Show host Seth Meyers (center) and guests talk during the shooting of Saturday Night Live on December 20, 2013. Photo: CFP

When China's moon rover Jade Rabbit recently ran into difficulties, the news not only made it to major international media outlets, but also late night shows in the US such as The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and the Colbert Report.

On The Daily Show, British actor Sir Patrick Stewart read the rover's "diary" in a sad voice while dressed up in cardboard robot arms and tin foil as the Jade Rabbit.

Some Chinese viewers felt hurt that the show made fun of the rover, while others found the clip funny.

But it's not just the China-related episodes of such shows that get Chinese viewers' attention. There are a variety of groups, mostly fans, who translate and make Chinese subtitles for late night talk shows like the Daily Show, the Colbert Report, and the Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

Even though some of the jokes on American politics might not translate well, they still draw a lot of Chinese viewers who want to learn more about the US, and are amazed that the hosts can say things that simply can't be said in China.

Shirley Zhu, 19, from Guangdong Province, is studying mathematics and film in Los Angeles. She joined a subtitle group for the Daily Show in January 2013.

"I think for me and for many other people, we like these shows because they say things that can't be said in China," said Zhu.

"They are also fun to watch, and you learn something about the world at the same time," she added. For Zhu, it's a good way to learn about American politics and improve her English.

"Chinese people are more willing to engage in discussion of current affairs and willing to see the world through their own eyes," said Guan Xin, 31, an English teacher, who also translates subtitles for British parliamentary debates and PMQs (prime minister question time). "These videos fit very well with their growing awareness and that's why they are so popular."

Compared with fans of American TV drama or reality shows, Chinese viewers of American late night shows are much fewer, but most of them are intellectuals and these videos could have a bigger influence on them, said Guan.

Group effort

There are different groups of people who translate and share videos of these shows. Zhu's group has a Chinese website, thedailyshowcn.com, which was founded in October 2012. Fans volunteer their own time to translate and make subtitles for the Daily Show and upload them. So far they have uploaded almost 500 video clips and the website has had close to 1.6 million visits. Their Weibo account has over 40,000 followers.

There are also fan groups on Weibo for the Colbert Report and Craig Ferguson, who hosts the Late Late Show on CBS.

Zhu said they've also received close to 100 applications to join the subtitle group. Zhu said that they were initially open to anyone who was interested, but it's a demanding task because of the political knowledge required to understand the jokes.

Some users comment on video clips of the Daily Show that they never quite get what's funny about such shows.

There are also three Jon Stewart fan groups on Chinese instant messaging platform QQ with close to 1,400 members in total. The founder of the groups, who gave only his online name "lzghome," first watched a clip from the Daily Show in 2011.

"Before I watched the shows, I didn't know there were such huge disagreements between the liberals and conservatives in the US and frankly I didn't care too much about the liberals. But after watching the show, I felt they seem to understand society quite well," said lzghome, who now works at a website as a video editor. "As I watch more, I get to understand how the two parties are shaping their society."

Fans also like to collect clips of the shows online, which can lead to copyright issues.

One popular translator known as "Gudabaihua" said on Weibo that he often had difficulty uploading clips onto video-sharing websites such as 56.com, youku.com and tudou.com. All videos need to be checked and approved by the websites, but in his case, many of the videos ended up being rejected even if they don't contain sensitive topics or even China-related issues.

"Many websites reject such talk shows because they are afraid of copyright issues," Zhu explains. She said they later negotiated with Sina, and as a result they can now upload videos to sina.com.

Sensitive content is also something that translators have to be wary about.

Translators are also cautious, often using euphemisms or blocking out certain words or images. For instance, one episode of The Daily Show in early June 2013 talked about China being the biggest winner of the war in Iraq, as a headline in the New York Times suggested. The clip portrayed Iraq as a slot machine and China lurking behind the other gamblers to take the prize, and used a cardboard figure of Mao Zedong in a red army suit with a coin cup. In the subtitled video, the translator, Gudabaihua, used almost half a screen of "404s" (status code for page not found) to cover up the image.

The sensitivity of some clips has also divided fans. Zhu said that some group members believe they should avoid uploading certain clips due to their politically sensitive nature, while others believe it is just comedy. 

Chinese elements

Shows such as the Daily Show and The Colbert Report are primarily about American politics and cater to American audiences. But mentions of China or China-related stories also serve as material for satire at times.

The shows have talked about issues such as workers' conditions at Foxconn factories and China's air quality. The Colbert Report has also talked about at least two movies - Iron Man 3 and Titanic in 3D - and how they catered to the Chinese market and coped with censorship.

But it's clear that they have noticed their rising popularity in China, especially after a video clip from The Daily Show on April 2, 2013 that mocked North Korea and its top leader Kim Jong-un got 3 million views on Sina. The average nightly ratings of the Daily Show were about 2.5 million in 2013, according to Comedy Central.

Taking notice of this, the show aired a five-minute special segment for Chinese audiences, with Jon Stewart calling himself the "decadent capitalist."

Devoted fans and translators have noticed an increase in the number of China-related sketches in such shows.

Lzghome said that fans are actually quite happy when stories about China make it to US talk shows. He said fans were happy that on December 17, 2013, the Daily Show mentioned China's moon rover Jade Rabbit, even though Stewart joked that it was something that the US had done in the 1960s.

Divided views

But views are divided when it comes to discussing China. Lzghome said the "Made in China" jokes can get old sometimes, but he found that comments on Foxconn and air quality were sharp, accurate and to the point.

When fan groups uploaded the episodes about the Jade Rabbit, responses were divided. Some were angry and offended. One user commented on Weibo, "I've watched a lot of American talk shows and found parts that mock China funny too, but this time they are not mocking politicians, but the Jade Rabbit, and moreover, the Chinese people's affection for the Jade Rabbit."

Others found it funny. One user commented, "Mocked by an entertainment show, so what? Why are you so lacking in confidence?"

Another commented, "But it's really funny, what is there to be angry about? They mock their own government shutdown much harder."

The strongest public response came last October when in an episode of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" a child suggested in a segment of "Kids Talk" that they should kill everyone in China to solve America's debt problem.

The comment enraged many Chinese people who protested both online and in the US, calling it racist and demanding apologies from the host and the network.

Chinese Web users often comment after watching the Daily Show or the Colbert Report that they hope one day China could have such shows.

China is not short of its own forms of comedy such as cross talk and stand-up comedy, while in recent years a number of programs similar to western-style talk shows have emerged. But unlike many of the late night shows in the US, Chinese talk shows rarely poke fun at political issues or politicians. Web users also have to tread lightly when posting online comments about political issues.

"Many people find it satisfying to watch Jon Stewart probably because people's needs for political discussion, satire or venting can't be fulfilled here in China," said Zhu.

But that has not stopped some from trying to copy western shows. In January, The Banquet, a news talk show produced by Ningxia Satellite TV, used almost exactly the same opening sequence of the Colbert Report, from the images to the music. The show was described as a news talk show that comments on social news, anecdotes, and weird news. Many fans of the Colbert Report noticed it, as did Stephen Colbert, who responded to it in his own show.

It wasn't the first time. Back in 2012, Dapeng Show, a Chinese entertainment show on sohu.com, copied the opening sequence from Conan O'Brien's show, which also got the attention of fans and the original show. The host Da Peng later apologized.

At the moment, only Saturday Night Live and more recently the Ellen Degeneres Show were formally introduced to China through sohu.com. But fans aren't optimistic about the prospects of the Daily Show or the Colbert Report landing in China any time soon. "That would require a lot of monitoring and I don't think that's happening," said Zhu.