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This festival is indeed a laughing matter
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LUIS Brusca kicked off the 12-day Shanghai AEMI International Comedy Festival in the Shimen Road community in mid-September with a funny skit that delighted audiences.
Better known by his stage name Loca, he squirted members of the audience with a water pistol if they weren’t responsive and didn’t join in the fun.
Such unusual interaction didn’t faze the 150-strong audience, many of whom were senior cities. Instead of taking offense, they laughed loudly.
That’s the way Brusca likes it.
“It was very nice to have people join me in the show,” he said. “I like interaction. I want audiences to react. I want to get them involved and give the show their full attention.”
An Argentine by birth, Brusca began his career as a comedian in Spain in 1986.
“I started my routines on the streets,” he said, explaining why he likes to feel close to his audience.
Eleven comedians from six countries performed in the comedy show in the Shimen community.
One of them was Greg DeSanto, a professional clown from the United States. He has worked with the famous Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. In his show appearance, he played “the lady,” a role he created about 10 years ago.
“You have to be funny on the outside to bring joy to audiences,” he said. “When I felt that other clowns were becoming boring, I decided to play a female clown.”
Clowns, too, thrive on interaction with audiences.
“The audience is your partner, so you have to connect with them,” he said. “You have to make them laugh or you aren’t successful.”
Laughter, said DeSanto, is a great tonic against the pressures of daily life.
“We want everyone to laugh,” he said. “If they can laugh, they can’t forget about their problems. It’s very helpful to mind and body health.”
Brusca agrees.
“Actually, audiences don’t think much at the moment,” he said. “They are just there, reacting with their instincts. It’s like being in the middle of the street. A car is coming. You don’t think about it. You just move.”
That doesn’t mean comedy doesn’t have its serious, meaningful side, he said. Performers need to make connections with everyday life.
“If you just play a flower, it doesn’t have any meaning,” he said, by way of example. “However, if you play a flower in the middle of a war zone, you can see the beauty of the flower against the carnage of warfare. It brings a message of hope.”
He added, “So if our comedy carries a little message, the audience responds positively. It gives them something to go home and think about. I can’t change the world, but I can make people think about it.”
For his shows in Shanghai, Brusca said he has kept things simple. He cites language and cultural differences for his decision to perform uncomplicated farces.
DeSanto said comedy has the ability to transcend differences.
“When I perform here, I find kids the same as they are in America, even we don’t speak the same language,” he said. “We can communicate. Laughter is universal. We can all understand it.”
Panda Zhang, 28, from a local media institute, said the comedy show was a big hit.
“It’s so great to have audiences involved in the show,” she said. “That is rare in local comedy theater. However, I don’t think that every performance needs to reflect social problems. Making people laugh is meaningful on its own.”
Introduction to huajixi
Huajixi, or local farce theater in Shanghai, has flourished for more than a century. It combines monologue, dialogue, improvisation, interaction, mime, traditional opera and folk entertainment.
Performers must be versatile in dialect, mime, improvisation and ballad storytelling.
This art form is rooted in the everyday lives of ordinary people and news events.
One of Shanghai’s most famous performing groups, the Shanghai Farce Troupe, is based in Jing’an.
Renowned comedians like Yao Mushuang and Zhou Bochun were members of the troupe.
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