Taiwanese comedian Chu Ke-liang dead at age 70, are you a fan?

So anything is acceptable, if there’s a power balance not in your favor? :pensive:

This is kind of like the logic that says only white people can be racist. A double standard is a double standard.

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sounds worth checking out.

If it’s true that the power balance is in men’s favor - which I do NOT concede - doesn’t that raise further questions?

We all get the power we’re able and willing to grab for ourselves. You can grab, or you can whine.

In other words “Hey it’s okay if you beat your wife and kids at home, just don’t talk about it in the workplace.”

If Ti-ko-liōng committed actual sexual harassment, then it isn’t acceptable.

If he made jokes in that fashion merely because it drew crowds, then I suppose difficult times called for different entertainers. It’s not as if America doesn’t have its share of crass entertainers.

I think you misinterpreted me–I was responding to Gain’s comment.

There’s no doubt it was a different time. It’s not like it was just him, that kind of interplay between the male and female entertainers seems to be a thing here as far as I can tell, and more so back then. I have no idea about actual sexual harassment, but there was always that edge to his shtick. I used to watch it a bit–there wasn’t much else on except that more pervy Japanese comedian’s show lol. Whatever you want to say about him there’s no doubt he was quick-witted as hell. I enjoyed his self-deprecating type stuff.

Crass is sitting in a peaceful Starbucks for 2 hours and then two people come in screeching in Taiwanese to each other across a small table while people continuously look at them like what are your doing?

But it sounds so nice when when singing.

I envy anyone who has enough time to just chill in a Starbucks for two hours. You’re living the dream.

Sitting in a Starbucks for two hours involves drinking their coffee, so don’t be too envious. :slight_smile:

Yea the coffee sucks with good view. But bar isn’t open until 5pm.

Taiwanese definitely isn’t one of the more mellifluous Chinese dialects, and I really don’t understand why it has to be spoken at such a high volume. Is screaming part of the tone system or something?

You realize the beer section at 7-11 is open 24/7, right?

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Yea I’m VIP.

Taiwanese American here (though I lived mostly in the US, I feel about 50/50 Taiwanese/American).

Chu Ke-liang was a staple of entertainment in my extended family. I remember catching glimpses of his shows as a kid, and was amazed to see him back at it in the last few years. I always liked his humor.

Humor is subjective. What Americans see as sexist, crass, etc. may seem normal (my mom doesn’t see Chu Ke-liang’s humor as a problem). Some Taiwanese may see American humor as dumb, crass, and too politically correct. It’s all perspective.

As for someone remarking about how selfish he was, I can’t speak to his earlier behavior, but my understanding is that he came out of hiding as a way to start working again and pay off his debts, and rather than fighting the cancer he chose to keep working to continue paying off the debts. So in the end I don’t think he chose the selfish route.

Plus I wouldn’t really call American TV less crass. There still is movies like Ted, Dumb and dumber, most of the movies with Jim Carey in them and who can forget Samuel L Jackson.

At least with American TV you get a whole range, from crass to highbrow. With Taiwanese TV, it’s just crass and crasser.

It may just be my observation, but there isn’t anyone who can do a full hour standup show in Mandarin in Taiwan. It’s almost as if that kind of culture doesn’t exist.

In the realm of Taigi or Taigi/Mandarin pidgin, we used to have a bunch of them, Ti-ko-liong, Peng-chia-chia, Hsu Hsiau-Shuen, Wu Zhong-Hsian, and etc.

If younger generation rejects them whole sell on the basis that they are crass, that ability to utilize the Taigi language for comedy fluently dies.

Well, there’s the whole 相聲 tradition, which can be quite funny if done right. Of course, it’s more of an import, and seems to by dying out as well, which is understandable because it’s not really connected with people’s everyday lives. [quote=“hansioux, post:38, topic:160230”]
If younger generation rejects them whole sell on the basis that they are crass, that ability to utilize the Taigi language for comedy fluently dies.
[/quote]

I actually have no problem at all with crass humor, but I guess it would just be nice to have a little more variety, but that goes for every category of TV in Taiwan. Standards are just so low in every area.

I remember an interview with a famous TV producer here where she was asked how the industry is responding to the challenge of Korean shows. Her reply: “Korean actors are so good, why they can even cry on demand! How can we compete with that?” How indeed…

No, but catcalls and objetification are. The reality is that men are not being placed under the same hostile conditions like women are in most circumstances.

In white countries, only white people can be racist. It’s an institution. In Taiwan then no.

This is just insensitive.

I never said that. Domestic violence is a crime, so therefore not a private matter. Affairs and negligence, however, are personal.