Comedy Star and His Two Imitators

Zhang Jianguo and Zhang Guoqing are twin brothers from Henan, a province in central China. What makes them special is that both look like Chen Peisi, a famous Chinese comedian. Born on October 1, 1974, the two didn’t know they looked like Chen until a woman tourist in her 30s asked her fellow tourists to take a closer look at the twin brothers, the two oarsmen who were steering a boat for the tourists. Everybody turned and took a closer look and agreed.

It was news to the Zhang brothers. That afternoon, they tripped to the county capital and bought some tapes of Chen’s best shows. To their amazement, they found they did look like the great comedian. In 1999 the brothers heard about a television program featuring star imitators. They thought it would be a good opportunity for them. Their show caught the immediate attention of television networks across the country.

The twin brothers appeared in various shows. Some entertainment organizers were glad to pay much less to replace the star with the two imitators. The two brothers got many offers also because during this time Chen Peisi’s career took a downturn. After a copyright dispute with CCTV, Chen won a lawsuit but lost CCTV as a big access to national audiences. He turned to drama as a new field for his career growth.

While Chen found his audiences again and successfully staged his comeback on theater stage, the twin brothers found invitations petered out and dried up. After all, they were just imitators and they were not creative comedians at all.

In order to continue their showbiz career, they got themselves enrolled into a drama course at the Central Drama Academy. After the course, they decided to try their luck in Beijing. They phoned Chen and explained why they were calling. They wanted to become Chen’s disciples. Naturally Chen Peisi turned them down.

The twin brothers’ next move could be a plot of any melodrama. They decided to pay Chen a visit. The twin brothers had their heads shaved clean as Chen always does, and dressed themselves up in suits and borrowed an Audi. And they drove the car to the entrance of the community where Chen lives and waited there patiently. Soon they spotted Chen’s car leaving the community. The twin brothers followed.

Chen Peisi soon found the tail. He stopped at a gas station and confronted the two brothers. The situation was very funny. The two young imposters were dressed in fancier suits and were driving a much fancier car. In appearance, they outshone the master comedian. Chen asked what the two brothers wanted. The young look-alikes explained they wanted to study under Chen’s guidance, a traditional Chinese way in the showbiz to say they wanted Chen to be their master. Exasperated by the way the twin brothers approached him and still annoyed by the way they had shown their disrespect to him in their performances over the past few years, Chen turned them down again. While the confrontation was going on, the workers at the gas station found the hilarious similarity among the three and became excited. The two brothers sincerely apologized for the way they approached Chen and left.

It was not until 2004 that the brothers convinced Chen about their sincerity. They were struggling as artists and their career went nowhere. In a television talk show, the twin brothers said they rather regretted they were unable to study under Chen, but they had regarded Chen as their master for a long while.

In 2006, the twin brothers appeared in another TV talk show. They talked about their hardship all these years and they again expressed their intention of studying under Chen’s guidance. Chen watched the show and later asked a friend to visit the twin brothers. It was a gesture of ceasefire and sympathy and understanding, paving the way of the initial serious relationship between the three.

In June 2008, the twin brothers were invited to attend an evening gala hosted by the State Bureau of Environmental Protection. They met Chen Peisi there. A former relationship between the star comedian and two look-alikes was established.

That did not mean, however, a turning point for the shared career of Zhang Jianguo and Zhang Guoqing. The most serious setback hit them in July, 2008. A playwright wrote a television drama for the twin brothers, but the financier of the drama decided to withdraw at the last minute on the grounds that the drama wouldn’t sell as it didn’t star any heavy-weight actors.

Chen decided to help. The twin brothers received an offer to appear at a gala celebration at a local television. They went to Chen for advice. Chen Peisi advised them to stage a good imitation show on him. The brothers organized Chen’s best moments in his early shows into their show and it was a success.

On February 28, 2009, Chen Peisi called the two brothers saying that a prominent director put forward a proposal for a television drama and they three would appear in it as the father and two sons. The Zhang brothers rushed over to Chen’s home and met with the director. They knelt down to Chen and wept, expressing their gratitude.

The television shooting started in November, 2009. Chen Peisi and his two look-alikes are to appear together for the first time in a television drama.