The sustainable vitality of comedy variety shows lies in content innovation, script creation and talent training

Nowadays, the audience's laugh points are getting higher and higher, and they are becoming more and more difficult to satisfy. The shortage of players, narrow themes, and difficulty in innovation are all constraints facing comedy programs. Where should comedy programs go to continue to capture the hearts of the audience? How to survive in the fiercely competitive variety market?

Original title: Comedy variety shows lack of resources, excessive "exploitation" of comedy talent, and need to cultivate "internal skills"

. Comedy variety shows once exploded on the screen: "Super Comedy Star","China Comedy Star","King of China Comedy"... The Comedy Stars each showed their talents and stirred the audience's laughing nerves. But most comedy variety shows are short-lived, and many programs are anticlimactic. Why have the ratings and reputation of this kind of family festivities never been as good as expected, and have failed to show long-term sustainable vitality?

The reason is that nowadays, the audience's laugh points are getting higher and higher, and they are becoming more and more difficult to satisfy. The shortage of players, narrow themes, and difficulty in innovation are all constraints facing comedy programs. Where should comedy programs go to continue to capture the audience's hearts? How to survive in the fiercely competitive variety market? With these questions in mind, the reporter interviewed Jiang Feng, director of "I'm Crazy for Comedy".

Continuously exploring the need for innovative comedy to bring joy to people.

"I'm Crazy for Comedy" is already in its third season this year. During the production of the three seasons, the behind-the-scenes team continues to make changes, innovate and try, making the program present enough vitality. Talking about the program in the third season, Director Jiang Feng introduced: "Compared with the previous two seasons, the third season has enhanced the concept of a mentor group. The previous mentors all fought alone. This time, the mentor group is also equipped with each game. A military counselor can help make suggestions and activate the atmosphere. The contestants 'section starts from a small program and gradually becomes complete in the finals. It used to be a bit like a talent show for a talent show, but later it will emphasize the concept of the work. There are also some personal understanding of comedy. Comedy comedy is a type. In fact, there are many types of comedy. It can be light comedy, not necessarily hilarious, but it can be a knowing laugh. These are all efforts by us and the players., presenting more and different comedy forms, which is also the difference between "Comedy Mania" and other comedy variety shows."

As a comedy program, we should restore the essence of comedy to the greatest extent possible and allow the audience to enjoy pure comedy through laughter. "I'm Crazy for Comedy" also faces the problem of finding an appropriate balance between content and form. Jiang Feng has his own standards in terms of program production: "Comedy is something that brings pleasure to people. If there are many comedy works that make the audience uncomfortable, it will definitely be wrong. For example, ethics, I think the platform gives us an open standard and we know what to do. Nowadays, the audience is getting harder and harder to deceive, and the audience is very good at it. So if someone says that they can't create a good comedy because of scale issues, I think it's an excuse, but they don't have enough ability."

Jiang Feng has high requirements for his own programs."As long as you are a person who regards programs as a career, you will understand what to do and what not to do. The universal things are not only for China but also for the world." Regarding the follow-up training mechanism for the talents discovered in the program, Jiang Feng said that he would continue to follow up, cultivate and utilize them, so that these outstanding talents can be directly transferred to Ali's big movies, thus connecting the industrial chain.

It is not easy to cultivate comedy talents. Program creation faces online competition.

The biggest problem in comedy programs is the lack of comic actor resources. Due to excessive "exploitation", comedy programs are facing a shortage of players. Jiang Feng was also very touched when talking about this: "It is very difficult for a good comedian to learn and grow up, because it is difficult for a person to perform alone to make people laugh. Some comedy talents have emerged over the years, but they are indeed compared with other talents. Growth is more difficult, and you need to learn and polish to grow into a qualified comedian. This cycle is very long. You will find that Internet celebrities can't go too far, one or two episodes can be, but when this performance style is familiar to people and cannot bring new excitement, these people no longer exist."

Regarding the common "variety celebrities" in variety shows, Jiang Feng believes that there are not too many but too few, because "they hone in variety shows all year round and know what the directors and audience need. Overall, there are not many people who can 'play'. Watching many reality shows, you will find that many people cannot' play'. Many of our actors, especially film and television actors, may be stars, but they are still far from the requirements of variety cafes."

Nowadays, comedy programs also face competition on the Internet. Original humorous videos and paragraphs emerge endlessly on WeChat and Weibo, and some of them have been quoted by comedy programs many times. Faced with this situation, Jiang Feng felt that there was "no impact". "People who make comedies are all family, and they are all very simple. The difference between a comedy player and a comedy is that everyone has different understanding and creation methods. Some creations have many paragraphs, and then we can sort out a structure based on the paragraphs. We hope that we have the structure first, and then we can enrich the paragraphs."

Content is king. The development of variety shows is like the Warring States War.

In the production of comedy programs, traditional TV media must target different audience groups and create programs that suit their tastes. In Jiang Feng's view,"Internet and TV have their own characteristics, but they are different! I think traditional media will be more authoritative, online media will be more time-sensitive, and in the future,'content will be king'. What everyone is doing is just using different methods to win more audiences. If the content is done well, people will naturally pay attention."

Talking about the current development of variety shows, Jiang Feng said: "For variety shows, now is a 'Warring States Period'. There seem to be many variety shows nowadays, but there are still not enough phenomenal ones. This kind of Warring States conflict situation is quite good, at least for us creators, there are more choices. For example, today I try to do a comedy program, and tomorrow I try to do a lyrics program. At least my business will improve. For players, it's good to have different platforms for them to showcase and provide jobs for many film and television actors and variety cafes.' Chaos 'is a process. The reshuffle of this industry is already happening. If you don't do it well, you will be eliminated. Let them exist first, and then we will choose."

At present, there are homogeneous things in the variety show market, but homogeneous things will always exist, which is related to the capital market. Jiang Feng said: "The capital market will chase after the high, and everyone will invest in what kind of program is good. After that, we have to let the market make the choice. It is certain that the big waves will wash away the sand. Without intervention, the market will naturally distinguish clearly."

The current variety show market is diverse, and it is difficult to form comedy shows like "Where Are You Going, Dad" and "Let's Run!" Brothers "is a phenomenal hot topic, but the audience needs comedy variety shows, and comedy variety shows are gradually maturing. Through content innovation and quality improvement, focusing on script creation and talent training, and creating high-quality programs, we will surely be able to overcome the encirclement and achieve success.

Editor: yvette