Coming from America: In China, U.S. comic tests out American humor

Jesse Appell majored in international studies at prestigious Brandeis University, studying the economic might and ruthless, secretive politics of China.

Then he won a 14-month Fulbright Scholarship to earn his master's degree in China. Suddenly, his career destiny was very clear.

He wanted to be a stand-up comic.

In China.

And yes, that meant he had to learn Mandarin -- a language where pitching one's voice higher or lower or drawing out a syllable completely alters the meaning of a word.

"When he told me the news, I laughed at first because Jesse is a funny guy; then I realized he wasn't joking and I cried," says dad Michael Appell, a senior lecturer in the MBA program at Brandeis. "Really, I am proud of him. He knows what he's doing."

Indeed he does. To all you millennials dreaming of showbiz careers: Jesse Appell does not need a day job because his stage appearances, comedy writing and Web series in China now pay the bills.

"I manage to do this full-time," Appell says by phone from Newton, Mass., where he is visiting his parents. "In the day time, I work as my own agent, having meetings, trying to book shows, and whatever else needs to be done. I also write new jokes and rehearse with performance partners.

"At nighttime, I have rehearsals or shows pretty much every night of the week. It kind of means that I am always working, but the work is fun and, if I need to take four hours off in the middle of the day or start late after a late night, I can do it. Freelance lifestyle!"

At McCallie

Last month, the McCallie School's Marcus Murphy, who teaches Mandarin classes, invited Appell to meet the students and tell them about his adventures. Murphy lived in Beijing after graduating from college and heard about Appell's talent through the American expat grapevine. Appell promptly accepted the invitation.

Now living in China, Jesse Appell earns a living off his comedy and travels on cross-continent tours in China and America.

"He was a huge hit with my students," says Murphy, who lived in China right after his own college graduation. "They had lots of questions for him. Some of them were really interested in being an entrepreneur in China. After hearing him, even I started considering going back to China and negotiating a TV or Web series."

In his Fulbright Scholarship application, Jesse said he wanted to study Chinese humor, satire, mass media comedy and how Chinese humor erupts onto the Web and social media. He has been across the gigantic country, appearing in live shows; he writes a witty blog for the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post and has a Mandarin-language Chinese Web series called "The Great LOL of China," which debuted on May 6.

Appell also performs before an audience of Chinese millennials who roar at his description of a Beijing bar where youths from dozens of nations drink and hook up as "the drunken U.N." He also landed a gig as a Far East economics correspondent on the "PBS NewsHour," which featured his rap video -- in Mandarin -- that spoofed the Gangnam Style viral video sensation from South Korea's Psy.

Yet, for a rising star, Appell lives modestly with two roommates in a Beijing apartment. There's not a lot of privacy by Western standards. He sometimes escapes the smog and air pollution of the nation's capital by traveling a couple of hours east to Tianjin, a historic coastal city on the Bohai Gulf of the Yellow Sea.

"The breezes help prevent the kind of stagnant pollution you see in Beijing," Appell says.

Chinese residents with laptops and TVs have embraced American humor -- when they can see it. Shows like "2 Broke Girls" and "The Big Bang Theory" are huge hits; "Friends" is still considered current and wildly popular, maybe too popular to suit Chinese hipsters. Appell knows he can always get a big laugh from hipper-than-thou Beijing audiences when he refers to a Chinese friend who "knows everything about America because he watches 'Friends.'"

What China-spawned jokes and situations do Chinese citizens find funny? Well, that's a question comedians are still testing on the vast continent. Stand-up comedy is a new phenomenon and it can easily pack a bar or a school auditorium to overflowing. But comedians are keenly aware that there are certain lines it would be dangerous to cross. Appell likes to weave current events into his routines, but he is careful to allude to government scandals and screw-ups rather than refer to actual persons.

For example, when a government official was busted on corruption charges, cops found his basement crammed with cash. Here's how Appell handled that in stand-up: "I got a job with the government recently. I am excited because it will change my life for the better. I'm going to buy a new house, nice, normal size house" ... pause three beats ... "with an extra big basement."

Appell's brand of observational humor makes his stand-up routines a hit in China, where urbanites crave humor that can shrewdly assess the impact of China's turbocharged economy and rapidly changing social classes.

"One of the most popular dramas in China right now is 'Mad Men,'" McCallie's Murphy says. "Part of the appeal is visual; 1960s fashion and interior design style is a big influence in China. But Chinese audiences see a lot of themselves in that series -- the liquid lunches, ruthless careerism. You can't always discuss your concerns about how that's changing your values. But you can filter those discussions through humor without offending the wrong people."

Chinese humor

The most well-known form of humor in China dates back to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912 AD) and is called XiangSheng which literally means "Face and Voice." It's similar to Abbott and Costello's Who's On First routine because it involves wordplay and misunderstandings between a slick talker and a good-natured bumpkin. That description may not sound like a cavalcade of laughter to Americans, but consider how easily a misunderstanding can occur in Mandarin if a speaker lingers on a syllable too long or pitches his voice too high accidentally. The routines can involve a citizen and a government bureaucrat or a doctor and a patient and the duo often slap each other around as verbal misfires increase.

The roughest gig Appell had was performing XiangSheng in a rehab hospital in front of a group of recovering addicts. About halfway through the patter, Appell realized most of them were wishing they were stoned.

"It was a tough room," he says wryly.

The XiangSheng characters are stock types. In his Mandarin music videos, Appell has created his own character: the fly white guy rapper. He wears a sideways baseball cap, a Flavor Flav medallion and lots of attitude as he raps through a satirical version of "Mo' Money, Mo' Problems" that focuses on the smog, pollution and inequality generated as China's money engine keeps pumping.

Appell is Jewish and says he benefits from flattering Chinese stereotypes of Jews, what he wryly calls the "bizarre pro-Semitism." He is usually the first Jew most Chinese acquaintances have ever met. On his blog, he describes a typical Chinese welcome: "Oh, you're Jewish? That's great! The Jews make so much money, and never spend any of it! And they control the media and the banks! In America, too, no less! It must be because they are super smart!"

Contact Lynda Edwards at ledwards@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6391.