This is an era in which comedy is king.

The latest episodes of programs like Nonstop Bubbles, Stars in the Limelight and Comediennes' Theater provide regular topics for conversation. Happy Days, the Taiwanese-dialect comedy broadcast every noon on TTV, is a must-see for President Lee. And variety shows with comedy skits like Diamond Stage and Variety 100 have stood astride their time slots like colossuses for years, while other programs have bit the dust.

Comedians Become Stars: Besides being popular themselves, the programs have produced a number of comic celebrities. According to an unofficial tally, the seven highest-paid TV stars in Taiwan last year--Pa Ko, Pai Ping-ping, Fang Fang, Hu Kua, Chang Fei, Yang Fan and Fang Fang-fang--all achieved audience recognition through comedy. Pa Ko earned more than NT$30 million.

Comedy is king! No wonder such a large number of performers has joined the fray. Many beautiful film actresses, such as Fang Fang-fang of Comediennes' Theater, Lu Chin-chun, Cheng I-fen, Lin I-chen of Mama Takes Me Along in Her Marriage, and Tien Li, have had to drop their coy demeanors and work at real acting instead of just relying on their looks. "It's easier to get the audience's attention playing comedy," says Huan Huan, (Yu Chiahui), who started out as a singer but is now one of the regular cast in Stars in the Limelight.

In addition to applause from the audience, TV comedies have also won plaudits from the industry. Last year's Golden Bell Award for best TV variety show went to CTS' Nonstop Bubbles. The show's lead actress, Yang Li-yin, was so happy she cried, thrilled that comedy, which used to be considered infra dig, could win an award.

Relaxant for Modern-Day Life: Why have comedies become so popular?

Hsu Kuan-wen, known in Hong Kong as the "deadpan comic," was once asked why he liked making comedies. Straight-faced as ever, he replied, "The world is tough enough as is. If we don't make comedies, what else is there?"

His remark on the significance of comedy may not be the whole story, but it does speak for a lot of people.

Whatever the place or time, dramatists have always welcomed upbeat material. The Chinese, who look for culture and refinement in everything they do, aren't averse to putting on raucous farces of the Monkey King during holidays and festivals, and during the bleak Middle Ages of Europe, even though quite a few great works were produced reflecting the grim conditions of the time, writers never forgot to give the people a little joy and cheer as well. Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream is a prime example.

In modern times, with the rise of the electronic media, comic material can be transmitted vividly and immediately into every home, comforting spirits bruised in the tussle and strife of daily life.

Huang Tien-chueh, a 45-year-old taxi driver who works at least 10 hours a day to feed and clothe his family of five, always finds time to watch Nonstop Bubbles or Stars in the Limelight no matter how busy he may be. "It's the only way I can feel happy at my work," he says.

Hsu Su-fang, still in vocational college, often talks about "Mama Tung," "Old Lady Yang" and other TV comedy characters with her classmates.

"If you don't know who they are, you're really out of it," she says with some exaggeration.

For modern-day people with their "fast-food lifestyles," comedy has to achieve an effect in the shortest possible time and be topical and up to date so they can get it at once.

TV Comedy's "Golden" Age: Television comedy first appeared in Taiwan more than 20 years ago with the program You, Me and Him. The host, Chiang Kuang-chao, used his comic flair to win applause at a time when audiences were still relatively unsophisticated with pastiche song lyrics or skits with sung dialogue, throwing in a farce of a boorish general or the like. Viewed from today's perspective, You, Me and Him was really too slow paced and soft hitting. "What audiences want these days is speed, and material they can relate to," says Ni Min-jan, who was the host of Golden Partners for many years. Comedy in the Chiang Kuang-chao mold isn't suited for Taiwan any more, he feels, but rather for the mainland, where news and information are still poorly developed.

The short, snappy comedy shows that are popular today, such as Nonstop Bubbles, Stars in the Limelight and Comediennes' Theater, had their embryonic predecessor more than ten years ago in Rhapsody of Nobodies, starring Sun Yueh, Tao Ta-wei and Hsia Ling-ling. That show had short skits about three minor characters at the bottom of the social heap who would fantasize about living a life different from the one they were in, suddenly becoming rich and successful movie stars, lawyers, doctors or so forth, winning the affection of the audience with both tears and laughter.

The success of Rhapsody of Nobodies drew attention to the possibilities of short comedy, and variety shows become laced with a plethora of skits and sketches. By the time Golden Partners reached a peak of popularity, practically the whole show was given over to comedy routines.

In Golden Partners, the actors were given free rein and allowed to let their imaginations run wild, bowling over with audiences with exaggerated physical movements like running into walls and splashing water on each other, anything to bring down the house. Even though the program's format was criticized by stuffed shirts as "mindless," it helped audiences work out energy and let off steam.

Topical Comedy Takes Off: Be that as it may, slapstick isn't satisfying in the long run. Nonstop Bubbles, the first program to use news events as comic material, came out before the lifting of martial law and pointed a new direction for television comedy, offering audiences something fresh and different and setting new highs in the ratings.

Li Chih-ping, one of the show's early script-writers, says that Nonstop Bubbles was discussed and became successful because it was one of the first to attack the martial law system. News-related comedies were highly popular, but they were much harder and more complicated to make than those of the past.

"I had to read a lot of newspapers every day and constantly watch for things that could be used as material," says Li, who is now a scriptwriter for Comediennes' Theater.

Turning news events into scripts and bringing out the comedy in them was an even greater challenge. Kuo Chih-cheng, who wrote scripts for Nonstop Bubbles too, recalls how the actor in a skit they were shooting on teenage drag motorcycle racing had crashed several times, but no one thought it was effective enough. After some discussion, they decided to add the role of an old snack vendor, whose business was booming because so many people had come to watch the fun. When the racer crashed into his cart and knocked his food and drinks helter-skelter it provided the punch for the whole sketch and made fun of how ludicrous it all was.

Make 'Em Laugh: Although TV comedy has become more topical in subject matter, given the demands of commercialism, its scripts would never be confused with deathless prose. Says Pai Mai-hung, the producer of Stars in the Limelight: "We're not out to preach great truths--we just want to make them laugh!"

Hsia Tao, after a hard day's work at the office, says he likes to watch Comediennes' Theater on TTV at 9:30. His family berates him for not being ambitious enough, but his thinking is, "It's very relaxing to turn off your brain and watch beautiful women strut their stuff."

The other extreme--men dressing up as homely women--is another staple of television comedy today.

Hsiao Tung (Tung Chih-cheng), one of the most successful players in drag, started out as a radio broadcaster before becoming famous overnight playing a flighty female on TV. His cross-dressing drew criticism from many sides, however. The network's chairman, Chen Chung-kuang, wanted to move Stars in the Limelight to prime time when he first took office, but he finally gave up the idea because his acting was deemed "in poor taste."

In fact, playing a woman often makes Hsiao Tung feel full of contradictions. "You have to twist your personality around, and you've got to make sure you don't insult women either. It's really hard," he says.

To play his role well, he has to observe and study the way women act and move, yet avoid too much exaggeration. He satirizes feminine pettiness and cupidity, but he's afraid to get into other areas.

Playing the opposite sex is even tougher to bring off since guardians of public morality keep a close watch on the airwaves, and audiences are growing a little tired of it from overuse, what with Auntie Tung, Sister Wai, Old Lady Yang, and so forth, on practically every show. Hsiao Tung will gradually "recover his manhood" in the future, Pai Mei-hung reveals.

From Stage to Tube: Besides getting up in drag, there has been another notable development in comedy acting in recent years--many theatrically trained actors and actresses have moved to the screen, such as Hsiao Ching-ting of Stars in the Limelight and Hsiao Kuo (Kuo Tzu-chien) and Yang Li-yin of Nonstop Bubbles, all from little theater.

"Theatrical training is a big help for an actor in performing," Pai Hei-hung believes.

For the actors themselves, though, even though theatrical training may be help in mastering the art of acting, but the stage and television are two different things, after all, as Yang Li-yin points out. "There's more space and freedom in the theater, and you know the level of your audience better," she says.

With the rise in local color and use of the Taiwanese dialect in recent years, some performers with a folksy tang have hopped aboard the train and become famous in TV comedy.

Eighteen-year veteran Pai Ping-ping, for instance, who has kicked around in acting circles for years, rocketed to fame last year thanks to the show Daughter-in-Low vs. Mother-in-Law, 70 Rounds. Besides being asked by the networks to star in a sequel and to host a number of variety shows, she became a secret weapon for candidates during the elections for the National Assembly last December, bringing in the votes by drawing crowds wherever she went.

The most important factor in Pai Ping-ping's success is that her role perfectly matched her style. Casual and easygoing in real life, she came to the studio dressed in a house robe and slippers, just like the character she played, which was down-home, offbeat and outspoken. Even though hers was only a supporting role, her natural, unaffected style of acting won over audiences and made the show a hit, boosting her career to new heights.

Back to Warmth and Gentlenesss: Comedy has never dimmed in popularity, but its form and structure are constantly changing. Shows built around news and current events have been gradually dying out as the social climate stabilizes.

When TTV's Comediennes' Theater came out two years ago, for instance, society was in a state of turmoil, racked by protests and demonstrations, and the show appealed to audiences with skits on protest marches and fisticuffs in the legislature.

But now people are more wrapped up in their daily lives again, and the apocalyptic style of eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we may die is giving way to savoring the delights of family and home sweet home. As a result, "comedy will change in form from guffaws to warmth and gentleness," Li Chin-ping foresees.

In fact, the trend is already showing up on television. Stars in the Limelight features a nostalgic segment directed by veteran comedienne Fang Fang that helps people realize just how warm and precious family and friends are by looking at childhood, love, daily life and other topics in a relaxed manner, taking a comic but not a satiric stance and comparing the values of past and present. Judged from their reaction, audiences are beginning to accept this form of programming.

"Slapstick and buffoonery are easy to get away with but hard to achieve any depth with," says Li Chih-ping, who is starting to reflect on a new direction for comedy and agrees that the "guffaw-style" of acting is on the retreat.

Wherever there is life, there are joys and sorrows, comedy and tragedy, and drama, which reflects life, is no different. Whether going for the big guffaw, biting satire or a warm smile, comedy tries to tell us just one thing--one laugh can melt a thousand sorrows!

[Picture Caption]

Comedy brings people laughter and joy. (Sinorama file photo)

Golden Partners let imaginations run wild. A Mexican bandit, a Chinese swordsman, a Green Beret, a ballet dancer and a zombie from the Ch'ing dynasty could all show up in the same skit. (Sinorama file photo)

The sketches in Nonstop Bubbles are based on material familiar to all. Here Peng Chia-chia plays the Terminator.

Cross-dressing is a gimmick frequently used in comedies, but the actor behind the long tresses has to distort his personality to a considerable degree.

TV comedy has a tight structure, and communication before taping is extremely important.

Pai Ping-ping (right) has had a stream of work and hosted a number of variety shows since rocketing to fame with Daughter-in-Law vs. Mother-in-Law, 70 Rounds. Here she emcees an episode of Nonstop Bubbles. (photo by Huang Lili)

(Below) Veteran comedienne Fang Fang (right) is trying to bring back warmth and gentleness to comedy.

Chou Hsiang-lu tried varying some of the rocks' tones in his pictures, producing a weathering effect of his own.