Xiangsheng is Chinese comic dialogue, usually translated as crosstalk. Two performers, a straight man and a funny man, trade rapid-fire jokes, puns and patter on a stage, and the form depends on timing and wordplay. It has a long performing tradition and families of performers who pass it on. Guo Qilin grew up in a crosstalk family, and Marie Claire Taiwan noted that he uses that sense of timing in Good Night.
Where it comes up
Neon & Nine-to-Five
Good Night: The Funeral-Home Workplace Comedy with Guo Qilin and Zhang Xueying
A guide to the ten-episode Youku and Mango TV drama Good Night as it airs: a young man's stopgap job at a funeral home, Guo Qilin and Zhang Xueying as embalming-team colleagues, and how the show keeps its humor gentle.