Stephen Chow, the once iconic Hong Kong comedian, actor and director who had a string of hit films in the 1990s and first decade of the 21st century, is to produce a variety show in mainland China.
The show, to be called “The King of Comedy Stand-up Season,” is to be aired by iQiyi, one of China’s dominant streaming platforms. The title is a reference to one of Chow’s best-known movies, released in 1999.
The variety show project was described as the first step in a 360-degree partnership between Chow’s Hong Kong stock market-listed Bingo Group and the NASDAQ-listed iQiyi. The announcement was made as part of iQiyi’s annual Spring iJOY presentation and event. The partnership is also expected to include drama series, variety shows and animation productions.
Earlier this year Chow (aka Chow Sing-chi) struck a deal with Douyin, the Bytedance-owned Chinese sister company of TikTok, to produce a slate of mini-drama series for mainland China audiences.
Popular on Variety
Mini dramas are a form of professionally-generated content that has become hugely popular in China, and to a lesser extent in other parts of Asia. Series typically have 20-100 episodes of 1-15 minutes each, though just a couple of minutes is typical. This makes them easily digestible and suitable for casual consumption on mobile devices. The most popular genres are comedy and romantic drama and many are derived from web novels.
In a statement at the time on Douyin’s WeChat social media feed, Douyin said that Chow’s first series project is called “Jinzhu Yuye” and is currently a work-in-progress that could be delivered by May. He is understood to be working with other creators.
With films including “Shaolin Soccer” and “Kung Fu Hustle” on his filmography, Chow is an elusive, but iconic figure. He is credited with popularizing the “mo lei tau” (which loosely translates as “nonsense”) form of frenetic slapstick comedy.