhancing confidence. But "humor quality", not allIt is "born", it needs the nourishment of "humor culture". In addition to its entertainment and economic functions, "humor culture" also has a strong educational function, and especially bears the great responsibility of educating minors on world outlook, outlook on life and aesthetics. Therefore, vigorously developing "humor culture" should be a long-term and glorious task for our literary and art workers, especially humorous art workers.

For a while, in addition to his work in the group, he has also become a busy person who is busy on the field. The title of "China's Top Ten Comedians" makes him often invited to be a guest on variety shows on CCTV and TV stations around the world. He is also invited to attend various cultural festivals of folk customs and specialties held in many places. Like other skit actors, he has also been "electrically shocked" many times, and acted as a director or role in some TV and movies. This time, he just came down from the scene of "The Heart of the World", and he has to rush to another studio after that. Not long ago, at the 6th CCTV TV Sketch Competition, he and Xiao Huifang and Guo Da won a special honorary award for the work "Half Laughter, Half Tears". It is reported that the "Hand in Hand" Spring Festival Charity Gala he participated in the performance was officially recorded in the Starlight Studio, and was grandly launched on CCTV 7 during the Spring Festival.

4, lost her partner Gao Xiumin and regretted her life

Gao Xiumin, a famous stage comedian, she brought countless classic works to the audience on the stage. It is a pity that such an excellent actor left us forever in 2005. In everyone's impression, her partners have always been Zhao Benshan and Fan Wei . As everyone knows, Gao Xiumin's stage partner is not only the two of them, but also the comedian Zhao Shilin.

In those days, He Qingkui created the sketch "Password" as a screenwriter. With the script in place, Gao Xiumin still lacked a partner. Under the introduction of a friend, they met Zhao Shilin. After a period of contact, the two decided to form a partner on the stage. At the beginning of the sketch "Password", Gao Xiumin read the password "2432121" while walking from the auditorium under the stage. When

went to withdraw money, he met Zhao Shilin. With a southern accent, he said, "Isn't this sha, isn't this sha!" The audience burst into laughter. In addition to this classic line, there is also Gao Xiumin's singing voice: "In 1937, the Eighth Route Army pulled the big bolt, took aim, slap, killed an interpreter." At that time, it sounded quite rhyme, but I didn't expect many years. Later, this lyric was adopted by the ending song of "Little Soldier Zhang Ga". This year's Spring Festival Gala, two unfamiliar faces, Gao Xiumin and Zhao Shilin, brought you the most wonderful sketches.

However, in order to make Gao Xiumin's career reach the peak, under the persuasion of He Qingkui, Gao Xiumin gave up the aura of his protagonist and was willing to become a supporting role behind Zhao Benshan. It has to be said that He Qingkui has a long-term vision. After Gao Xiumin and Zhao Benshan formed a partner, the audience on the stage brought classic sketches such as " selling kidnappings ", " selling cars ", " delivering water workers " and so on. . Gao Xiumin has also become a well-known comedian, and her original partner Zhao Shilin, after leaving Gao Xiumin, can no longer find a suitable partner. Later, he could only star in sketches with his apprentice, because his apprentice's reputation was not as good as Gao Xiumin, so Zhao Shilin's later works did not cause much repercussions.

Now that many years have passed, Gao Xiumin has passed away, and Zhao Shilin rarely appeared on the stage after that, retreating behind the scenes to run his own performance company, and later served as the director of Yunnan University Library . Although it is gradually forgotten by the audience, Zhao Shilin is very indifferent: people's life will always encounter various things, and what kind of ending will eventually become, does not depend on us at all.

"Pistachio" Zhao Shilin also has lifelong regrets.

Zhao ShilinFull of letters.