Huayu 2011: Starting with Hilarious Men

Wang Beichen dragged his tired body back to the dormitory at the construction site.

As a senior civil engineering student who is about to graduate, he has been interning for a month.

The project has been tight lately, and for half of the past month, I've spent my nights working on mortar.

Fortunately, his efforts paid off, and Wang Beichen enjoyed a rare two-day holiday.

Wang Beichen had already planned how to spend the next two days: with his girlfriend!

A civil engineering student finally found a girlfriend in college, and he can't let her get away so easily.

I took out my phone and saw more than a dozen unread messages from my girlfriend popping up.

Wang Beichen glanced at it briefly, and only after confirming that it wasn't a breakup message did he look at it seriously.

How's your internship going? Is it tiring?

You'd better work hard to save up a dowry to marry me.

I'm starting my internship in a month, *crying*.

By the way, I found a really interesting and hilarious show; I'll send you the link.

[You said you're off the day after tomorrow, so let's go see a movie!]

I want to buy a new outfit; I'll go shopping first.

Feeling exhausted, Wang Beichen didn't want to reply to the messages.

After thinking for a moment, I clicked on the link my girlfriend sent me, which redirected me to the Youku platform. It was a show called "Hilarious Men".

Thirty seconds later, instead of the opening sequence, what you see is a short skit of about ten seconds.

A handsome young man was learning boxing from a coach, but after a series of wild, uncontrolled punches, he didn't land a single one on the punching bag, and instead got knocked over by the coach.

"Haha, how brainless." Wang Beichen laughed subconsciously.

The opening sequence and theme song only begin after this short segment ends.

I have many stories to tell about "When You Love Me".

Artistic, suspenseful, or fresh and lighthearted genres are all acceptable.

I guarantee I'll be 100% devoted to you!

Ah~~~

Oh my gosh! I love you, baby!

The simple, catchy opening theme is short, and the main content begins immediately.

The short twelve-minute video consists of eight or nine different funny jokes.

Wang Beichen felt that time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, he saw the end credits.

"That's it? I haven't seen enough!" Wang Beichen complained.

Life on a construction site is very monotonous and boring for civil engineers, and Wang Beichen hadn't been this happy in a long time.

Don't think about anything, just smile.

"Wait, it seems there's a second episode."

Wang Beichen clicked on the author's homepage and found two works below. He had just read the first episode, and there was also a second episode.

Without the slightest hesitation, Wang Beichen clicked on the second episode and continued watching.

I have many stories to tell about "When You Love Me".

Artistic, suspenseful, or fresh and lighthearted genres are all acceptable.

As the opening theme song played again, a smile quietly appeared on Wang Beichen's face.

Another twelve minutes passed, and the second episode finished airing.

But Wang Beichen still wanted to read more, so he subconsciously clicked on the author's homepage.

No matter how many times I refreshed the page, I couldn't get the third episode to appear.

"It's not just two episodes, is it?"

Wang Beichen's question was answered in the bio below the author's profile picture.

The first season of "Hilarious Men" consists of eight episodes, released free of charge on all platforms every Friday and Saturday at 20 PM.

"Eight episodes, that means six more. Today is Saturday, and there are six days until next Friday!!!"

Oh my god! Six days! I hate waiting for updates!

Wang Beichen wished he could lock the author of "Hilarious Men" in a dark room and force him to hand over the remaining six episodes.

After a period of impotent rage, Wang Beichen felt he couldn't suffer alone, so he decisively recommended the work to his friends and coworkers.

…………

Thanks to Zheng Nan's unconventional promotion, many more people have become aware of the show "Hilarious Men".

Many people became enthusiastic supporters of "Hilarious Men" after watching it, helping to promote the show.

There are also many people discussing it on Baidu Tieba.

There's a recent online short drama called "Hilarious Men," could you please tell me the content of the last six episodes of season one?!

A classmate recommended it, but I haven't watched it. Is it interesting?

[I've seen it, it's really interesting, I'd love to see it too!]

[The original poster is treating us like the authors, huh? They haven't even released the last six episodes yet.]

The original poster's behavior is similar to asking for the catalog number of Yu Shinoda's debut work in 2009.

[I watched it, but I don't know what's so interesting about it; it's all vulgar jokes! Disgusting!]

[Upstairs, you're disgusting!]

[How ridiculous! It's 2011, and there are still Qing Dynasty veterans spouting vulgarities. People enjoy these things, so why should you judge them?]

The people's tastes should be sophisticated, not base. I have a lecture on human nature on Sunday...

After "Hilarious Men" gained a certain level of popularity and audience, more people liked it, but some people also started to dislike it.

The two sides engaged in a fierce war of words on platforms such as Baidu Tieba, QQ groups, and forums.

Inside the dormitory of Shanghai Theatre Academy.

"Holy shit, that old bastard said what we filmed was dog shit, I'm going to curse him to death!"

"I'm saying this spreads negative energy and goes against mainstream values! Who the hell do you think you are, claiming to be mainstream?!"

"If Heaven hadn't given birth to Duan Xingye, the eternal darkness would have reigned, but now, let's meet again!!!"

Lin Wenruo and his two companions were engaged in heated online arguments with someone while holding their phones.

Compared to the three excited individuals, Zheng Nan appeared much calmer.

While sipping tea, I checked the data growth of various platforms on my computer.

"Old Zheng, why aren't you in a hurry at all?" Lin Wenruo put down her phone, stretched her slightly tired wrists, and asked with some puzzlement.

"What's the rush?" Zheng Nan retorted.

"Aren't you worried about so many people criticizing 'Hilarious Men'?" Lin Wenruo asked, puzzled.

"The more people criticize it, the more people have seen it; the more people have seen it, the more popular it is. So, having people criticize it isn't the problem; having no one criticize it is the problem."

Zheng Nan only figured this out after five or six years in the entertainment industry in his previous life.

In the entertainment industry, being famous for being infamous is still being famous.

As long as someone has a certain level of fame, even if they are being criticized or annoyed by the audience, there will still be platforms that will invite them.

If someone lacks fame, no matter how good their reputation or how great their acting skills are, no one will hire them.

this is the truth.

"That makes sense." Lin Wenruo seemed to understand but not quite.

Ren Yi walked over at this moment, looked at Zheng Nan's computer screen, and asked, "Old Zheng, you've been looking at this backend data for days, what else is there to see?"

"There's a lot to say about these data."

Zheng Nan submitted articles to platforms such as Youku, Tudou, Sohu, iQiyi, Xunlei Kankan, PPTV, LeTV, Ku6.com, 56.com, Tencent Video, and Baomihua.com.

Now, four days later, the data performance across different platforms is severely divergent.

Youku, Tudou, and Baomihua are the best; Xunlei Kankan and PPTV are the worst; 56.com, Ku6.com, Sohu, iQiyi, and Tencent are in the middle.

The reason is simple: different platforms have different audiences and market shares.

Taking PPTV as an example, PPTV's user base consists of middle-aged men over 30 who mainly watch live broadcasts, sports, variety shows, and long dramas, and are not interested in short-video comedies like "Hilarious Men".

"And then?" Ren Yi was completely confused.