Zhou Libo (; born on April 22, 1967, in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four Direct-administered municipalities of China, direct-administered municipalities of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the ...

) is a Chinese

stand-up comedian Stand-up comedy is a comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up. Stand-up comedy consists of one-liners, stories, ...

, television actor and host. In addition to comedy, he has also been a judge on ''

China's Got Talent ''China's Got Talent ''() was a Chinese reality television series on Dragon TV and a part of the ''Got Talent'' franchise, hosted by Cheng Lei. It is a talent show that features all different kinds of performances of all ages competing for perfo ...

''. In late 2008, Zhou created his own stand-up comedy called "Shanghai Style Small Talk" () which includes ''A Laughable Talk on the Past 30 Years'' and ''A Laughable Talk in Big Shanghai''.

Comedic style

His comedic style is based upon the Shanghainese style of comic dram, which is delivered in a linguistic mixture of

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language ...

Shanghainese The Shanghainese language, also known as the Shanghai dialect, or Hu language, is a variety of Wu Chinese spoken in the central districts of the City of Shanghai and its surrounding areas. It is classified as part of the Sino-Tibetan langua ...

and some English words and phrases. Zhou frequently discusses topics such as urban life, economic and political issues. Traditional comic dramas are included in his performances in which a pair of performers are engaged in conversation and only on occasion break the

fourth wall The fourth wall is a performance convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this ''wall'', the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. From the 16th cen ...

. Shanghainese-style comedic performances tend to have only one performer speaking to the audience, a feature that is also found in modern Western stand up comedies, in contrast to the Chinese ''

xiangsheng Xiangsheng (), also known as crosstalk or comic dialogue, is a traditional performing art in Chinese comedy, and one of the most popular elements in Chinese culture. It is typically performed as a dialogue between two performers, or rarely as ...

'', which most of the time consists of a comic duo. In "A Laughable Talk on the Past 30 Years," Zhou discussed the drastic changes in Shanghai since the "

Chinese economic reform The Chinese economic reform or reform and opening-up (), known in the West as the opening of China, is the program of economic reforms termed " Socialism with Chinese characteristics" and " socialist market economy" in the People's Republic of ...

," and his show also covers content such as the changes of clothing trends, ups and downs in the

Chinese stock market The Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) is a stock exchange based in the city of Shanghai, China. It is one of the three stock exchanges operating independently in mainland China, the others being the Beijing Stock Exchange and the Shenzhen Stock Exch ...

, and the shoe-throwing incident during premier

Wen Jiabao Wen Jiabao (born 15 September 1942) is a retired Chinese politician who served as the Premier of the State Council from 2003 to 2013. In his capacity as head of government, Wen was regarded as the leading figure behind China's economic polic ...

's visit to

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. Zhou's material and delivery is entirely improvised when performing on stage due to ongoing and recent events so that the show is 'up-to-date' and keeps up with global events in which he may cover within his show.

Personal life

His parents originated from the Zhenhai district in the city of

Ningbo Ningbo (; Ningbonese: ''gnin² poq⁷'' , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), formerly romanized as Ningpo, is a major sub-provincial city in northeast Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It comprises 6 urban districts, 2 sate ...

located in

Zhejiang province Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Jiang ...

. In the early hours of January 19, 2017, Zhou's black Mercedes was pulled over by police in

Long Island, New York Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18t ...

. Upon further inspection of the vehicle, police discovered a

.38 ACP The .38 ACP ( Automatic Colt Pistol), also known as the .38 Auto or 9x23mmSR, is a semi-rimmed pistol cartridge that was introduced at the turn of the 20th century for the John Browning-designed Colt M1900. It was first used in Colt's Model ...

Colt Mustang The Colt Mustang is a line of two lightweight, single-action pocket pistols chambered for the .380 ACP cartridge, produced by Colt's Manufacturing Company Colt's Manufacturing Company, LLC (CMC, formerly Colt's Patent Firearms Manufacturing ...

pistol and two bags of

crack cocaine Crack cocaine, commonly known simply as crack, and also known as rock, is a free base form of the stimulant cocaine that can be smoked. Crack offers a short, intense high to smokers. The ''Manual of Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment'' calls ...

in the back seat. Zhou was immediately detained.

Discography

* ''Reincarnation'' (第二次投胎) http://datalib.ent.qq.com/star/4787/starinfo.shtml * ''A Laughable Talk in Big Shanghai'' (笑侃大上海) * ''A Laughable Talk on the Past 30 Years'' (笑侃三十年) * ''I'm Crazy About Money'' (我为财狂)

Filmography

*'' Mr. Zhou Live Show'' *''

'' *'' Chinese Dream Show''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zhou, Libo Chinese male comedians 1967 births Living people Male actors from Shanghai China's Got Talent Chinese stand-up comedians Chinese male stage actors Chinese male television actors Chinese male voice actors Chinese television talk show hosts