This kind of practical rules shared by professional experts are the most suitable for gaining users; the more people do things, the more they can see that in these plain summaries, there are layers of success that rely on continuous trial and error and review. Get up the brilliance.

In this book, he did not emphasize the uniqueness of talk show, but just classified it as a kind of creative work. Moreover, you can feel that he is deliberately using some "hard-core" expressions to help us filter out our romantic imagination about the job of talk show. He even refuses to call us readers "friends."

He said: "All new and old 'colleagues' please remember that this is a job. The essence of the job is trading. We are using our personal time and talents to interact with the market through a company. Exchange money. It’s that simple.”

Insert a sentence here. I counted, and the expression "this is a job" appeared 18 times in the book. You know, this book, including the text and interviews, totals just over 50,000 words. It is a very thin booklet. And in more than half of the chapters, you will see that Li Dan emphasizes, "This is a job" in every possible way.

In what follows, you will hear the words "this is a job" from time to time. Because, if you understand these words, you will also understand some of Li Dan's main views on the creation of talk shows.

For example, because this is a job, as a practitioner, you must always remind yourself that you are a professional.

This sentence extends to the attitude towards creation, that is, since you are professional, don’t do things that will harm your professional ability.

Friends who have watched "Talk Show Conference" may remember that Li Dan, as a commentator in it, expressed many times that he did not support the use of homophonic memes by talk show actors. What is a homophonic meme? For example, let me ask you, how heavy are the stars in the sky? You say, eight grams, because of "Starbucks." This is the homophonic meme, which is to use some words with the same or similar pronunciation to replace normal expressions to create an unexpected laugh point.

Li Dan is opposed to homophonic memes, not because they are not funny. Sometimes, some moments that cause the audience to burst into laughter may come from a homophonic joke. Li Dan opposes homophonic stalks because he believes that such stalks are too simple to create; if you always rely on homophonic stalks to create laughter, it will be harmful to the growth of creative ability.

Same as homophone memes, there are also copying jokes, making fun of colleagues, or quoting Internet buzzwords, etc. Li Dan objects to these, in addition to moral reasons, it is also because these jokes are not really "creations". They are just crudely made by you using other people's semi-finished products. Even if they are funny, they can only be regarded as "second-rate jokes".

In his opinion, creators should have one of the most basic pursuits, which is to "take the best method to get the best result." If a person who has creative ability does not challenge those first-rate jokes and just lies in the comfort zone of second-rate jokes, he may not even become a third-rate creator in the end.

Regarding the job of talk show, Li Dan also has another important point of view, that is, because this is a job, so don’t think of yourself as an artist, just do things first after getting paid. Let’s talk about other things.

This sentence extends to the attitude towards creation, that is, completion is more important than perfection.

We often feel that creation is driven by inspiration. Many stand-up comedians think the same way, so they often complain that they have no inspiration, no insight, or can't find the emotional point.

For this kind of question, Li Dan’s answer is: Creation cannot rely on lightning strikes. If creation is going to be fine, just strike yourself. Therefore, he would advise beginners to take out all the themes used in "Talk Show Conference" and write them one by one; in the process of writing, those insights that are usually ignored will naturally be mobilized, and those emotions will be even more important. Can't hide it. If that doesn't work, set more deadlines for yourself and let the deadlines push you forward. In short, no matter what, start writing first. If you can't write well, won't you write badly? The bad comes first, and then the good comes later.

Okay, what we talked about earlier was Li Dan’s attitude towards talk show work. You can feel that he was very serious when talking about this matter. He will change various long and short sentences to emphasize to you: This is a job. If you want to eat this rice, you have to abandon those unprofessional habits and suppress those utopian fantasies. If you just read the text, it would be difficult for you to connect the person who wrote these words with the Li Dan that people remember, who is always cheerful in variety shows and loves to say "the world is not worth it".

Okay, then, let’s talk about what Li Dan, as such a “serious talk show worker”, thinks is the most important thing in this job.

If I were asked to guess this question directly, I would probably say it’s creativity, baggage or style.

But in Li Dan's view, these are not the most important, sincerity is the most important.

This seems a bit strange. We often feel that a talk show is also a performance. Since it is a performance, it cannot be too sincere. You have to show your stage personality and the side that you think the audience will like; whether it is to create a character or to speculate on CP, It's all part of the show, not really you, but it's understandable.

Li Dan is not against these acting skills, he just thinks that these are not enough to make you a stand-up comedian who is truly loved by everyone. He said that the fundamental principle of the art category of performance is to make people believe. Talk show performance is to let the audience start from believing in you, and slowly understand you and fall in love with you. And if you want to win the trust of others, you need to be a sincere person, not hiding pain, not shy about happiness, and trusting yourself to the stage, to your peers, and to the world.

Let’s be more specific. From the book, we can understand that for a talk show actor, sincerity actually means that when you are on stage, you are acting yourself - your own story, your own values, and your own style. Let’s talk about it one by one.

Let me tell you my story first. Teacher Jia Xingjia has previously interviewed Yan Hexiang, a crosstalk actor from Deyun Club. Teacher Yan Hexiang believes that crosstalk and talk shows turn the most innate communication instinct of human beings into their own jobs. They are not like sketches and dramas with plot packaging; Directly talking to the audience in the audience, this kind of comedy is more penetrating.

What Teacher Yan Hexiang emphasizes here is that the similarities between cross talk and talk shows are mainly reflected in the form. But in this book, Li Dan focuses on the difference between cross talk and talk show, which is mainly reflected in the content. Li Dan believes that talk shows are realistic creations, but crosstalk is often magical realism creations.

What does it mean?

He gave an example. For example, when it comes to drinking Sprite, the cross talk actor might say: "How can it be enough to just drink Sprite? You also have to add chili oil, and after adding the chili oil, you have to make instant noodles... Why is no one drinking it? I didn't drink it that day." The uncle just drank two bottles..." But talk show actors can't talk about this. If you really want to talk about drinking Sprite, you should say this: "Yesterday afternoon, I was with my colleague. I drank mineral water and she drank Sprite. , I said, why do you drink Sprite? Have you given up on life?”

Maybe this is not a joke, but it does reflect the characteristics of the talk show, that is, you have to talk about yourself. story. The self mentioned here refers to both the actor himself and the "self" in the audience's mind.

Here is one of his original words, let me read it to you:

“Don’t think that those things that are out of the ordinary and dramatic enough are interesting things. Things are interesting; life itself is absurd enough, and you don’t need to go out of your way to find those magical special cases to prove it; besides, can you talk about those special cases as well as Deyun Club, which has been practicing for so many years? And their audience is here to listen to this.

"As a talk show actor, you should discover some realities that people understand. The human brain only has a few ways of thinking and a few personality models. If this happens to you, it means it will happen to many people. Then make it clear, say it thoroughly, say it's funny, and that's the end of it. ”

Okay, after talking about what “your own story” is, let’s talk about “your own values”. Just now we mentioned that talk show creation is realistic and directly reflects the life in front of you. Then It will naturally include your values, that is, whether you think this kind of life is worth living.

In Li Dan’s view, it is impossible to hide who you are on stage. Live; if you want the audience to believe you and fall in love with you, you have to share your true values ??with the audience. Don’t be afraid that some people will not like you. For talk show actors, the purpose of presenting your own values ??is to find a relationship with you. People who think the same as you, rather than trying to please as many people as possible

Well, what we said earlier is that a sincere stand-up comedian should be able to tell his own story on stage. It's not difficult to tell your own values. However, the next step is to tell your own style.

As an audience, we can all feel the distinctive style. It is easier for talk show actors to become popular. However, it is difficult to find their own style, which is also something that worries many talk show actors.

Li Dan believes that style is actually just that. The charm of your personality. A writer friend of his once told him, "Writing novels is all about personality." In his opinion, stand-up comedians are all about personality, regardless of technique or text. , what a talk show actor ultimately attracts is your inability to hide your personality; and sometimes, your personality charm may come from your shortcomings rather than your advantages.

So, a. How can a talk show actor have his own style? Li Dan said that in fact, style is like fame and fortune, it is just a by-product of this job; you don’t know when it will come, the only thing you know is that you have to keep working. Keep honing and learning. When you can mobilize your entire life to provide nutrients for your creation, the style you pursue may emerge automatically, because your style is your life. p>

Part 2

Okay, what we just said is that in Li Dan’s view, talk show is a job, a job that requires sincerity first. This is a job that requires mobilizing the entire life to provide nutrients for creation.

Next, let’s talk about the specific methods of creating talk shows.

In this part of the interpretation, you may not hear much about talk show jokes, because jokes by professional actors cannot be spread casually, and we must respect copyright.

However, before interpreting this book, I did a small survey in Knowledge City to understand what everyone wants to hear in the interpretation of this book. Among the several options, the one with the highest number of votes was that I would like to hear some creative ideas that are common between talk shows and other content products on the market. Therefore, in the following interpretation, while talking about Li Dan’s creative methods, I will also add some content creation experiences that we have used internally that are similar to Li Dan’s views. As a practitioner in the content industry, I would like to share with you some of my insights from this book. I hope this collision can bring you more inspiration beyond the talk show industry.

Let’s start with the most basic practical operation, that is, please write a verbatim draft. This means that you should write down and memorize everything you want to say on stage in the future. This is Li Dan's advice to all those who need to publicly speak out or perform what is written on paper.

For a talk show actor, a five-minute performance is about a thousand words on paper, so it is necessary to make the manuscript more precise. So, if it is a speech of one hour, two hours, or even longer, is it necessary to write it out word by word?

The answer is, it is necessary.

Here I will add a piece of gossip. Within our organization, there is a principle that everyone must abide by, that is, everyone must write verbatim when they go on stage. Whether it’s a ten-minute live broadcast, a thirty-minute book listening show, an over-an-hour enlightenment club, or a full four-hour New Year’s Eve speech, there are no exceptions.

On this matter, we have the same view as Li Dan. Writing verbatim is not only to build confidence, reduce the tension when facing the audience, or to avoid saying "um", "then" and "that", but also because when you are writing verbatim, you are actually Just rehearsing your own performance. You need to imagine yourself standing on the stage, and write down what you want to say, the actions you want to add, and the rhythm you want to follow.

Li Dan mentioned an interesting thing in the book, that is, when he was looking at the verbatim scripts of the talk show actors in his company, he found that everyone’s scripts looked very different. Same.

For example, Hu Lan, a talk show actor, had no commas in his manuscript and almost no paragraphs. When he took the manuscript over, his eyes were full of words and it was a blur. However, such a verbatim draft is exactly in line with Hulan's style on stage. Some friends may know that when Hulan was performing, he spoke very fast and did not leave much breath between words. Some people commented that he took a big breath and held it for five minutes. Others said that they were really worried about Hulan's sudden death. Without taking a breath, I carried it on my back. Therefore, Hulan's comma-less original manuscript is completely consistent in style with his breathless performance.

There is also a talk show actor, Rock. His performance style is very different from Hulan's. His expression is light and the rhythm is slow. He has to pause after finishing a sentence, and a baggage comes out. Wait for a few seconds. And his manuscripts are almost the opposite of Hulan: the layout of the manuscript is like poetry. After a sentence is finished, it cuts directly to the next line; if it is short, six or seven words can be one line. This also more realistically restores his situation on stage.

So, what if it is a longer script than a talk show? Here, I will share with you a method that Luo Pang emphasized when giving us content training, that is, use punctuation marks well.

For example, if your manuscript is to be spoken in front of an audience, or is to be converted into audio or video, then you must use more commas. Because in these scenes, it is best for everything you say to be short and simple sentences, rather than long and complex sentences, so that others can feel comfortable listening and digest it easily. Commas can not only break up long sentences, but also serve as pause cues to help you find your own speaking rhythm.

Also, all your punctuation and paragraphing must be used as accurately as possible. This is not to emphasize the standardization of writing, but to allow you to know what tone and rhythm to use in various places when recording or live broadcasting through each punctuation and segmentation.

Let’s talk about writing verbatim manuscripts. You will find that it is not something you don’t have to do once you have enough experience and have talked about it a lot. You see, even Li Dan and Luo Pang, who have so much stage experience, still type out the verbatim script every time before going on stage, and conscientiously ponder every punctuation point in the script.

Because, as Li Dan said, most live performances can only pursue a high degree of control and loss of control. Here, a high degree of control is the first priority. Your language, rhythm, and movements must be designed in advance; on this basis, you can make some improvisations based on the atmosphere at the time. Individual performances may trigger great live effects, but the most fundamental thing that supports your performance is the verbatim draft that you have rehearsed over and over again. This principle applies to many situations involving public speaking.

Okay, let’s talk about how to design the overall rhythm of a manuscript. One method Li Dan emphasizes in the book is to synchronize first, then lead, and then cycle endlessly.

The general meaning is that you must first make the audience psychologically agree with you by telling stories, asking questions, etc., and then lead the way, that is, breaking through the audience's original expectations - at this time, the baggage will come out, and then Then immediately enter the next round of synchronization and leadership. A manuscript is multiple iterations of this process.

If you observe carefully, you will find that many talk show actors' scripts follow this pattern. For example, just look at the fourth season of "Talk Show". There is a new contestant, Niaoniao, who appears frequently in her manuscripts for "social anxiety", "appearance anxiety", etc. that are often mentioned by people nowadays. question; also, Doudou, who is good at acting, fully restored his experience in the 10-yuan barber shop; veteran Cheng Lu carried out the style of imitating the leader's speech in several performances... These are all to arouse the audience* **Beep, synchronization completed.

Not to mention the champion Zhou Qimo. What he talks about is "observational comedy". The creative materials come from observations in daily life, which makes it easy to synchronize with the audience. However, as everyone is familiar with, actors have to find unexpected laugh points and then present them delicately. This is "leading".

Here, I would like to add a few words. "Synchronize first and then lead" is not a unique method for talk show creation. This statement itself was something Li Dan read in a book about persuasion; there is a similar theory in education, which means that when teaching children new knowledge, you should first talk about things they already know, and then talk about them again. Add new content bit by bit.

Also, if you analyze the content products on the Internet, you will find that many of them also follow the model of "first synchronize, then lead, and then infinite loop", because this model can firmly grasp audience's attention.

Let me talk about a few methods we often use to "synchronize" and "lead". Are you familiar with them? For example, we will tell you a story first, and then stop suddenly. , ask "Hey, have you noticed, there is something strange here?", and then explain the strange place, and then give an answer; or, first throw you a dilemma that you may have personal experience, such as "In When engaging in cross-department cooperation, what should I do if the other department does not cooperate with me?" and then give a solution; another method, which you may also know, is to first clarify people's common views on something. What is it? Then with a wave of his left hand, he tells you that this view is wrong, or incomplete, or oversimplified. These are all in the process of "synchronizing first, then leading".

Then what is "infinite loop"? In Luo Pang's words, "It's not a good place to stay for a long time." For example, after explaining a doubt point in the story, immediately raise the next one; after solving a dilemma, a new dilemma will appear immediately... This will make the other party follow you unconsciously.

I have also used this method during interviews before. For example, when talking about your experience in organizing large-scale events, don't just state the results, but focus on the difficulties encountered in the process, and talk about them one by one. For example, they first emphasize the problem of insufficient funds, and then talk about how they solved it; after speaking, they immediately throw out the next problem - not enough people to sign up; when everyone is mobilized, the invited guests are temporarily unavailable... ...In this way, in the process of telling how you solved each difficult situation, the other party will not only understand your abilities in all aspects, but also listen very engagedly, and have a deeper impression of you.

Okay, next, let’s return to the talk show scene. Take a look at where the path of "first synchronizing, then leading, and then endless loop" leads in the talk show.

Friends who like to watch movies should have heard of a concept called "character arc", an arc of arc and a glorious light. What it means is that the protagonist starts from the beginning of the movie, develops, and finally reaches the end. In this process, he will definitely change and achieve a certain degree of growth. The reason why "character arc" is indispensable in movies is that it gives a story a sense of "value". Because, if your story is worth telling, it needs to show the impact it has on people—not just the characters, but the audience as well.

Li Dan believes that the same is true for talk shows. Talk comedians need to use the standards of movie protagonists to demand themselves in short works. This means that you need to grow in public on stage. The growth mentioned here can mean that you understand your ignorant father, tease your stupid boss, or get out of the shadow of broken love, etc. It may also be that, although you did not solve any problems, you let the audience know through these five minutes that you finally achieved reconciliation with yourself - this is also a kind of growth, this is the growth of wisdom, and this kind of growth is reflected in talk shows. Very common on stage. When the audience sees your growth, they will understand you and grow with you. This is the charm of the work.

Okay, here we have said that before talk show actors go on stage, they need to write a verbatim draft. The rhythm design of the draft is "first synchronize, then lead, and then infinite loop", and the entire draft Come down, you want the audience to see your growth. Then, after the script is completed and rehearsed, the next step is to go on stage.

Some theories believe that when performing a talk show, the relationship between the actor and the audience is the most important, and one must feel the atmosphere and follow the atmosphere.

Li Dan believes that although this statement is correct, it has no practical value and may even be harmful. Because if you pay too much attention to the atmosphere, you will easily become overwhelmed on stage. Once you feel that the place is cold, you may panic, stutter, or even start to interact wildly, add old baggage, and tell dirty jokes, just like a drowning person flopping around.

What is the correct performance posture? Li Dan repeatedly emphasized in the book: The essence of talk show performance is to restore the situation you imagined when you wrote the script. When you are writing the script, you should let the audience become a part of your imagination; when you get on stage, act as you prepared. What should I do if my baggage doesn’t ring? I'd better finish speaking according to your verbatim draft and come down openly. Don't deliberately add actions to please the audience, because even if the audience laughs, it will be a meaningless success. And if you can analyze your own shortcomings in creation or performance through a cold show, and adjust your imagination when writing the manuscript, then even if you fail, it will be a meaningful failure.

The reason behind this is that for a talk show actor, the purpose of practicing on stage is not to serve the audience well in a certain scene, but to become a stronger talk show actor. It’s not that the more people you can please, the bigger your audience will be; it’s that the stronger your creative ability is, the more audiences will come to see you. As you continue to train yourself, making the audience laugh is just a by-product, just like fame and fortune are also by-products. There is only one thing you have to ask yourself before going to bed every day: Did you get something today that you didn’t get yesterday? This is Charlie Munger's advice. Li Dan discovered that many outstanding people around him had always done this. He also said with emotion: In fact, a lot of what Chicken Soup for the Soul says is right. People call it chicken soup just because few people practice it.

Conclusion

Okay, today, we mainly talked about Li Dan’s views on the work of talk shows, as well as some specific talk show creation techniques. In the appendix of this book, there are also some interviews that Li Dan accepted regarding this book. If you are interested, you are welcome to click on the e-book at the end of the manuscript for further reading.

Before the end of today, I would like to talk to you about an issue that touched me deeply in this book, that is, how to improve your creative ability.

Li Dan said that he had watched a training video of the national table tennis team. At that time, the coach Liu Guoliang kept serving the ball quickly and the player Zhang Jike kept catching the ball. After the training, Liu Guoliang, who was sweating profusely, held onto the table tennis table and stuttered a little, "This amount is enough."

Li Dan said that he often thought of Liu Guoliang's words. time, that calm demeanor. There was great pride hidden in his calmness. This kind of pride is accumulated bit by bit through daily investment. Every creator should think of this sentence when he complains about his lack of inspiration, and then ask himself: Have you written enough?

As an audiobook author, I was very touched when I saw this. Some time ago, Li Nannan, the person in charge of Get Audio, asked us a question:

In what way do you think your abilities increase as you grow older?

Many people think that as you get older, your abilities should naturally improve. In fact, this is not the case. Except for a few extremely talented people, most people will feel that they have reached the upper limit of their abilities when they are in their early 40s. In other words, you will find that it seems difficult to surpass your previous peak level.

So, does this mean that there is no room for improvement after the age of 40?

No. Although your upper limit of ability will not increase as you grow older, your lower limit of ability will continue to increase. In other words, if your peak level is 95 points, then after you are in your forties, although it may be difficult for you to exceed the 95 points you once had, you will become more and more stable. No matter how bad your performance is, it will not be lower than 80 points. To put it bluntly, your life span has become better. This is a more solid advantage.

So, since the ultimate picture of ability growth is stable growth rather than upper limit growth, how should we exercise our abilities?

Actually, in one sentence, don’t hold back your ultimate move, train like crazy, produce quickly, and produce continuously.

Li Dan also said similar things in this book. He said: If you want to improve your abilities, there is no shortcut but to practice constantly - don't leave the battlefield, don't leave your comrades, and don't leave the enemy.

I give this sentence to you and myself. I hope that we can all take root in the battlefield of life and, through continuous training, create a better life range for ourselves.