You two, both are indeed relatives of cross-talk actors… As the punchline landed, Qi Shejiang and Zhang Yue bowed and stepped down; the audience’s applause continued, and before they could leave the stage, the host welcomed them back for an encore. “The program just now, the host didn’t announce it, is actually called ‘The Selection of Concubines’; it’s newly adapted and quite lively,” Qi Shejiang returned to the table and first introduced the episode they just performed. As soon as he spoke, everyone chuckled knowingly; that name suits perfectly. “Zhang Yue is just making a guest appearance; everyone knows he’s not a trained cross-talk actor, he only trained for a few days for this surprise program,” Qi Shejiang casually shared some behind-the-scenes stories, “At first, he couldn’t quite adapt; as a singer, he prefers facing the audience head-on, but the ‘straight man’ must constantly watch the ‘jester’.” “I’m watching,” Zhang Yue unexpectedly interjected, his posture indeed half-turned towards Qi Shejiang, eyes fixed on him. “Well, the training seems to have gone well,” Qi Shejiang chuckled softly, “Maybe you should really consider a career change?” “Sure, just fire Xu Siyu later,” Zhang Yue replied naturally. In fact, while outsiders watch for entertainment, insiders look deeper. Despite the duo’s apparent smooth collaboration, it’s not that simple.
Thanks to Zhang Yue’s rich experience on stage, he has been practicing with the script repeatedly in the past few days. Moreover, Qi Shejiang diligently broke it down for him, teaching him the nuances of timing even detailing the pitch of a note and the pause in a sentence; he forced Zhang Yue to grasp the essence of the punchline.
If it were someone else, it would be very difficult for a novice to make the audience laugh on stage, and even to seem natural might be hard. Moreover, there’s one thing about Zhang Yue that’s great—he just needs to say some real stories and genuine thoughts on stage, and everyone finds it funny.
“No way!” Zhang Yue immediately responded. “Oh dear~~” It wasn’t just the girls; even the male audience was getting rowdy. “No way, the encore can’t just be spoken. I don’t have that much to say, but I can still sing.”
