Wang Yang, a comedian in charge of comic dialogues and acts in this year's CCTV Spring Festival Gala, said he is suing Guo Degang for slander, the Beijing Youth Daily reported yesterday.

"Guo has been groundlessly attacking me and my family in public. We were humiliated. He has crossed the line from making fun of somebody to hurting their feelings," said Wang, who once lived in the same housing courtyard and studied comic dialogue with Guo in their early years in Tianjin.

Wang's evidence of slander was a blog written by Guo and an online video posted by a netizen that recorded one of Guo's shows in January.

In the Web text, Guo dropped a few lines depicting the young Wang Yang, saying Wang claimed to love comic dialogue but spent no time practicing when he was a boy. "Many years after that, the boy who was lazy in study became a household name, and that is Wang Yang," Guo wrote in his blog.

Wang said he loves comic dialogue and was a devoted student. "I spent the day trying to make a living and practiced at night. How could Guo comment on something he doesn't't know掛" He cited the fact that he defeated Guo in an entrance test to an academy of folk arts in 1988 as an example of his devotion to comic dialogue.

In the online video, Guo again made fun of Wang, indicating that Wang's wife had an affair with someone else. "Guo even said I should burn myself to death," Wang said, "That's not funny. He even brought my wife into this. I won't let him do that to me and my family."

Wang said the case is in a lawyer's hands and would be brought to court this week. He claimed that money is not what he's after. "I want an open apology and a promise that he won't say these humiliating things again." Wang said. He rejected the idea that he brought the case against Guo to gain more media exposure, saying, "I am using this case to warn him that he has no right to victimize others in his performance."

In response to the lawsuit, Guo's agent Wang Hai said it was common practice for standup comics to make fun of each other on stage. "We have nothing to clarify or explain." Wang Hai said.

(Shenzhen Daily February 28, 2006)