Absurdity of vehicle attack outweighs shock, comedian Huang Yi-hao says

• By Hollie Younger / Staff writer, with CNA

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Comedian Huang Yi-hao (黃逸豪) on Friday said the absurdity of being hit with a car in an alleged act of Chinese transnational repression outweighed the shock.

“The Chinese government clearly does not have a sense of humor, as humor destroys authority,” he said.

Huang pledged to continue writing and performing, and refused to tone down his act for a show in Taipei next month.

Comedian Huang Yi-hao performs in an undated photograph.

Photo: Screen grab from Huang’s Facebook page

Five Taiwanese men were on Wednesday charged with hitting Huang with a car on Sept. 11 in what investigators said was a staged traffic accident.

The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said in their indictment that a Chinese person allegedly offered NT$450,000 to seriously injure Huang so he could not perform on Sept. 20, following the comedian’s previous comments critical of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Huang in December last year had made comments mocking Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) during a performance at the Comedy Club in Taipei.

On May 29, two men threw a mixture of paint and human feces at the club.

“I don’t understand how the leader of a country of 1.4 billion people can be so sensitive or why he would use resources to target a comedian,” Huang said of the incidents.

However, he is concerned about the effect it would have on his family, who worry he would lose his job and have to ask them for money, he said.

The comedian said he always thought that art and politics are closely intertwined.

Art strives to breaks free of politics, but politics keeps clinging to art, he said, adding that he never expected he would be caught in the crosshairs.

Huang said he first began listening to xiangsheng (相聲, also known as “cross talk”), a traditional Chinese comedy act, in junior-high school, before he studied history at Chinese Culture University.

He then worked as a part-time kitchen assistant at a cross talk club after struggling to find work, he said.

He did not begin performing until he was 25, after completing his military service.

He relied on his natural talent and experience gained from immersing himself in the art, Huang said.

He integrated Internet subculture, popular culture and current affairs into his routines to attract younger audiences, although his sharp and vulgar style made him less popular with more traditional audiences, he said.

The routine that criticized Xi was a take on a traditional routine called Bamagua (扒馬褂, Taking Off the Mandarin Jacket), which has been performed for more than a century, Huang said.

“I am the only cross talk performer in the world who would use the art form to deliver an extended, uninterrupted criticism of Xi. I am the only one who would do it, and it is only possible in free Taiwan,” he said.

Next month, he is set to perform an adaptation of the traditional piece Shumeiye (樹沒葉, A Tree Without Leaves) at the Red House in Taipei’s Ximending (西門町) shopping area.

Huang said he hoped audiences would continue to support cross talk, which he described as his “core mission.”