Beijing Comedy Festival has kicked off at the Beijing Comedy Theatre. Opening the event is a Taiwan drama called "Crazy TV Station" which satirizes the fierce and sometimes absurd competition of Taiwan TV channels.

Comedy Festival kicks off at Beijing Comedy Theatre

How do you run a 24-hour news channel with minimal funds and just two employees?

That's the situation facing the two producers-slash-presenters of "Crazy TV Station". In order to draw a bigger audience, they have packed the channels with every genre known to man - from children's content to news to 'xiangsheng' - which means crosstalk.

Among the comedic highlights is a scene where the presenter gives a live reenactment to camera of reported events.

The brainchild of theater director Stan Lai and TV producer Wang Wei-Chung, who is known as the "Godfather of Taiwan Variety Shows", "Crazy TV Station" parodies the fierce and sometimes absurd competition among Taiwan TV Channels.

"We're really excited to open this year's Beijing Comedy Festival and to experience different forms of comedy and communicate with the best comedy artists in the industry. And we've arranged something special for the event, that is to 'broadcast' the opening ceremony of the comedy festival on our channel, the 'Crazy TV Station'. This is the fourth time that we've performed in the mainland, and we always try to add something new to it," Wang said.

Comedy legend and founder of the Beijing Comedy Festival Chen Peisi was present at the opening ceremony.

Dedicated to the art of comedy for more than three decades, Chen has gained renown for producing high-quality plays as well as commercial successes.

"For this year's event, there'll be a wide range of comedy from different countries and different schools, so there are troupes from Italy and the Czech Republic, and the audience can expect a full-range experience of comedy theater," Chen said.

The festival will feature Chen Peisi's "The Stage", a Chinese adaptation of classic British farce "Noises Off", as well as a mainland premiere of Hong Kong comedy legend Sui-man Chim's latest production.

The event runs until January the 3rd.

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