Chapter 5 First teacher Jiang Kun

My birthday is at the end of March.In 1990, just after my 22nd birthday, "China TV Weekly" published the news that "Zhengda Variety Show" was about to start broadcasting on the front page.About the host, there is only one sentence: "This show will be hosted by Jiang Kun, a famous comic actor, and Yang Lan, who has just appeared on the screen." The following Saturday, I appeared in front of hundreds of millions of TV viewers in China.When it was broadcast, I was sitting on the sofa at home, and I was sweating coldly when I heard the opening music.It was the most stressful time of my life.Everything around is blurred, I can't hear what Mom and Dad said, just TV, TV, TV...

It is a very special thing for a person to have the opportunity to look at himself, and it is even incredible: in a trance, it seems that time and space have reversed, and he can't help being interested in himself that he has never had before.I know a lot of people who like to look in the mirror, or look at pictures of themselves over and over again, and now the ubiquity of home video recorders has further satisfied this strange feeling.However, if you are not sure about the effect, and the first inspection of yourself is carried out at the same time as hundreds of millions of people, no matter how confident you are, you will feel flustered.

This is how I felt the first time I sat in front of the TV, waiting for myself to appear. I have never found myself with so many little problems.For example, blinking too much. Even Jiang Kun found out. One day after the show aired, he said to me in the elevator: "Yang Lan, TV will magnify all your problems, so you have to learn to control your body, especially the habit of blinking. From now to the studio For this part of the way, you force yourself to try without blinking once." I am very obedient. Along the way, he kept his eyes wide open, not daring to let the upper and lower eyelids make any contact.A five-minute journey seemed to me half an hour.I was sweating, my eyes were sore, and tears were rolling in my eyes. "It's a real pain to be a TV host." I cursed in my heart.What's worse is that Jiang Kun next to me is always "monitoring" me. "Hold on! Don't blink!" - still let people live? ! — but I know he's doing it for my own good.In this way, I stepped onto the TV and became the host of the show.At first, I thought it was an accident, but it soon dawned on me: this is what I was meant to do.

Jiang Kun was the first to tell me this. At that time, my psychological pressure was extremely great.After all, I have never had any professional training, so I just rushed up like this, okay?Thirteen episodes were recorded in one go for the first video (this number is also a bit unlucky).I turned the wardrobe inside out at home, but I couldn't find a few outfits that could be photographed.I applied for the installation fee from the station, but I was robbed of it: "What kind of place is CCTV, as many people are willing to pay for it, just to make a scene." Fortunately, the enthusiastic female directors brought me all their clothes. Pick, we happen to be about the same size, which really helped me a lot.The next big problem is that I am always afraid of the camera: Those big black things are so awkward no matter how you look at them, how can you have feelings for them?How to speak?Looking at them, I even forgot the lines.Once, a videographer walked up to me with a mobile camera and wanted to take a close-up of me.I subconsciously turned my head to one side, which made the man puzzled: "Everyone else is stealing the scene, how can this girl hide?"

I was very discouraged, and thought to myself: If I had known that I was so afraid of the camera, I might as well give up this position to others.Those who were not selected must be pissed off seeing me squandering such a good opportunity.One day, when I was discussing the series of words with Jiang Kun, I talked about this distress, and he suddenly interrupted me and said: "Look at me." The leader wants to talk to me?" He didn't answer, and asked, "Do you think there is any problem with talking to me face to face?" "No!" "If the camera is so close to you, can you talk like you are now?" ——It seems to be possible.Can.

A psychological barrier is just a layer of paper, and it is nothing unusual to pierce through it. Since then, I have really become less afraid of the camera, and even feel that the fear in the past is completely unreasonable. Jiang Kun told me: "You are talented, and you are doing the right thing in TV." Yeah?I can't believe it. "Zhengda Variety Show" had just aired, and letters from viewers came like a snowflake.I have never heard such extreme praise since I was a child, nor have I received such straightforward criticism.Although I will not be complacent just because I received a few letters of praise, I really can't stand being judged by others, and I will often be depressed for a day because of a letter of criticism.After a while, someone wrote to say that I didn't laugh enough; after a while, someone wrote to say that I laughed too much; after a while, they asked me to be more humorous;And how I wish to meet everyone's standards!I asked myself, "Am I talented?"

Jiang Kun asked, "Do you have the courage to be yourself?" As a celebrity, Jiang Kun has a rare sense of normalcy and always speaks the truth.On certain occasions, the truth would offend people, so he continued with witticism.Everyone laughed.After thinking about it, what he said was still the truth.This kind of skill makes me quite envious, but it's a pity that the humor suitable for girls is too limited.So I choose to tell the truth, or just say nothing at all.For the teacher's questions, the instinct of being a student is to report truthfully. I said: "Sometimes there are, and sometimes there are shortcomings. The audience's criticisms can't be ignored, right?" Jiang Kun said: "You should first give up the idea of ​​trying to please everyone. Be yourself first, and then consider whether those criticisms are useful or not. Value. Your shortcomings in the eyes of some people are precisely your characteristics. China has seen too many people cast from a mold, so don’t wait to join that rank.”

Don't look at Jiang Kun's image as if he is full of jokes, but he is not ambiguous at all when he is serious.And what about Zhao Zhongxiang?He gives people the impression that he is serious, kind, and unsmiling. Most people would not expect that he can laugh all over an office when he tells a story.Now, after hosting a TV show for a few years, I've reached out to quite a few celebrities I used to look up to as a student, and to be honest, some of them aren't that cute when you get up close.And Jiang Kun and Zhao Zhongxiang have always been my respected teachers, not only because they treated me with sincerity and selflessly supported me, but also because I saw their profound artistic skills: a joke with sharpness, a deep with With humor, their jokes and deepness have become extraordinary.As for me, I am still a very superficial person. Fortunately, I am still young and have a long way to go.

But I will always remember that when I staggered onto the road of hosting, at the fork in the road, Jiang Kun led me on the right path.For that, I am grateful. It should be said that in the first year of "Zhengda Variety Show", Jiang Kun took on more pressure than I did.I am a newcomer, and audiences always look at me with a more tolerant attitude.When the host made progress, everyone rushed to encourage him; when the host did not perform well, everyone blamed Jiang Kun for not controlling the scene.Sometimes I just focus on finishing what I have to say, and don't consider laying the groundwork for Jiang Kun; he who is used to talking about cross talk has no one to make fun of, so how can he shake his burden?But Jiang Kun never complained about anything.He is very free and easy: "After you sing, I will appear on the stage, and each will lead the coquettish for three to five years." (These two lines of poems are derived from the poem "On Poetry Five Jue" by Zhao Yi, a poet of the Qing Dynasty. , each leading the coquettish for hundreds of years", which was deduced from the current cycle of the old and new showbiz in the entertainment industry is shortened, so this sentence has become "each leading the coquettish for three to five months", specifically referring to certain stars who are popular because of one drama and one song. But there is no potential to continue to develop.) He believes that this is the law of art, and the harshness of audiences to famous artists is obvious to all.When Jiang Kun resigned as the host of "Zhengda Variety Show" a year later due to busy administrative affairs (he was the head of the China Radio Rap Troupe at the time), I was at a loss.

The producer told me that the crew will have another host for me.At that time, I was practicing in Daqing (after graduating from university, we were required to work at the grassroots level for a year). When I returned to Beijing, I heard that the crew had decided to employ two groups of hosts. One group consisted of Fang Shu and Fang Hui. As for the other group, I found Professor Dai Zongxian from the Second Foreign Language Institute to be my partner.I hope to go through a "trial period" and finally finalize a group of them.Such a decision came as a surprise to me.But young and energetic, I know that it is not the time to cause trouble, but the time to work hard.In fact, I matured a lot during that time.Professor Dai is a scholar known for his eloquence in school, but he has no experience in TV hosting. Although the director wanted to make use of his knowledgeable strengths, it was really difficult for him.As for me, from a small apprentice in the past, I have to "coach" others in a blink of an eye. God knows how distressed I am.When I was alone, I cried, more than once.But my stubbornness was aroused again: What's the use of complaining?The road is not paved by others, it is walked out by oneself.It was from then on that I insisted on writing by myself, and took the initiative to take the responsibility of mobilizing the audience's emotions, such as chatting with the audience before the video, telling jokes, etc. In the past, this was all Jiang Kun's "job".At that time, Jiang Kun gave me a piece of calligraphy, which was a doggerel written by himself. Unfortunately, when I wrote this article, that piece of calligraphy was lying quietly at my home in Beijing, so I cannot copy it here.It probably means: there are endless troubles in the world.Crying, crying and laughing is life, you just need to remember your duty and you will be fine.And his thoughts are all in the air.