In 1990, it was Zhao Benshan who appeared on the stage of CCTV's Spring Festival Gala for the first time.
A "little old man" in the Northeast wearing an octagonal hat won the attention of the audience as soon as he appeared, and the gestures in the sketch were freely retracted, which made the national audience laugh and applaud.
Such a wonderful performance of "Little Old Man" is almost impossible to believe, this is really his first time on the Spring Festival Gala.
And that is, the sketch "Blind Date" brought by the "little old man" to the national audience for the first time on the Spring Festival Gala suddenly became the most popular work of the Spring Festival Gala, and even the "little old man" also exploded.
The national audience remembered the name of the "little old man" - Zhao Benshan, and then, the specific age of Zhao Benshan became a mystery.
In fact, even Zhao Benshan himself once said: "I am a person who still doesn't know how old I am, I used to be a dog, and then the fortune teller said that I was a chicken, and I was a chicken, and then I went back to investigate, and then after a few old people in the village verified, I was indeed a chicken......"
So what's going on here?
Originally, Zhao Benshan was born in Tieling, Liaoning, his mother died of illness in his early years, his father went away, and he was almost an orphan when he was left behind, which led to his inaccurate understanding of his year and birthday.
When he was a child, he grew up eating hundreds of meals, and it was normal for him to not have enough to eat.
Later, from the blind second uncle, he learned to play the erhu, play the suona, and also learned to throw handkerchiefs, sing small songs and the Northeast classic duo turn.
And because of his family, he almost never read any books when he was a child, in Zhao Benshan's usual humorous words: "I don't read much, I have a lot of years, maybe three years in the first grade, and I studied for seven or eight years together." ”
Such a fact, coming out of Zhao Benshan's mouth, inevitably makes people feel sad and funny.
However, it is undeniable that the difficult childhood finally laid a solid foundation for his future acting life.
In 1974, Zhao Benshan joined the commune's literary and artistic propaganda team, and later entered the Weiyuan Township Amateur Troupe and the Xifeng County Troupe, and began to star as a duo.
At that time, the life of the troupe was not as easy as he imagined, he needed to run around with the troupe, he had no fixed place, and even had to eat.
Zhao Benshan later recalled that time in a speech and said bluntly: "At that time, I didn't know where to eat every day, and I didn't know where to eat every meal, and sometimes I could stop eating for three days after eating for a day." ”
At this time, Zhao Benshan soon reached the age of begging for a daughter-in-law, but after working hard for a few years, he was still poor and destitute, and he was a well-known "poor boy" in ten miles and eight towns.
After being introduced, Zhao Benshan met Ge Shuzhen from the next village, and the two soon got married.
In the first year after marriage, Zhao Benshan's eldest daughter Zhao Yufen was born, Ge Shuzhen took on all the housework and farm work, and Zhao Benshan continued to sing around with the erhu.
Finally in 1982, Zhao Benshan played the blind Zhang Zhi, with the careful observation of the blind second uncle in his childhood, Zhao Benshan contributed a stunning performance on the stage, and became an instant hit.
It was in this year that Zhao Benshan's eldest son Zhao Tiedan was born, but unfortunately Tiedan was a deaf and dumb child and died at the age of 12.
In 1987, Zhao Benshan partnered with Pan Changjiang again, starring in "The Blind Man Turns Off the Light", this scene won the audience's love, Zhao Benshan performed nearly 600 performances in Shenyang, and was transferred to the Tieling Folk Art Troupe in the same year.
In the second year, the opportunity of the Spring Festival Gala was placed in front of Zhao Benshan.
Originally, the Spring Festival Gala program team found Zhao Benshan and arranged him to participate in the performance of the Harbin branch of the Spring Festival Gala, and the program team even recorded the image in advance.
On the day of the Spring Festival Gala, almost everyone in Tieling sat in front of the TV, waiting to watch Zhao Benshan's performance, and Zhao Benshan was already famous at this time.
It's a pity that Zhao Benshan's pre-recorded program was not broadcast, and everyone waited until "goodbye" was typed on the TV before they were willing to give up.
After that, another two years passed, and finally in the 1990 Spring Festival Gala, Zhao Benshan, as a "newcomer", appeared on the stage of the Spring Festival Gala for the first time with the sketch "Blind Date".
And the person who spoke out and recommended Zhao Benshan to the Spring Festival Gala was Jiang Kun.
In 1983, the first Spring Festival Gala was held, Jiang Kun was not only a member of the creative team, but also the host, in 1987, when Zhao Benshan was still performing hard in Shenyang, Jiang Kun had already become popular on the stage of the Spring Festival Gala with his appearance.
Therefore, Jiang Kun still has a certain right to speak on the stage of the Spring Festival Gala.
Prior to this, one year, Jiang Kun went to Liaoning for a condolence performance, and what made Jiang Kun feel depressed was that although he had shown his housekeeping skills, the audience did not give the expected reaction, and few people laughed.
Jiang Kun asked the audience in confusion about the reason.
As a result, I heard everyone gossiping: "You are not as funny as Zhao Benshan." ”
This was the first time Jiang Kun heard Zhao Benshan's name, and after he went back, he specially found an opportunity to watch Zhao Benshan's performance.
And Zhao Benshan really lived up to his reputation, Jiang Kun turned his head and recommended Zhao Benshan to the Spring Festival Gala.
Later, everyone called Jiang Kun Zhao Benshan's Bole, and thanked him for digging Zhao Benshan, and Jiang Kun said bluntly:
"It's not that I discovered him, it's the society that discovered him, even if there is no me, he can still be popular all over the country. ”
It is true that gold shines wherever it goes, and no matter whether you can meet a noble person or not, in the final analysis, you must first have two brushes.
On the Spring Festival Gala for the first time, Zhao Benshan was a blockbuster, his eyebrows with a sense of joy, and his authentic Northeast dialect made him a simple, kind, stubborn and cute "old naughty boy", which amused the audience to lean forward and back.
Those who didn't know thought that Zhao Benshan was indeed the age of an old man at that time.
This is clearly not the case.
In the second year after appearing on the Spring Festival Gala, in 1991, the host Ni Ping interviewed Zhao Benshan in the program "Variety Show" and asked the audience a question that the audience was very curious about, about Zhao Benshan's real age.
At this time, Zhao Benshan, who was originally very relaxed, laughed, scratched his head slightly embarrassed, straightened his collar and said, "Void age 34." ”
As soon as the words landed, the audience's eyes widened in shock.
The uncles and aunts never thought that Zhao Benshan, who thought he was a peer, turned out to be just a young man in his thirties.
It was also this time that Zhao Benshan's youthful scene on stage was rarely captured by the camera.
And Zhao Benshan's squirming performance at that time, not only because he was a fledgling and because he was misunderstood by his age, but also because the host he was facing at that time was Ni Ping.
This is Ni Ping, who is called "dream lover" by Zhao Benshan, if Zhao Benshan was just a budding sketch actor at that time, Ni Ping would already be a dignified and elegant famous host of CCTV.
The same thing is that the two people at that time were still very young, no matter how famous they were, they were the same high-spirited, full of confidence and expectations for their careers.
After 1990, Zhao Benshan has been popular all over the country since then, out of control, and later was also named "Oriental Chaplin", "Chinese Comedian", and "Sketch King".
With the explosion of Zhao Benshan, the gap between him and his wife Ge Shuzhen is getting bigger and bigger, and finally in 1991, the two divorced peacefully.
Zhao Benshan "went out of the house" and left the car and house to Ge Shuzhen and the two children.
Since then, in addition to the Spring Festival Gala, Zhao Benshan has made movies, TV series, founded Benshan Media, and Benshan Art Academy.
In 2002, Zhao Benshan's first TV series "Liu Laogen" landed on CCTV in prime time.
Zhao Jiaban was also slowly formed, and Zhao Benshan's own TV series, Zhao Jiaban's disciples have the opportunity to star, including Wang Xiaoli, the actor of "Liu Neng" in the "Country Love" series, who is the first batch of disciples of Zhao Jiaban.
In addition, Zhao Benshan, who slowly walked from the "newcomer" to the "big bowl" of the Spring Festival Gala, began to take "his own people" to the Spring Festival Gala, and Xiao Shenyang became popular all of a sudden after following Zhao Benshan to the Spring Festival Gala.
In this way, Zhao Benshan has also cultivated many comedy sketch actors
And on the stage, he is as generous as Zhao Benshan, and he treats the stage of the Spring Festival Gala very seriously, in the years when he joined the Spring Festival Gala, he once said that the Spring Festival Gala is the New Year for others, but for him, it is passing.
In an interview with Lu Yu, he also said: "(Spring Festival Gala) regrets every year, regrets it, and when it comes to the New Year, I still want to come to it, just this problem." ”
On the stage of the Spring Festival Gala, from 1990 to 2011, Zhao Benshan performed a total of 21 sketches, contributing many famous scenes to the national audience, and many classic words in the sketches have also become the tacit stalk of people's daily life.
For example, "What kind of bicycle do you want", "My heart is cold", "The spring breeze of reform blows all over the ground, and the Chinese people are really angry", "Wool", "Fighter in the rooster", etc., all come from Zhao Benshan's sketches, and generation after generation is also happy to joke about these memes.
And these are all condensed by Zhao Benshan from his own difficult childhood, over the years, his works are down-to-earth, Song Dandan said: "His feet have never left the land." ”
Zhao Benshan himself said: "I have never played a person with a high status, and I have always been afraid of a person with a high status." I insist on the works, one is the life I am familiar with, and I have never left my peasant circle, and the broken hat, which I have always worn, I dare not throw away. ”
Therefore, Zhao Benshan has been wearing a broken hat since he first appeared on the Spring Festival Gala, for him, that broken hat is power, "if you throw it, you have no power".
In 2008, after Zhao Benshan performed "Torchbearer" on the stage of the Spring Festival Gala, he cried backstage in the show, because for him, the expectations of the national audience, as well as the pressure of various aspects, later, he really went to the Spring Festival Gala.
He said: "It is not easy to make the audience laugh comfortably and laugh healthily!"
In 2009, at the filming site of the TV series "Country Love 3", Zhao Benshan suddenly suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and was dying, but fortunately he was rescued later.
And this sudden incident has also become the fuse of Zhao Benshan's important decision in the future.
This decision is to leave the Spring Festival Gala.
In an interview with Lu Yu, Lu Yu once asked when he began to become less interested in the Spring Festival Gala, and more when others expected him to go to the Spring Festival Gala, Zhao Benshan also admitted frankly that since 1999 with Song Dandan and Cui Yongyuan partnered with "Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow", and then in 2002 with Fan Wei and Gao Xiumei "Selling Abduction", he has become more and more difficult to fill the pit, because the starting point is too high.
But even so, Zhao Benshan still persevered for several more years.
In 2012, Zhao Benshan's sketch "You at the Same Table" on the stage of the Spring Festival Gala left a famous sentence at the end: "10,000 words are omitted here." ”
In 2013, Zhao Benshan officially announced his withdrawal from the Spring Festival Gala stage, leaving opportunities and space for more young people.
He also responded positively to the reason why he chose not to go to the Spring Festival Gala anymore, because the pressure was too great, which was actually felt by all the actors who went to the Spring Festival Gala.
He said: "Anyone who goes to the Spring Festival Gala will not have a good year, they celebrate the New Year to make others happy, when the audience is no longer happy when watching his show, he is equivalent to bringing a lot of awkwardness to everyone, this psychological pressure is not something ordinary people can have." ”
That is, after bidding farewell to the Spring Festival Gala, he also hopes that everyone will be calm and watch the Spring Festival Gala in a New Year's way, don't take it so seriously.
In 2014, a year after leaving the Spring Festival Gala, it may be that the thorn in my heart has been committed again, Zhao Benshan also expressed the idea of wanting to go to the Spring Festival Gala, he said: "If everyone is still willing to look at my old face, I will do my best." Although I may have some physical problems, I will not collapse on the stage. ”
Later, Zhao Benshan joined the Liaoning Satellite TV Spring Festival Gala and continued to stir the audience's nerves of laughter.
Up to now, Zhao Benshan gave birth to a pair of dragon and phoenix fetuses after remarriage, Qiuqiu and Niu Niu have also grown up, and the joy and memories that Zhao Benshan brought to everyone on the stage of the Spring Festival Gala are bound to last forever.