- German television comedy
German television comedy:
Germany has a long tradition oftelevision comedy stretching as far back as the 1950s, and with its origins incabaret and radio.1970s
When Otto's first show came out in 1973, it differed in many ways from those of traditional comedians also around at the time, such as
Rudi Carrell (then aged 39) andLoriot (then 50). Rudi Carrell and Loriot dressed rather more formally in a suit and tie, and stood on a large stage with the audience seated in rows, whereas Otto, then only 25, with his long blond hair falling in his face, wore t-shirts and jeans, and sat on a smaller cabaret-style stage, closer to the audience. This generation gap was reflected in "Ein Herz und eine Seele ", a sitcom similar to "Till Death Us Do Part ", where the old-fashioned character Alfred Tetzlaff clashes comically with his daughter Rita and his son-in-law Michael, who stands for theGerman student movement of 1968. The more traditional shows remained extremely popular, however, and repeats are still regularly shown today. The older comedians also adapted; Rudi Carrell continued to appear in comedy shows until shortly before his death in 2006.
*1965 - 1973: "Rudi Carrell Show" slapstick series starringRudi Carrell , on ARD
*1967 - 1972: "Cartoon" sketch show starringLoriot , on ARD
* 1970: "Telematch " outdoorgame show between two German towns where the competitors would be in fancy dress and engage in funny competitive games: similar to "It's a Knockout " or "Jeux Sans Frontières ".
*1971 - 1972: "Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus " - a special recording, in German, of "Monty Python's Flying Circus "
*1973 - 1976: "Ein Herz und eine Seele ", sitcom starringHeinz Schubert ,Diether Krebs etc
*1973 - 1979: "Klimbim" [http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klimbim (in German)] , sketch comedy program starringIngrid Steeger ,Elisabeth Volkmann etc
*1973 - 1979: "Die Otto-Show", slightly surrealist live stand-up/music/sketch show starring Otto, on ARD
*1975 - 1980: "Nonstop Nonsens", comedy series starringDieter Hallervorden on ARD
*1976 - 1979: "Loriot", sketch show starringLoriot , often withEvelyn Hamann , on ARD1980s
In the 1980s, as elsewhere, the pre-recorded sketch show came into its own in Germany: "Sketchup", "So Isses", "Harald und Eddi". Like Britain's "Not the Nine O'Clock News" (1979-82), one such show, "Rudis Tagesshow", although not exactly
alternative comedy , also poked fun at the main news programme ("Tagesschau ") and involved politicalsatire . This caused trouble in 1987 when Carrell cut together footage ofAyatollah Khomeni with shots of veiled women throwing their knickers. The outragedIran ian government responded by expelling two German diplomats and closing theGoethe Institute in Tehran.Technological advances also meant that cameras were used away from the studios more and more; the "
Candid Camera "-style show "Verstehen Sie Spaß" appeared, which is still running, in the original format, today. Unlike other countries' versions of "Candid Camera", it remains very popular, with seven million viewers on a Saturday evening; almost 25% of the market. It has been going strong since 1980.*since 1980: "Verstehen Sie Spaß", the German equivalent of "
Candid Camera ", most recently presented byFrank Elstner , runs on ARD
*1980 - 1990: "WWF Club", show with sketches, interviews, off-the-cuff humour, presented byJürgen von der Lippe on ARD
*1981: "So ein Otto" and "Ein neues Programm mit Otto Waalkes", starring Otto, on WDR; much repeated.
*1981 - 1987: "Rudis Tagesshow" starringRudi Carrell ,Diether Krebs andKlaus Havenstein , on ARD
*1984 - 1989: "So Isses", series withJürgen von der Lippe on ARD
*1983 - 1986: "Sketchup" comedy sketch series withDiether Krebs ,Beatrice Richter /Iris Berben , on ARD
*1987 - 1990: "Harald und Eddi", comedy series starringHarald Juhnke andEddi Arent , on ARD
*1988 - 1992: "Alles nichts oder?!",slapstick game show hosted byHella von Sinnen andHugo Egon Balder , on RTL1990s
The 1990s saw female comedians appearing in more prominent roles; whereas actresses such as
Evelyn Hamann in the '70s orIris Berben in the '80s usually played a main character's wife or girlfriend, now women such asEsther Schweins ,Tanja Schumann ,Anke Engelke andHella von Sinnen made a name for themselves in more independent roles, although still mostly as part of larger casts.With television becoming more and more international, there was a lot of influence from abroad in many shows of the '90s: "RTL Samstag Nacht" was based on "
Saturday Night Live " (USA), the "Harald Schmidt Show" was similar to the "Late Show with David Letterman " (USA), "7 Tage, 7 Köpfe" was superficially based on "Have I Got News For You? " (GB).
*1990 - 1994: "Schmidteinander", a satirical comedy show, presented byHarald Schmidt andHerbert Feuerstein on WDR and ARD
*since 1992: "Quatsch Comedy Club" presented byThomas Hermanns onPro Sieben
*1992 - 1994: "Lippes Lachmix" show starringJürgen von der Lippe on WDR
*1993 - 1998: "RTL Samstag Nacht", live comedy show based on "Saturday Night Live ", starringWigald Boning ,Olli Dittrich , Esther Schweins,Stefan Jürgens , Tanja Schumann andMirco Nontschew , on RTL
*1995 - 2003: "Harald Schmidt Show", alate night television show, originally similar to the "Late Show with David Letterman ", presented byHarald Schmidt onSat. 1
*1996 - 1997: "Happiness", sketch show withMarkus Maria Profitlich onSat.1
*1996 - 2002: "Die Wochenshow ", sketch show starringAnke Engelke ,Bastian Pastewka andIngolf Lück , onSat.1
*1996 - 2005: "7 Tage, 7 Köpfe", comedy news show similar to "Have I Got News For You? " except that pre-planned gags were not only confined to the hostJochen Busse ; most famous team captainsMike Krüger andRudi Carrell , on RTL
*since 1996: "WWW - Die witzigsten Werbespots der Welt", clip and comedy show presented first byFritz Egner and since 2005 byIngo Oschmann , onSat.1 ; Ingo won the 2003 final ofStar Search inGermany as best comedy performer.
*1997 - 2002: "Bullyparade ", a mixture of live and pre-filmed comedy sketches, starringMichael Herbig as "Bully", onPro Sieben
*since 1999: "TV total ", late night television comedy talk show, created, produced and hosted byStefan Raab , onPro Sieben ince 2000
By the first decade of the new millennium, the trend began to move back away from the pre-recorded sketch shows of the '80s and '90s. Comedy talk shows such as
TV Total andElton.tv naturally involved more off-the-cuff humour, and soon these were joined by improvised shows such as "Genial daneben" and the original "Schillerstraße ". The main role in the latter is played by an actress, Cordula Stratmann; by now there were several shows whose main stars were female comedians, such as "Ladykracher " with Anke Engelke. Slapstick now played a less important role: instead, realism was in, with shows removing thelaugh track , such as "Stromberg" (similar to "The Office ") or the sitcom "Pastewka".
*since 2000: "Night Wash": livestand-up comedy show for upcoming new comedians, filmed in a reallaundrette , ran onWDR and ARD until 2007; since then onComedy Central Germany (which started broadcasting in 2007).
*2000 - 2006: "Alles Atze", comedy sitcom starringAtze Schröder , on RTL
*2001 - 2003: "Elton.tv ", late night television comedy talk show hosted by Elton, onPro Sieben
*2001 - 2005: "Was guckst du?!", sketch show starringKaya Yanar , onSat.1
*2002 - 2004: "Ladykracher ", comedy sketch series starringAnke Engelke , onSat. 1 ; Anke won aRose d'Or as best comedy performer in the series
*since 2002: "Comedystreet", based on "Trigger Happy TV " and starringSimon Gosejohann , onPro Sieben
*since 2002: "Sechserpack", comedy sketch show with six actors including the British-GermanEmily Wood , onSat.1
*since 2003: "Genial daneben" presented byHugo Egon Balder onSat. 1 (one of first improvised shows, set off a series of other improvisation-based shows)
*2003 - 2006: "Rent a Pocher ", show starringOliver Pocher , onPro Sieben
*since 2004: "Schillerstraße " improvised comedysoap opera ; main actress isCordula Stratmann , runs onSat.1 . German concept, taken up byFox TV and sold in many other countries; wonRose d'Or Press Prize (most innovative programme).
*since 2004: "Stromberg",mockumentary comedy series partly based on "The Office ", starringChristoph Maria Herbst onPro Sieben
*since 2005: "Frei Schnauze" (improvisational comedy show adapted from "Whose Line Is It Anyway? "), presented byMike Krüger thenDirk Bach on RTL
*since 2005: "Die Dreisten Drei", short sketches withMirja Boes and others, runs onSat.1
*since 2005: "Pastewka", sitcom starringBastian Pastewka , partly based on "Curb Your Enthusiasm ", but scripted, onSat.1 ; Pastewka won aRose d'Or for his performance in the sitcom.ources
"Much of this article is taken from information on the [http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hauptseite German language wikipedia] (articles on comedians and comedy programmes)."
ee also
*
German humour
*List of German language comedians
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