Let me give a brief overview of stand-up comedy, no research, just from memory.

Recently, I watched a few shows in Shanghai, and they were extremely boring, not funny at all, making me feel uncomfortable.
The earliest stand-up comedy in China should be Wang Zijian's, a 1980s stand-up program where he spoke alone, which was quite good.
Huang Xi is quite famous; he was invited to speak at the Obama banquet, then returned to China to develop his career, but his performances became very boring and not funny at all.
The most successful one is Zhou Libo; his is the stand-up comedy that many people love, especially hilarious. I used to like his show on Phoenix TV the most, but unfortunately, he stopped doing it, and now he can't do it anymore.
Later, Li Dan suddenly appeared out of nowhere, bringing a bunch of celebrities and stand-up comedians together to make variety shows. Actually, what Li Dan does isn't true "stand-up comedy," he just uses the format for variety shows, leveraging the star power. Without stars, see how many people would watch.
At that time, those stand-up comedians were all poor, most struggling to survive. They gained exposure and made money through variety shows.
Yang Li's jokes are not funny at all. Is it even stand-up comedy if it's not funny? She said a bunch of unfunny stuff, unexpectedly insulted men, talked about gender conflicts, and suddenly became popular. This is the shortcut to success. From then on, she mainly talks about gender issues; she wouldn't talk about anything else.
This can be understood—an impoverished person earning millions from this, if it were you, you'd do the same.
Other comedians like the twins, Bird Bird, and a bunch of other women also don't find them funny at all; no one pays attention to them.
Seeing Yang Li's method become popular and make money, others started to imitate it, copying the existing model.
Behind this are the Laugh Fruit company and Li Dan, who are the main responsible persons. The scripts are approved by them; everything is for money. What is morality? What is the bottom line? Nothing.
Unless the authorities prohibit them, they will keep doing it.
Men definitely can't talk about women, if the company or audience disapproves, maybe the authorities do too. If they agree, someone will quickly come out and speak about it, becoming famous and earning over millions.
I haven't watched for many years, and I no longer watch online variety shows either—they're not worth watching.