Imagine having to submit your comedy material for government approval ahead of performing. Forget the differences between men and women, the differences between cats and dogs, Des Bishop can tell you all about the differences between performing in China and the rest of the world.
Bishop, who was born in America and raised in Ireland, has been calling China home for the past year. In Ireland, he’s racked up a few television documentary series: The Des Bishop Work Experience, which saw him attempting to survive for a month working minimum wages jobs throughout Ireland; Joy in the Hood, where he went into impoverished neighbourhoods and mentored local people in stand-up comedy and In the Name of the Fada, he learnt Gaelic so he could perform an entire stand-up routine in that language.
He’s been doing a similar thing in China. He moved there in February of last year with the aim to learn a third language, mastering enough Mandarin to perform stand up to a Chinese audience, with the whole lot being captured on camera for his next televisions series. “The original thing was to do a documentary, learn Chinese and try to do a gig, basically, just use that as a way to make a series about China, a funny series about what China is like nowadays,” says Bishop, wind blowing into his phone as he sits with “not enough sunblock on” under the sun on a beach in Melbourne’s Brighton. “But then I put so much time and effort into learning Chinese and once I started doing stand up suddenly I’m involved with this emerging stand up comedy scene that I don’t feel like leaving,” he says.
So while his television series is currently in post production, Bishop is talking about his experiences on stage in Made in China. It’s his first Melbourne International Comedy Festival show in two years, with his last one being Des Bishop Likes To Bang. Unlike other years, he’s not touring Made In China around the country, he’s just in town for the festival and then back to Beijing. “I’m still doing Melbourne and Edinburgh and popping back to Ireland doing some shows every now and then but the rest of the time I’m in China trying to get better at Chinese and trying to do more Chinese stand up,” says Bishop, who plans on living there for another year.
A childhood obsession, “which came from watching kung fu movies all the time”, is partly responsible for why he chose China as a destination. He experienced many aspects of life there, from searching for a girlfriend at a Beijing marriage market to working as a waiter in a Heilongjiang restaurant, in addition to actually promoting and performing gigs in Mandarin. “I’m really knee-deep in it,” he says of the comedy scene there.
So what do the Chinese find funny? Bishop says the only thing he’s taken across from his English style is his rapping and beat-boxing, but beyond that, he makes jokes about his Chinese name and the marriage parks (which is where parents and grandparents basically go to set up their respective children). “I do some jokes about the marriage parks, because it’s a big deal to not be married in China. I’m 38 and not married, that’s outlandish to them,” he says. But, it’s China, and he can’t make jokes about the national news and you need permission first to perform other material. “No public performance is allowed to happen unless you apply for a performance permit, for every single performance that you do,” he says. But he’s in Melbourne right now, where he can say what he wants in Made In China.
BY JOANNE BROOKFIELD
Venue: Victoria Hotel – Vic’s Bar, 215 Lt Collins St, CBD
Date: Currently playing until April 20 (except Wednesday)
Times: 7.15pm (Sundays 6.15pm)
Tickets: $25-$32
