In May of last year, a joke by stand-up comedian Li Haoshi (House), under the umbrella of “Smile Fruit Culture”, triggered retaliation from the Chinese Communist authorities, plunging the stand-up comedy industry into a cold winter. Recently, there has been a slight relaxation in the strict control of the stand-up comedy industry by the Chinese Communist Party, but co-founder of “Smile Fruit Culture”, Li Dan, has switched to doing live streaming e-commerce.
According to reports from Cover News, in August, two stand-up comedy variety shows suddenly went online. First, “King of Comedy: Solo Season” was broadcast on the iQiyi platform, followed by “Stand-Up Comedy and Friends” on Tencent Video within a week.
Hundreds of comedians competed on the same stage through self-deprecation, with both programs consistently ranking high in market share for online streaming. However, Li Dan, co-founder of “Smile Fruit Culture”, a well-known stand-up comedian and writer, has not returned to the stage.
As early as April, the official media company Xinhua News Agency mentioned the new directions some stand-up comedians were taking in the industry after being hit. The variety show “Comedy Festival” premiered on April 19, seen as a “tryout” for the stand-up comedy industry after the turbulence, featuring some familiar stand-up comedians on the screen.
However, in May, Li Dan announced the addition of the “Small Store Radio” program on Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book) live streaming platform, answering fans’ emotional questions and sharing gossip stories in a late-night radio style, while livestreaming e-commerce.
The products featured on Li Dan’s online store range from beef crisps to dried plums, mostly snacks like duck-shaped biscuits, coffee, alcoholic beverages, mixed with daily necessities and books.
On the evening of August 22, stand-up comedy star Xu Zhisheng and Hulan appeared as mystery guests in Li Dan’s livestream, attracting over 900,000 viewers in total, with a peak online viewership of 37,600. Meanwhile, well-known actress Dong Jie, dubbed as the “Little Red Book Queen”, peaked at 19,300 viewers in her last live stream.
New data shows that in the first 7 livestreaming e-commerce sessions in August, Li Dan’s average viewership was nearly 600,000 with an average sales revenue exceeding 500,000. On weekends, there are often six to seven thousand viewers online simultaneously, and the livestream e-commerce session frequently tops the buyer rankings at TOP1.
On May 13th last year, Shanghai “Smile Fruit Culture” stand-up comedian Li Haoshi mentioned during a performance that his adopted stray dog chasing squirrels reminded him of the phrase “Good discipline wins battles,” which Xi Jinping had said to the Chinese military. This statement caused a huge uproar immediately.
Following this, the Chinese Communist Party issued a 13.35 million RMB fine to “Smile Fruit Culture” and confiscated 1.325 million RMB of so-called “illegally” gained profits. At the same time, all performance activities of Smile Fruit Culture in Beijing were suspended indefinitely.
Li Haoshi was dismissed and faced police investigation. At least two other production companies then canceled their upcoming stand-up comedy shows. Subsequently, the Chinese stand-up comedy industry entered a winter period.