Chapter 376 Show off the audience

In fact, Lorne Michaels wasn’t the only big shot who didn’t know who Chen Nuo was.

So did Robert Pritzker.

Even his beloved eldest son, James Pritzker, born to his second wife Irene Dreiber, was so indignant on the phone that he loudly questioned, “…How is it possible?”

The 84-year-old man with Parkinson’s disease still leaned against his walnut bed with gilded carvings and Italian handmade velvet bedspread, and said calmly: “How is it impossible? I played golf with Marlon Brando, and I was in the same club with Marilyn Monroe. I don’t think it’s a big deal that I don’t know a Chinese name.”

“Dad, he’s really famous, he’s going to be on SNL soon, you’re going to see him on TV soon. Dad, he’s really a topic…”

Robert Pritzker sneered, his eyes sweeping over the Swarovski crystal-encrusted table lamp on the bedside table, next to which was a limited edition Patek Philippe pocket watch that he had bought at a Swiss auction in the 70s.

Then, through the huge floor-to-ceiling windows in the room, he looked out at the artificial lake in the distance that was surrounded by his own private garden. The lake was sparkling and several white swans were swimming gracefully.

The old man patiently waited for the voice on the phone to disappear before he slowly said, “When Brando and I were on the golf course in Palm Springs, he scored a hole-in-one, and that was a topic of conversation. When Marilyn was dancing in the club, everyone in the room was staring at her, and even the waiter forgot to serve the wine, and that was also a topic of conversation. Now, I’m old, James, and I’m not interested in topics created by a Chinese, and I don’t think he’s a topic of conversation.”

“…Forget it. But he is really a good actor. Please, Dad, just this time, this is the last time, I swear, I will succeed this time! If you have seen his movies, you will agree with this. 2000 million, I only need 2000 million US dollars to pay his salary, and I will find a way to pay the rest. Dad, please, this is my first feature film production, and I have already found the script… 2000 million, okay, just 2000 million. If possible, I will fly back to Chicago tomorrow.”

Robert Pritzker said calmly, “James, there is no 2000 million. I said it last time, and that was the last time. Now, except for the money given to you by the family trust every month, you will not get a penny from me. If you really need money, I suggest you sell your house in Canada and move back to the United States.”

“Robert, no, I told you, I’m not going back. What did Jennifer say about me? No, Robert, no! I will never walk back to that damn house like a loser and face her damn doubts.”

“She’s your sister!”

“No, she’s not. She’s a mean bitch!”

“Forget it, I’m tired. I don’t want to argue with you about this anymore. I just want to tell you that Jennifer just doesn’t like movies like me, that’s all. And you, I advise you to give up your unrealistic dream, and don’t give so much money to a Chinese liar…”

Robert Pritzker hadn’t finished speaking when the call was hung up. He listened to the “beep” sound coming from the receiver and was silent for a while.

Then he signaled with his eyes.

A housekeeper in a dark grey uniform who had been waiting by the bed walked over and took the heavy old-fashioned telephone receiver with a gold-plated and ivory handle from his hand and put it back on the gold-plated telephone with a base carved with intricate Baroque patterns. Next to the telephone was the table lamp that sparkled with Swarovski crystals.

Robert leaned back on his pillow and closed his eyes, sighing softly.

The housekeeper said softly, “Master, do you want me to help you up so I can push you out for a walk?”

Robert shook his head and said, “No. I’m a little tired and want to sleep for a while.”

“Okay.” The housekeeper hurried forward and helped him lie down on the bed slowly.

Robert Pritzker is not asleep.

His body was shaking slightly, his hands were shaking unconsciously in the quilt, and his legs were twitching faintly. He wanted to straighten them but they were too soft and weak.

Even every breath he took seemed heavy, as if his chest was being suppressed by an invisible force.

His thoughts also began to become a little confused. Sometimes his mind was filled with images of his past success, and sometimes he recalled the angry words he heard on the phone just now.

Various sounds and images intertwined together, giving him a splitting headache, but he was unable to stop these complicated thoughts from flooding in like a tide.

He didn’t know how long it had been, but when he opened his eyes again, it was already very late. It was pitch dark outside the window, with only a few faint lights in the distance.

He stretched out his fingers with difficulty, his knuckles stiff and trembling from Parkinson’s disease, and pressed the gilded butler’s bell placed at his hand.

A minute later, the same housekeeper pushed the door open, followed by a private doctor in white uniform and a nurse.

When the routine evening medical examination was over and the doctors and nurses left, a servant pushed in a small dining cart with a bowl of steaming oatmeal porridge, a small plate of cut fruit, and a piece of freshly baked whole wheat bread.

Seeing that the old man was in a bad mood today and had no appetite, after feeding him two mouthfuls of oatmeal porridge, the housekeeper asked softly, “Master, do you want to watch TV for a while?”

“Yeah.” Robert Pritzker hummed softly.

The housekeeper walked to the mahogany cabinet beside the bed, picked up a remote control, and pressed a button. A hidden panel on the wall slid open, and a 65-inch TV slowly rose up, and the screen lit up.

Because Robert watched NBC Nightly News last night, the channel displayed now is NBC.

At this time, NBC was playing a very loud and dazzling program opening.

The housekeeper immediately changed the channel to the CBS financial news channel.

Then he picked up the oatmeal again, scooped a spoonful of porridge and brought it to Robert’s mouth.

The old man looked thoughtful, because his rather sensitive hearing had caught a peculiar name in the opening credits.

So he didn’t open his mouth right away, but after a while, he said, “Switch back, NBC.”

Without asking why, the housekeeper immediately picked up the remote control and switched back to the previous channel.

At this time, on the screen, the iconic SNL opening had transitioned to a live broadcast.

The camera swept across the 30 Rock building at Rockefeller Center in New York. The stage lights suddenly lit up, and hundreds of people in the audience burst into warm applause and cheers, accompanied by jazz music with saxophone and drums.

The camera quickly cuts to the front row of audience – college students in sweatshirts, middle-aged men holding beer, and several trendy young girls waving and screaming.

In the center of the stage, a black-haired man, wearing a black suit, stood under a spotlight and nodded to the audience.

“Hold me up straight and give me my glasses,” said Robert.

It was not until the housekeeper put on his glasses that Robert could finally see the man clearly.

And at that moment, a deep jealousy immediately arose in Robert’s heart.

Unlike him who was sick and dying, the young people on TV were full of vitality.

He was wearing a well-tailored black suit that highlighted his broad shoulders and narrow waist. He stood tall and straight, and every movement he made exuded a natural charm.

He has neat and stylish black hair, angular face, deep and three-dimensional features, especially his eyes, which are full of flexible confidence, as if they can penetrate the screen and catch the attention of every audience.

Robert seemed to see the shadow of his youth in him.

However, no matter how much money he spends now, he cannot bring back the time that has passed.

……

……

For Chen Nuo, participating in a show like “Saturday Night Live” is completely different from making a guest appearance on “The Big Bang Theory”.

To him, the latter is like a level 60 warrior going to a level 20 dungeon like Shadowfang Keep… So what if there are three cameras?
Isn’t this the kind of performance style that he sets up multiple cameras on the set and sticks to it throughout?
When James Pritzker discussed the new movie with him this time, he said that he was planning to shoot it in one shot.

But Saturday Night Live is different.

It opens with a host talk show, which is broadcast live.

Although I was reading from a script, there was also a teleprompter.

But he lacks experience in this area after all.

Before going on stage, the thin director named Tang something patted him on the shoulder and told him to relax.

However, when he walked onto the stage through the curtain to the sound of accompaniment, facing the noisy applause from the approximately 700 audience members on the upper and lower floors, he was still very uncomfortable at that moment.

But Chen Nuo calmed down immediately.

Just like during the rehearsal, he found that in this situation, what he had to do was not to become a host, but to become an actor playing the host.

And there is no doubt that this is very effective.

“Thank you, thank you.” He stood on the stage politely and greeted everyone around him.

When the applause gradually died down, he threw out the first joke of the night: “Thank you for your applause. This reminds me of when I first came to the United States and went to Warner Bros. for an audition.”

“At that time, the senior executives of Warner applauded and told me that I either had to prove myself within five minutes or get out of here.”

“I know. You too.”

It was okay. The audience reacted well to this warm-up gag and some low laughter was heard.

“Actually, I’m very nervous now, although you can’t see it from me.”

Chen Nuo spoke in a more hoarse and mature voice than usual, because that’s how David Chappelle, who was in his 40s and returning to the stage, spoke.

“…Just like that time, I was faced with a problem, which was that I needed to prove myself with a performance in the following period of time.”

“The difference is, here, I’ll get more than 1000 million Americans’ recognition. Back then, I’d get more than 1000 million dollars’ recognition.”

“So, I had to work much harder at that time.”

The second joke was also good and made everyone laugh.

Chen Nuo completely relaxed.

“Just kidding, my pay wasn’t that high back then.”

Chen Nuo put away his smile and said slowly with a nonchalant look: “I was nothing at that time. I was just a young actor from China who came here, a place where no one knew me. The only person who was with me was my agent.”

He pointed to Qi Yuntian in the front row of the audience and said, “His name is Chris, and he’s sitting there now.”

The audience looked in that direction and began to applaud.

“He told me at that time that this was a superhero movie. Although I was a villain, the role was very important. As long as I played this role, I would be able to become a big star. When I walked on the street, people would recognize me and ask me for autographs.”

“And then I acted.”

“That movie is The Dark Knight, the third-highest-grossing movie in global box office history, and has been seen by hundreds of millions of viewers around the world.”

The whole audience suddenly burst into applause and screams.

“My role as Joker was also praised by many people.”

The applause and screams at the scene became louder, and there were also whistles.

Then, Chen Nuo showed a helpless expression and said, “The movie is successful, and the role is successful, but if I want to be recognized on the street, I need to paint a layer of mud on my face first.”

“Hahahahaha.”

This joke, which had been built up for a long time, came true, causing the biggest laugh so far.

The live camera was turned to Qi Yuntian at this time, adding icing on the cake. Seeing that he was laughing, more than 1210 million North American families watching this episode in front of their TVs were even happier.

Indeed, many of them didn’t know who Chen Nuo was, but few people didn’t know about JOKER in The Dark Knight.

And Chen Nuo’s jokes also come from this.

Therefore, these audiences were the ones who could appreciate the joke the most, especially when they saw Chen Nuo’s helpless expression, they laughed even louder.

The same goes for Fan Binbing in the bedroom in Canada.

The little thing started to toss and turn in the middle of the night, crying in her arms.

The woman laughed and walked back and forth, swinging her arms.

After a while, she bent down and kissed the little thing’s forehead, and said gently: “Look, this is your father, he is really good at acting, you should learn more from him in the future.”

Chen Nuo on the stage also laughed for a while.

Wait until the laughter dies down.

He continued: “I was so mad, I went to my agent and I said, hey, Chris, what’s going on? How come this is different than what you said? Why do I have to wear a mask to be recognized?”

“He said: Don’t be angry, I’ll take you to a place.”

“Then he took me to a very grand party. There were many stars there, guys you would recognize immediately if you saw them on the street, such as Leonardo Dicaprio, Kate Winslet, and Angelina Jolie…”

Every time Chen Nuo said a name, the audience would burst into applause.

“…I didn’t know them at that time, but they were all very nice to me.” Chen Nuo continued to talk to himself, “Leon asked me what I wanted to eat, Kate greeted me with a smile, and Angelina talked to me for a long time.”

“All in all, I thought they were all very lovely people. My agent went to bed halfway through and I had a wonderful night afterwards.”

“The next day, I asked my agent, I said, Chris, thank you for taking me to that party, but I am still very angry with you.”

“Chris asked me, you’re mad because you need to wear a mask to be considered a Hollywood star, right?
“I said yes.”

“Then he said something very philosophical. He said: Do you think that any of the big stars you saw last night were not like this?”

“I said, what the fuck are you talking about? Of course not. After you went to bed, everyone started smoking leaves in the middle of the night, and I could still recognize who they were at that time.”

“Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.”

Amid laughter, the ratings of this episode of Saturday Night Live began to climb again.

Data from Nielsen obtained backstage at the director’s room showed that after the two jokes at the beginning, the number of viewers had exceeded 1240 million, surpassing T. Reynolds’ 1230 million, and becoming the third best result of the year, second only to Alec Baldwin’s 1370 million and Justin Timberlake’s 1250 million.

This immediately alarmed Lorne Michaels.

When the old man came to the director’s room, Chen Nuo had already continued speaking and was almost finished.

“I told this story not only to prove how my agent deceived me, but also to say how difficult it is to be a Hollywood star.”

“They even have to wait until the middle of the night to smoke some leaves.” “Hahahahahaha.”

“Don, what’s going on?” Lorne Michaels was surprised when he heard the violent laughter coming from the speakers, “What’s wrong with the laughter on the scene? This guy’s performance is so good?”

Don Roy King laughed and said, “Lorne, you really should have come earlier. This guy… I don’t know how to describe it. I feel like he is just like a stand-up comedian. Look at his facial expressions and movements. He is so skilled. I would believe him if he said he had performed 100 shows.”

Lorne Michaels shook his head and said, “Don’t kid me.”

“Then take a look for yourself, Lorne.”

Chen Nuo was getting better and better, and at this point, he had even gotten away from the teleprompter.

No one has ever seen what David Chappelle would look like after his return to the stage in this era. Back then, he watched the six talk shows he recorded for Netflix over and over again on a cross-border flight. Now his simulation can be said to be very lifelike.

He even started looking around and asked, “Who smokes? Give me a cigarette.”

“Wow!!!!”

At this moment, the whole place was in an uproar.

By the time he lit a Marlboro with an excited lady and walked back onto the stage, the atmosphere in the entire venue had become extremely warm, with more than half of the audience standing up and applauding.

Lorne Michaels was stunned. This was a rare sight in his 40-year comedy career. He turned to Roy King and asked, “Did you design this?”

Jin also had a stunned expression on his face and shook his head, “No, how is that possible? Look at his actions, I bet he doesn’t smoke at all.”

“So what is he doing now?”

“…I don’t know.” Tang Roykin murmured.

But in fact, as a veteran live director, he knew why Chen Nuo’s action of lighting a cigarette caused such a sensation.

Because he broke the audience’s inherent expectations of him.

American audiences know him as the glamorous, flawless Asian handsome guy in Twilight. But now, he stands on the SNL stage and completely subverts his past label with a cigarette.

You have to know that SNL’s audiences all advocate casualness and rebellion.

They love to see surprises and contrasts.

The act of asking for a cigarette is not important. What is important is that it sends a strong signal to the audience – this man is not here to pretentiously lecture on a script, he is here to “play” with everyone.

The moment he lit the cigarette, Chen Nuo went from being an unreachable screen idol to an ordinary good friend.

Tang Roykin didn’t know whether Chen Nuo did it intentionally or unintentionally, but the intimacy he showed really ignited everyone at the scene. He also believed that the audience in front of the TV would be infected in the same way.

The subsequent ratings performance also explains it all.

When Chen Nuo took two puffs of the cigarette and said, “This is not as good as leaves,” causing laughter, the number of viewers for this episode of SNL exceeded 1300 million.

That’s right, it’s only 50 people away from the highest attendance rate this year, and this is just the opening show.

As the whole audience laughed, Chen Nuo added: “Just kidding, I have never smoked tobacco. Because in our country, it is illegal. So I often tell Leonardo not to bring his baby to China. Otherwise, he will play “Shutter Island” again, and this time, no one will play any crazy games with him in it.”

“Hahahahahaha.”

This burden was made up by Chen Nuo.

In his hilltop mansion in LA, Leonardo Dicaprio put his arm around a beautiful woman and laughed.

A beautiful model on the left smiled and said, “Leon, you and Chen have a really good relationship.”

Leonardo Dicaprio chuckled and said, “No, I’m going to send him a lawyer’s letter tomorrow morning.”

Although he didn’t know that Leo was going to sue him, Chen Nuo decided not to continue to smear him and started a new joke.

“Although it’s not easy to be a star in Hollywood, everyone wants to be one of them.”

“me too.”

“I was so devastated by the failure of The Dark Knight that I was determined to find a new role that would make me famous.”

“I was crazy at that time. As long as I could be famous, I didn’t give a f*ck about anything else.”

“So when Rob, the CEO of Summit Entertainment, approached me about playing Twilight, I said, ‘That’s great, I love this character who doesn’t have to wear a mask, I love him to death.'”

“I would rather not get a penny to play him.”

“I just want a share of the box office.”

“Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!”

The whole audience burst into laughter. The burden of the 1.2 million yuan salary pushed the already extremely enthusiastic atmosphere to a climax.

This kind of audience is what every comedian dreams of. Any small laugh will be infinitely magnified by their emotions, making them laugh non-stop.

Chen Nuo laughed with them and said, “Rob couldn’t wait to agree! I remember Rob’s expression at that time. He must have thought I was a philanthropist.”

“Hahahahahahahaha!” Another burst of laughter.

When the laughter died down, Chen Nuo took a puff of his cigarette and said, “The next time I heard about Rob, he was fired by the board of directors of Summit Entertainment.”

“Hahahahahaha…” The laughter that had just subsided sounded again.

Chen Nuo said seriously: “But no matter what, Twilight did give me what I wanted. I became a star.”

“Many critics said that my performance in Twilight was exaggerated, ridiculous and superficial. I get criticized almost every time I appear in a movie.”

“Look at me!” Chen Nuo suddenly yelled.

“Do they think I would?”

“Do you know that before Twilight, I had won the Best Actor award at the three major European film festivals. I also won several acting awards in Korea and China. I even won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor…”

“But so what?”

“I’ve made so many fucking movies, but my total pay is not even a fraction of what I got from Twilight. After the filming, the only people who know me are probably my neighbors.”

“answer me!”

“If you were me, and you could make 1.2 million yuan by filming two movies, would you not act?”

“Every day, newspapers and blogs are saying, ‘Oh, Chen has fallen, he’s finished, he’s giving up his acting career.'”

“Look at me!”

“Do you think I don’t want to act in a good movie? Do you think I don’t want to act seriously? Do you think I don’t want to win the Oscar for Best Actor?”

“answer me!”

“Motherfucker, let me ask you one question. If you were me, what would you do when faced with $1.2 million?”

When Chen Nuo was saying this, the laughter in the audience never stopped.

This is not because the joke is funny, but because Chen Nuo’s performance is so funny.

The crazy look, sometimes roaring and sometimes quiet, made the audience almost die of laughter.

Including the audience in front of the TV, everyone burst into the loudest and most sustained laughter since the show started, and many of them laughed so hard that their stomachs ached.

This time, it’s not a matter of whether you understand the joke or not, or whether you know the gag or not.

His exaggerated and funny performance coupled with the psychotic lines is like tickling the soles of your feet, it’s impossible not to laugh.

Even Robert Pritzker smiled shakily.

The housekeeper said, “This young man is very interesting.”

Robert Pritzker’s smile slowly faded, and he continued to look at the TV screen without responding.

Chen Nuo took two more puffs of the cigarette, then extinguished it, held it in his hand and put it in his trouser pocket, and said seriously, “It’s not easy to smoke.”

“Hahahahahaha.”

This wasn’t a joke, but the atmosphere was so heated that his every move made the whole audience burst into laughter.

“To be honest, I don’t actually smoke, and I don’t think smoking is a good thing. I just tried it a while ago. In the end, I still feel that I am not suitable for it.”

“I’d rather do three more Twilight movies than smoke one cigarette.”

“Hahahahaha.”

“Twilight, Twilight. To be honest, I love this movie very much.” Chen Nuo said seriously, “Although I just said that I acted in it for the money, but in fact…”

“Well, actually.”

“Hahahahaha!”

This time, when the laughter slowly died down, Chen Nuo said with a sigh: “Twilight, I really don’t know how to face it sometimes. Because it made me a celebrity. It fulfilled the dream I had been pursuing for a long time. It did what the Dark Knight didn’t do, allowing me to be recognized by people without wearing a mask.”

“But it also caused a lot of trouble and got me scolded a lot. It made me lose a lot of free time, a lot of time to spend with my family, and some of the life I was used to.”

“And I only found these things valuable after I became famous.”

“Before that, they were worth nothing.”

“Hey, come to think of it, it seems that Twilight City has made me some money again.”

“Hahahahaha.”

“Anyway, I’m famous. I’m living the life I wanted when I came to Hollywood.”

“And how do I achieve that?”

“In fact, people keep asking me this question.”

“So here, at the end of this opening show, I want to answer this question in one sentence.”

“That sentence means that if a person can move forward in the direction of his dreams with confidence and try his best to live the life he wants, then he will achieve unexpected success.”

“…Don’t look at me like that. This isn’t some incomprehensible joke.”

“It’s just what you hear, it’s just… uh, a sentence.”

“Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!”

Amid the enthusiastic laughter of the audience at the end, Chen Nuo suddenly raised his voice and said loudly: “Thank you, thank you everyone for coming to Saturday Night Live.”

Throw the microphone to the ground.

He bowed somewhat exaggeratedly and pretended to throw a non-existent hat with his right hand.

At this moment, the stage lights suddenly flashed as he moved, and colorful spotlights swept across the entire venue.

Hundreds of people in the audience immediately stood up and applause came like a tide. Several girls in the front row jumped and screamed and waved, and the audience in the back row whistled.

The band played cheerful jazz music. Chen Nuo stood in the center of the stage, smiled and waved a few times, then turned and walked behind the scenes.

The curtain slowly fell behind his figure.

The iconic SNL logo popped up on the TV screen, accompanied by the classic slogan “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!”, and the commercial break officially began.

It was only then that Lorne Michaels came to his senses.

The knowledgeable old man hadn’t known for how long it had been since he was enchanted by such a performance, and even forgot the passage of time.

As the chief director of the program, he was definitely derelict in his duty!
Lorne Michaels took the freshly-released ratings report, looked at the 1350 million viewers, raised his head and asked, “Remind me, what is the name of this Chinese kid who stole the show? I bet he will be on the news tomorrow.”

“Nuochen Luo En, in fact, he is on the news every day.” Tang Roykin said with a smile.

At the same time, Robert Pritzker stammered his lips and silently repeated the last words that Chen Nuo said.

That is a famous quote from Henry David Thoreau, a famous American writer who wrote “Walden”.

This is a passage Robert Pritzker is very, very familiar with.

Because this is a passage that his brother, the great Jay Pritzker, the founder of the Pritzker family and co-founder of Hyatt Hotels Corporation, who died in 1999, loved very much.

99% of Chen Nuo’s previous performances did not impress him.

But this last sentence touched him, who had a heart as hard as stone.

He hesitated for a long time, and finally said to the housekeeper: “Go call James and tell him that I can provide him with a betting agreement. The content is…”

Ps:

I have made up for what I owed previously.

(End of this chapter)