Kick back, relax and enjoy a good laugh about studying Chinese and China. China Focus, GPS’s graduate student organization, will host an evening of cross-cultural comedy with Jesse Appell, Beijing-based comedian and founder of the U.S.-China Comedy Center. Appell is the type of guy that made funny videos in high school and convinced his teachers to accept them instead of essays. Somehow, this approach to life scaled, and he convinced the U.S. Department of State to send him to China on a Fulbright fellowship to research Chinese comedy. Now, Appell works full-time learning what Chinese people think is funny — by performing Xiangsheng, a traditional type of Chinese comedy, making silly videos that sometimes go viral and by performing bilingual improv. He is a graduate of Brandeis University. All are welcome to this event that is sponsored by China Focus. It is co-sponsored by GPS’s 21st Century China Center, the Fudan-UC Center on Contemporary China and UC San Diego’s International House. The event will take place in The Great Hall (directions). Closest parking will be at the Pangea Parking Structure.