Hoài Linh expresses frustration over the low pay for comedians.

The actor, along with more than 30 comedy groups in Ho Chi Minh City, established a club to revive the development of this art form and improve the living standards of actors.

On February 12th, Hoài Linh launched the Comedians' Club. Currently, he is temporarily serving as the club's chairman, coordinating activities and discussing working methods with fellow artists to revitalize the performance of comedy groups in Ho Chi Minh City.

Hoài Linh said that he and many other artists established a comedy club to improve the quality of stage comedy as well as the living standards of the artists. Photo: Thoại Hà.

Hoài Linh confided that when people heard he was mobilizing his colleagues to form a club, some scoffed at the idea. "I'm not acting as a manager, I'm not making any profit from the shows. I just want to unite with my colleagues to form a club so everyone has their own stage to perform on, so actors can work together to correct the shortcomings of the comedy scene over the years, bring the value of comedians' work back to its rightful level, and help newcomers find a place to train and develop. If, thanks to the blessings of the stage, our club operates well and earns some income from ticket sales, after deducting expenses and salaries for the members, we will pool the money into a fund to support comedians who are still facing difficulties," Hoài Linh said.

The idea of ​​bringing together comedians from Ho Chi Minh City into an organized group with a clear direction has been with Hoai Linh for quite some time, stemming from the frustration of many in the field who felt that comedians in groups performing at various venues and events were not receiving adequate compensation. "I don't mean to make comparisons, but it's unfair that a group of 7-8 people receives less compensation than a newly-minted singer," he said.

After the first phase, until the 11th, there's a scheduled performance where one theater will be lit up every night, and anyone who wants to watch comedy can just go to that stage. Performances last for seven days, but there are some difficulties with stand-up comedy.

Actor Thanh Tung, the leader of an 11-member comedy group, shared that for nearly 20 years, the group has operated with a rather unstable income. "Our performances often only earn us less than one million dong, which, when divided among the members, is very little and not commensurate with what we put into our performances on stage," Thanh Tung said.

Despite being newly established, the Ho Chi Minh City Comedians Club has already prepared a repertoire to entertain audiences during Tet (Lunar New Year). The club's organizational structure is quite clear, with specific roles and responsibilities assigned to each member. Some members are responsible for writing scripts, there's a directing team to stage the performances, and a group to review script content... The club also purchases scripts from authors outside its organization to build a stockpile of ideas for comedy sketches, bringing new performances to the audience.

The club currently has about 80 members, including many familiar faces such as Cat Phuong, Truong Giang, Tran Thanh, Thu Trang... The members are busy preparing short and medium-length comedy sketches to be performed from the first day of the Lunar New Year (Year of the Goat) to the 11th day of the lunar month at two locations: O Me Ly tea room on Kha Van Can Street, Thu Duc District and the Youth Cultural Center on Pham Ngoc Thach Street, District 1. The Tet program is themed "Laugh and You'll Get Rich," featuring sketches such as: Gifts, Spring Blessings, Every House Welcomes Blessings, My Husband is Number One, That's Just How It Is...

According to VnExpress