Chongqing — By 6 p.m., every seat inside Bayi Theater in Chongqing's Jiefangbei had already been filled. Onstage, stand-up comedian Zhushazhi fired off punchline after punchline, drawing waves of laughter and applause from a crowd dominated by young audience members.
At the same time, eight additional performances organized by Original Comedy were taking place across five venues in Chongqing, including theaters at Maoye Plaza, Times Square, and Sunshine Century. Nearly every show was sold out.
"More than 90% of our audiences are young people between 18 and 35 years old," said Xu Liang, general manager of Chongqing Yuanzhong Performing Arts. "Young consumers today are increasingly willing to spend money on happiness and emotional value."
Xu Liang. (Photo/Video screenshot)
In just three years, Original Comedy's annual revenue surged from 3 million yuan ($418,000) in 2022 to 50 million yuan ($6.97 million) in 2025, marking more than tenfold growth.
The company has emerged as one of Southwest China’s leading stand-up comedy brands and is widely regarded as a pioneer of "Yu-style" stand-up comedy (a Chongqing-rooted comedic style).
Original Comedy is the flagship brand of Chongqing Yuanzhong Culture Communication Co., Ltd. Its founders, Hu Huanyang and Chen Wenpo, developed a passion for stage performance while in college. After graduation, both took regular jobs but continued pursuing their interest in live entertainment. In 2016, they co-founded Yuanzhong Culture and experimented with stage plays, productions inspired by intangible cultural heritage, and children’s theater.
Despite years of effort, the company initially struggled to gain market recognition. That changed after Chinese stand-up comedy programs such as "Roast" and "Rock & Roast" gained nationwide popularity around 2020, helping stand-up comedy break into the mainstream.
A performance at Original Comedy attracts many young people. (Photo/Video screenshot)
"At that time, stand-up comedy was already popular in cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong, but Chongqing still lacked a strong local scene," Xu recalled.
Hu and Chen decided to focus on stand-up comedy and began performing wherever they could find space.
Sometimes they squeezed into corners of bars near Chongqing University Town's Xijie commercial street. Other times, they set up makeshift stages inside shopping malls. Audiences were small, and ticket sales were unpredictable.
Even so, the team committed fully to the industry. They signed exclusive performers, established a talent training system, emphasized original content, and accelerated the pace of material updates to ensure audiences constantly heard new jokes.
The company also focused heavily on internet traffic and personal branding, helping comedians build strong online followings among younger viewers. The strategy paid off.
The Original Comedy Theater. (Photo/Video screenshot)
Although Chongqing entered the stand-up comedy market later than some major Chinese cities, the sector has grown rapidly. According to industry data cited by the company, more than 300,000 audience visits are now made to stand-up comedy theaters in Chongqing annually.
According to 2025 data from Damai and Lighthouse Professional Edition, annual attendance at stand-up comedy shows in China increased 65.3% year-on-year, while the number of performances rose 42%. Stand-up comedy accounted for 20.3% of theater box office revenue, surpassing musicals and traditional folk performance categories to become the country’s second-largest source of theater ticket sales.
Offline solo comedy tours have also expanded rapidly. Data from the first half of 2025 showed that the number of stand-up comedy solo tour performances nationwide exceeded 1,000, attracting more than 600,000 audience members. Medium-sized performances with audiences exceeding 500 people surpassed 650 shows, more than eight times higher than the previous year.
Performers from Original Comedy have become a driving force behind the boom. One of the company’s best-known comedians, Zhangyuge (stage name), launched a national solo tour in March 2025, performing in more than 50 cities, including Beijing, Chengdu, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, and Qingdao. Several shows drew crowds of more than 1,000 people and sold out shortly after tickets went on sale.
The company's ambitions extend beyond touring performances.
Xu said Original Comedy hopes to bring Yu-style stand-up comedy to audiences nationwide by building a performance network covering more than 40 cities. The company currently operates more than 10 theaters across seven cities.
According to Xu, Yu-style stand-up comedy stands out because of its strong local identity and everyday storytelling rooted in Sichuan-Chongqing culture.
"For example, in Sichuan and Chongqing, both boys and girls are often affectionately called 'yao'er,' and customs such as daughters returning to their hometowns for ancestor worship can become highly theatrical topics on a national stage," he said.
Despite the company’s rapid expansion, Xu said keeping pace with younger audiences remains a constant challenge.
"I even dream about what young people like," he said. "What do they like today? What will they like tomorrow?"
Industry data suggests those concerns are well-founded. According to the "2025 China Stand-Up Comedy Industry Status and Development Trends Report," audiences aged 18 to 23 account for 41.04% of stand-up comedy consumers in China, while those aged 24 to 28 account for another 24.07%.
Liao Chenglin, a professor of economics at Chongqing University who has conducted long-term research on youth consumption trends, said the popularity of stand-up comedy among younger audiences is closely tied to emotional needs. First, young consumers are increasingly paying for emotional value rather than simply material goods.
"Stand-up comedy offers more than laughter," Liao noted. "It allows young people to step away from stress and view anxiety through humor temporarily. They may not solve their problems immediately, but they gain a sense of psychological control by facing them with laughter."
Second, audiences are drawn to authenticity and emotional resonance. Stand-up comedians come from diverse backgrounds, including farmers, teachers, flight attendants, office workers, veterans, delivery drivers, and university students. Their jokes often focus on employment pressure, workplace frustrations, academic stress, and relationships — topics many young people relate to but rarely discuss openly.
Finally, Liao said the appeal also lies in stand-up comedy’s immersive interaction. Unlike traditional stage performances, stand-up comedy encourages real-time exchanges between performers and audiences. Younger audiences, many of whom grew up in the internet era, value equality, participation, and spontaneous interaction.
Xu Liang acknowledged that cultural trends inevitably evolve.
"One day, popular tastes will change," he said. "The evolution of art forms is inevitable. But as long as we continue standing with young people, art itself will remain young."