Jesse Appell

This Was Funnier in China

A heartfelt, one-of-a-kind memoir chronicling the hilarious, absurd, and thought-provoking experiences of an American pursuing comedy in China, learning first-hand how humor does and doesn’t translate—and whether laughter transcends borders. I marched onstage in a long robe beside my Shifu, under the curious eyes of a thousand Chinese comedy fans, armed only with a microphone and the goal to kill onstage or die trying. Over the speakers, the host shouted: “Welcome to the stage: Master Ding Guangquan and his American disciple, Ai Jie Xi!” When self-proclaimed American class clown Jesse Appell signed up to study Mandarin in high school, he never imagined that one day his name would be written into the traditional family tree of Chinese comedy. But when he first moves to Beijing to apprentice to the legendary Master Ding, a single show is all it takes for Jesse and his fellow comedy misfits to understand that book learning means bombing jokes. To truly get the big laughs, he realizes he needs to know everything, like how long the fuse is on a thirty-cent firework, what card games coal miners play over Chinese New Year, and why comedy writers in Shanghai sometimes sleep in heart-shaped beds. The result? Asking questions that might seem simple—if they weren’t being asked by an American caught in the breakneck whirlwind of a rising China. “What do people here find funny?” “How do you deal with hecklers?” And, of course, the biggest one of all: “Can I say that?” From Jesse’s first forays into the traditional teahouse performance scene to being the only American cast member and writer on a Chinese version of Saturday Night Live, This Was Funnier in China captures an American's wide-eyed, enthusiastic experiences trying to build a world where we can all laugh together.