Zhou Libo (; born on April 22, 1967, in

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

) is a Chinese stand-up comedian, television actor and host. In addition to comedy, he has also been a judge on ''

China's Got Talent ''China's Got Talent ''() was a Chinese reality television series on Dragon Television, Dragon TV and a part of the ''Got Talent'' franchise, hosted by Cheng Lei. It is a talent show that features all different kinds of performances of all ages ...

''. In late 2008, Zhou created his own stand-up comedy called "Shanghai Style Small Talk" () which includes ''A Laughable Talk on the Past 30 Years'' and ''A Laughable Talk in Big Shanghai''.

Comedic style

His comedic style is based upon the Shanghainese style of comic dram, which is delivered in a linguistic mixture of

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin ( ; zh, s=, t=, p=Guānhuà, l=Mandarin (bureaucrat), officials' speech) is the largest branch of the Sinitic languages. Mandarin varieties are spoken by 70 percent of all Chinese speakers over a large geographical area that stretch ...

, Shanghainese and some English words and phrases. Zhou frequently discusses topics such as urban life, economic and political issues. Traditional comic dramas are included in his performances in which a pair of performers are engaged in conversation and only on occasion break the

fourth wall The fourth wall is a performance dramatic convention, convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this "wall", the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. ...

. Shanghainese-style comedic performances tend to have only one performer speaking to the audience, a feature that is also found in modern Western stand up comedies, in contrast to the Chinese '' xiangsheng'', which most of the time consists of a comic duo. In "A Laughable Talk on the Past 30 Years," Zhou discussed the drastic changes in Shanghai since the "

Chinese economic reform Reform and opening-up ( zh, s=改革开放, p=Gǎigé kāifàng), also known as the Chinese economic reform or Chinese economic miracle, refers to a variety of economic reforms termed socialism with Chinese characteristics and socialist marke ...

," and his show also covers content such as the changes of clothing trends, ups and downs in the Chinese stock market, and the shoe-throwing incident during premier Wen Jiabao's visit to

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

. Zhou's material and delivery is entirely improvised when performing on stage due to ongoing and recent events so that the show is 'up-to-date' and keeps up with global events in which he may cover within his show. On 12 March 2023, he criticized Russian president

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

in a Weibo post and suggested that Chinese leader

Xi Jinping Xi Jinping, pronounced (born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has been the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (China), chairman of the Central Military Commission ...

's plan for "the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation" include taking back territory handed over from the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

to Russia, leading his account to get banned.

Personal life

His parents originated from the Zhenhai district in the city of Ningbo located in Zhejiang province. In the early hours of January 19, 2017, Zhou's black Mercedes was pulled over by police in

Long Island, New York Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

. Upon further inspection of the vehicle, police discovered a .38 ACP Colt Mustang pistol and two bags of crack cocaine in the back seat. Zhou was immediately detained.

Discography

* ''Reincarnation'' (第二次投胎) http://datalib.ent.qq.com/star/4787/starinfo.shtml * ''A Laughable Talk in Big Shanghai'' (笑侃大上海) * ''A Laughable Talk on the Past 30 Years'' (笑侃三十年) * ''I'm Crazy About Money'' (我为财狂)

Filmography

*'' Mr. Zhou Live Show'' *''

'' *'' Chinese Dream Show''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zhou, Libo Chinese male comedians 1967 births Living people Male actors from Shanghai China's Got Talent Chinese stand-up comedians Chinese male stage actors Chinese male television actors Chinese male voice actors Chinese television talk show hosts