Rowswell often performs stand-up comedy shows at Beijing's Bookworm bookstore. [Photo by Jiang Dong/China Daily]

He believes that stand-up comedy has a market in China because young people are not satisfied with what they see on television.

He hopes to develop a new performance every two years and take the show on tour before putting it online.

With his family living in Toronto, Rowswell frequently travels between China and Canada. Married to a Chinese woman, the father of two teenage children says that unlike young performers, who are looking for every opportunity to make a breakthrough, he is just focusing on one thing.

"This is the last stage of my career. I am writing the end of my story, not the beginning."

He is proud of his shows from the '80s.

"But nobody wants to watch them in 2016. That era has passed. I want to do something that's more current, something that I can look back in 10 years and say ... that was a good show I did (in 2016)."

Contact the writer at [email protected]

If you go

7:30 pm, Sunday. Tianqiao Performing Arts Center, 9 Tianqiao South Street, Xicheng district, Beijing. 400-635-3355.