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Their 14-minute sketch “Gomoku with Skills” exploded across the Chinese internet, accumulating more than one billion views since its September 26 broadcast. Gomoku, also called Five in a Row, is a strategy game in which players use black and white stones to connect five pieces on a board. The sketch follows a young man attempting to defeat a Gomoku master and his disciple at a Gomoku school. Zhang, who plays the school’s founder and the eccentric master, quickly stood out. Unlike most comedians who rely on traditional setups, punchlines and plot twists, Zhang gets laughs through illogical, absurd and highly physical performance choices. Onstage, he often appears blank and emotionless, moves with spring-loaded joints, and behaves in strange, unpredictable ways “like watching an alien do comedy,” as many viewers commented. 

Born in 1997 in Anhui Province, Zhang cycled through several jobs before becoming a comedian. He received flight-attendant training at Anhui Vocational College of Art, studied drama performance at Anhui University in Hefei, and worked as a restaurant waiter, delivery-platform salesman and karaoke-bar attendant. Yet he always felt his true passion lay in performance. “Gomoku with Skills” propelled him to instant fame, winning audiences over with a comedic style full of imagination, absurdity and unexpected surprises. 　

In addition to his viral bit, Zhang performed two other standouts on Amazing Night 2: “Bangbang Grocery Store” and “Two Punches All of a Sudden.” Viewers now refer to them as the “Zhang Xingchao Trilogy.” The comedian has already garnered more than 206,000 followers on Sina Weibo.