German humour
Encyclopedia
German humour refers collectively to the conventions of comedy
and its cultural meaning within the country of Germany
. Although comedy is a staple of German culture, with many Germans making light of situations in social conversation, and with a large amount of time allotted to comedy in German television broadcasting, it is a widespread stereotype
outside the country that Germans have little understanding (or a distorted understanding) of humorous
situations. English-language jokes do not translate well because German grammar is less flexible. It does not always allow for a sentence to be reordered so as to delay the punchline, one of the most common joke formats for English speakers. New entities are named by creating compounds, sometimes resulting in extremely long words. This means that fewer words have multiple meanings, so there is less opportunity to create puns. German humour is more prone to make use of local dialects, customs and varieties, which are abundant but less easy to translate.
German humour often follows many conventions which, due to similarities in cultural perception of events and day-to-day life (and other such universal themes which may be discussed through comedy), may be readily interpreted by natives of other countries.
Some German humorists such as Loriot
use seriousness as means of humour. Another notable example of mock-serious humour with satirical content is Jakob Maria Mierscheid
MdB
, a virtual politician, and his eponymous Mierscheid Law
. Begun as a hoax to falsify restaurant bills, Mierscheid has gathered sufficiently enduring pop culture recognition since the '70s to gain his own (tongue-in-cheek
) entry on the official Bundestag
Website. Similarly, the Stone louse
(Petrophaga lorioti), a fictitious animal which was a part of a comic mocumentary video sketch, gained acknowledgement as a fictitious entry
in the medical encyclopedic dictionary Pschyrembel Klinisches Wörterbuch
.
However, current events situations, traditions and cultural factors which are unique to the country may provide a barrier to the understanding of the meaning behind a joke or comedic reference to someone who is not aware of the events being referred to. This applies especially to the abundant use of local dialects and customs in Germany. In other cases the humour derives from mixing different styles of speech or opposing them to each other. For instance, the comedian Helge Schneider
is renowned for his absurdist and anarchical humour, yet due to the deep roots of his humour in German language and its several stylistic levels, extensive parts of his material are lost when translated into English.
who, in Briefe, die neueste Literatur betreffend (1759) described the early 18th century comedies as relying heavily on dressed-up characters, magic tricks and fights. His comedy Minna von Barnhelm
(1767) and Heinrich von Kleist's
The Broken Jug
(1811) joined especially various translations and adaptations of plays by early Greeks, Racine
, Shakespeare, Molière
, Calderon and others to form the basis of later developments.
The German Classical
and Romantic
periods saw a lot of humorous polemical, parodistic and satirical exchange between writers such as Goethe, Schiller
, Ludwig Tieck
, the Schlegel brothers, as well as many critics and philosophers both in the literary journals and in their own publications. Probably the most renowned ironic texts and poems in that era were written by Heinrich Heine
, who developed a very distinct tongue-in-cheek style of writing, embracing Romantic ideals while mocking at the same time, often even within one poem. Up until today Heine remains to be titled one of the most insightful and witty among German writers.
One of the most important figures in the beginning of filmed comedy in Germany was stage comedian Karl Valentin
who produced short films from 1912 to 1941. The works of Buster Keaton
, Charlie Chaplin
and Laurel and Hardy
, among others, were shown in Germany and Austria until the Nazis prohibited the exhibition of American films in 1938. Most popular post-war comedians were/are also linked to movies and television, for example Heinz Erhardt
, Loriot
, Otto Waalkes
, Karl Dall
, Helge Schneider
, Dieter Hallervorden
, Gerhard Polt
, Hape Kerkeling
, Anke Engelke
, Bastian Pastewka
, Oliver Kalkofe
and Michael Herbig, as well as Kabarettists like Dieter Hildebrandt
and Mathias Richling
. Modern comedy was and is influenced by films and TV shows from Great Britain
and the United States
, France
and Italy
.
Humour plays a role throughout popular culture, including music (The Comedian Harmonists, Falco
, EAV
, Sido
, Die Atzen (Frauenarzt
).
, Harald Schmidt
, referring to and criticizing the importance of political correctness in Germany, suggested a Nazometer, a mock measurement device (and causing a minor scandal). The device allegedly will give alarms even for minor Nazi-specific formulations and politically incorrect wording.
magazine commented that the British now had an image of the typical German as "der gnadenlos effiziente, aber humorlose Ingenieur" ("the mercilessly efficient but humourless engineer")http://service.spiegel.de/digas/find?DID=51536466.
and American humour
). German sentence construction (due to the regular use of compound word
constructions) means that German humour relies more on humorous ideas than on wordplay. German grammar is often (but not always) flexible in the sense that one can reorder a sentence without changing its meaning.
Nevertheless, in German there are a series of jokes based on double meanings, while English uses several words.
However, German wordplay can also be based on compound word constructions. German phonology
has a high count of vowels and consonants which often offers the potential for puns due to subtle differences in pronunciation (for example; Leitkultur
is mispronounced Leidkultur (sorrow culture) ). Not only does the German language allow one to easily create compound nouns and verbs, it also permits one to split them to reorder a sentence. Compounds often have another sense than singular words. This grammatical area of German wordplay does not have a direct English-language equivalent.
Non-German speakers may find understanding German humour difficult, simply due to the language barrier
. It is likely that some jokes, puns
and humorous turns of phrase would be lost in translation
.
Hansgeorg Stengel, a German Kabarettist and writer, said: Germans are unable to speak the German language. Commonly or apparently incorrect usage of German grammar is another form of humour ironically called Stilblüten (bloomer). Edmund Stoiber
once said Wir müssen den Kindern richtiges Deutsch lernen (literally We must learn the children correct German) leading to unintended humour because while he applied himself to correctness, he didn't speak the statement in the correct way (using "learn" instead of "teach"). Using "Lernen" with dative and accusative to mean teach is however a typical example of what Germans do speak (Stoiber said so on a Political Ash Wednesday, where more popular way of speaking is used), the Duden
classifies as "colloquial usage", but German teachers will count as mistakes.
tradition. From 1896 to 1944, the weekly magazine 'Simplicissimus
' made fun of politics and society (however, during the Gleichschaltung
in Nazi Germany
it was turned into a propaganda paper). Starting in the 1960s, the magazine 'Pardon' continued the satirical tradition in West Germany
. Later on, the magazine 'Titanic
' followed. In Socialist East Germany the satirical magazine 'Eulenspiegel' was founded which in strict limits was allowed to make fun of grievances within the GDR. 'Eulenspiegel' and 'Titanic' still exist in today's Federal Republic of Germany
. Titanic's satire without boundaries (which is often directed against politicians and public figures) has been the subject of numerous legal cases within Germany. However, German law is very liberal when it comes to satirical freedom. Titanic's practical jokes have also drawn some international attention: In 2000, a Titanic prank led to the award of the FIFA World Cup 2006 to Germany. In 2007, a spoof ad in the Titanic, making fun of the media phenomenon around the missing girl Madeleine McCann, has been condemned as tasteless and caused outrage in the UK.
Political Satire is also a popular theme for TV shows, 'Scheibenwischer' (now called 'Satiregipfel') being one example.
, which is often seen as a special form of cabarett. Kabarett is dedicated almost completely to serious topics. Especially in former East Germany (where Kabarett stages were allowed in the larger cities) political Kabarett had some importance in opinion formation although it had to be very careful and had to create some kind of ambiguous and ironic humour with hidden messages due to censorship. East German Kabarett was tolerated to have a controlled valve for political topics. Kabarett in West Germany had more to struggle with taboos on policital themes and broke with common opinions. An episode of Scheibenwischer
was censored in bavaria
n television in 1986 while broadcasted in ARD
.
Social critical Kabarett is often in an ambivalence between dolorousness and happyness while humour is some kind of key for controversial and critical messages. Its focus spreads from general political to very personal questions highlighting the individual being in social context and responsibility. Themes of modern Kabarett is social progress in the Berlin Republic
as there are migration, education, reforms of the social systems, mission of the Bundeswehr
, development of the economy, ethics in politics and society and German reflexivity.
Famous Kabarett stages in Germany include:
Some Kabarett artists in Germany:
Classical Kabarett: Peter Ensikat, Lisa Fitz, Dieter Hildebrandt
, Urban Priol
, Georg Schramm
Dialect Kabarett: Jürgen Becker
(Rhinelandic
), Erwin Pelzig
(East Franconian German
), Olaf Schubert (Upper Saxon German
)
Music Kabarett: Rainald Grebe, Hagen Rether
, Bodo Wartke
Between classical Kabarett and modern comedy: Eckart von Hirschhausen
, Dieter Nuhr
being a success in Germany while the English language version was a flop in the United States. This was due to the vast changes that the program underwent during the German dubbing process, that under Brandt's supervision transformed the show into a much more comedy-oriented spy persiflage contrasting the more subdued, mild humour of the English language original. A quite astounding, exemplar Schnoddersynchron has been performed with Monty Python's Die Ritter der Kokosnuss (that is, Monty Python and the Holy Grail
) where the initial dialogue will contain phrases such as: "Heda! Wer reitet so spät durch Nacht und Wind" (Hey yo! who rides there so late through the night dark and drear?, parody of a poem by Goethe with music by Schubert, the Erlkönig) or "Ich habe den Sachsen das Angeln beigebracht, seitdem heißen sie Angelsachsen" (I taught the Saxons how to fish/angle, and they're called Anglo-Saxons ever since) etc. which have no ground whatsoever in the original.
Yet, Schnoddersynchron has become rare nowadays with primarily comedic programs employing it for practical reasons, like the German dub of Mystery Science Theater 3000
's feature film, Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie
. Because the German dubbing of This Island Earth, the movie spoofed by this film, already varied greatly from the English original, a huge portion of the original jokes commenting the film became obsolete. To deal with this matter, a group of German comedians (Oliver Kalkofe
, Oliver Welke
, among others) were assigned to create a dub that better addressed the German version of the spoofed film. This version, therefore, was actually ment to in parts differ from the original text and in consequence was also given the freedom of making heavy use of references to German culture, like Servo finding an issue of German children's magazine Yps
in his room and the group alluding to the music of German organist Franz Lambert
during the opening credits. On other occasions, though, puns addressing the films visuals or meant for moments in which the English and German text of the original movie actually coincide were translated literally most of the time, as far as the humour could be transported.
Apart from comedic films and programs, German internet culture has developed the tradition further into so-called Fandub
s. A more recent popular example of these fan-made dubs is the viral internet video Lord of the Weed, a redub of the first hour of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, interpreting the pipe smoking Hobbits as drug addicts who go on a journey to find a ring that can produce endless amounts of cannabis. Before Lord of the Weed, Sinnlos im Weltraum mocked Star Trek - The Next Generation in a similar way. The use of local dialects and customs can also be observed here. Occasionally even original German programs are being redubbed and brought into humorous context, like a TV commercial accompanying the advertising campaign Du bist Deutschland. A later foray of German television into humorous dubbing was the Harald Schmidt Show mocking scenes from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
that made Robin Hood seem rather ignoble, him suggesting in front of his fellows to stop robbing and raping strong people and rather stick to the weak, sick and disabled.
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
and its cultural meaning within the country of Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. Although comedy is a staple of German culture, with many Germans making light of situations in social conversation, and with a large amount of time allotted to comedy in German television broadcasting, it is a widespread stereotype
Stereotype
A stereotype is a popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals. The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings...
outside the country that Germans have little understanding (or a distorted understanding) of humorous
Humour
Humour or humor is the tendency of particular cognitive experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement...
situations. English-language jokes do not translate well because German grammar is less flexible. It does not always allow for a sentence to be reordered so as to delay the punchline, one of the most common joke formats for English speakers. New entities are named by creating compounds, sometimes resulting in extremely long words. This means that fewer words have multiple meanings, so there is less opportunity to create puns. German humour is more prone to make use of local dialects, customs and varieties, which are abundant but less easy to translate.
Culture
Some German humorists such as Loriot
Vicco von Bülow
Bernhard Victor Christoph Carl von Bülow , more commonly known under the pseudonym Loriot, was a German comedian, humorist, cartoonist, film director, actor and writer.He is most well known for his cartoons, the sketches from his 1976 television series...
use seriousness as means of humour. Another notable example of mock-serious humour with satirical content is Jakob Maria Mierscheid
Jakob Maria Mierscheid
Jakob Maria Mierscheid MdB has been a fictitious politician in the German Bundestag since 11 December 1979. He was then the alleged deputy chairman of the Mittelstandsausschuss of the Bundestag in 1981 and 1982...
MdB
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
, a virtual politician, and his eponymous Mierscheid Law
Mierscheid Law
The Mierscheid law is hypothesis, published in the German magazine Vorwärts on 14 July 1983 and attributed to the fictitious politician Jakob Maria Mierscheid. It forecasts the Social Democratic Party of Germany 's share of the popular vote based on the size of crude steel production in Western...
. Begun as a hoax to falsify restaurant bills, Mierscheid has gathered sufficiently enduring pop culture recognition since the '70s to gain his own (tongue-in-cheek
Tongue-in-cheek
Tongue-in-cheek is a phrase used as a figure of speech to imply that a statement or other production is humorously intended and it should not be taken at face value. The facial expression typically indicates that one is joking or making a mental effort. In the past, it may also have indicated...
) entry on the official Bundestag
Bundestag
The Bundestag is a federal legislative body in Germany. In practice Germany is governed by a bicameral legislature, of which the Bundestag serves as the lower house and the Bundesrat the upper house. The Bundestag is established by the German Basic Law of 1949, as the successor to the earlier...
Website. Similarly, the Stone louse
Stone louse
The stone louse is a fictitious animal created by German humorist Loriot to parody nature documentaries...
(Petrophaga lorioti), a fictitious animal which was a part of a comic mocumentary video sketch, gained acknowledgement as a fictitious entry
Fictitious entry
Fictitious entries, also known as fake entries, Mountweazels, ghost word and nihil articles, are deliberately incorrect entries or articles in reference works such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, maps, and directories. Entries in reference works normally originate from a reliable external source,...
in the medical encyclopedic dictionary Pschyrembel Klinisches Wörterbuch
Pschyrembel Klinisches Wörterbuch
Pschyrembel most commonly refers to a popular medical dictionary in German language, the Pschyrembel Clinical Dictionary .-Pschyrembel Clinical Dictionary:...
.
However, current events situations, traditions and cultural factors which are unique to the country may provide a barrier to the understanding of the meaning behind a joke or comedic reference to someone who is not aware of the events being referred to. This applies especially to the abundant use of local dialects and customs in Germany. In other cases the humour derives from mixing different styles of speech or opposing them to each other. For instance, the comedian Helge Schneider
Helge Schneider
Helge Schneider is a German comedian, jazz musician and multi-instrumentalist, author, film and theatre director, and actor....
is renowned for his absurdist and anarchical humour, yet due to the deep roots of his humour in German language and its several stylistic levels, extensive parts of his material are lost when translated into English.
Literature and television
The oldest popular forms of German comedy were the Posse and the Schwank which could take the forms of stories, plays or improvisations. The German comedic play (Lustspiel) was refined and updated by playwright and critic Gotthold Ephraim LessingGotthold Ephraim Lessing
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing was a German writer, philosopher, dramatist, publicist, and art critic, and one of the most outstanding representatives of the Enlightenment era. His plays and theoretical writings substantially influenced the development of German literature...
who, in Briefe, die neueste Literatur betreffend (1759) described the early 18th century comedies as relying heavily on dressed-up characters, magic tricks and fights. His comedy Minna von Barnhelm
Minna von Barnhelm
Minna von Barnhelm or the Soldiers' Happiness is a lustspiel or comedy by the German author Gotthold Ephraim Lessing...
(1767) and Heinrich von Kleist's
Heinrich von Kleist
Bernd Heinrich Wilhelm von Kleist was a poet, dramatist, novelist and short story writer. The Kleist Prize, a prestigious prize for German literature, is named after him.- Life :...
The Broken Jug
The Broken Jug
The Broken Jug is a comedy written by the German playwright Heinrich von Kleist. Kleist first conceived the idea for the play in 1801, upon looking at a copper engraving in Heinrich Zschokke's house entitled "Le juge, ou la cruche cassée." In 1803, challenged over his ability to write comedy,...
(1811) joined especially various translations and adaptations of plays by early Greeks, Racine
Racine
-Geography:Racine is the name of several communities in the United States of America:*Racine, Wisconsin, the largest city named Racine in the United States*Racine, Minnesota*Racine, Missouri*Racine, Ohio*Racine, West Virginia*Racine County, Wisconsin...
, Shakespeare, Molière
Molière
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known by his stage name Molière, was a French playwright and actor who is considered to be one of the greatest masters of comedy in Western literature...
, Calderon and others to form the basis of later developments.
The German Classical
Weimar Classicism
Weimar Classicism is a cultural and literary movement of Europe. Followers attempted to establish a new humanism by synthesizing Romantic, classical and Enlightenment ideas...
and Romantic
German Romanticism
For the general context, see Romanticism.In the philosophy, art, and culture of German-speaking countries, German Romanticism was the dominant movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. German Romanticism developed relatively late compared to its English counterpart, coinciding in its...
periods saw a lot of humorous polemical, parodistic and satirical exchange between writers such as Goethe, Schiller
Friedrich Schiller
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and playwright. During the last seventeen years of his life , Schiller struck up a productive, if complicated, friendship with already famous and influential Johann Wolfgang von Goethe...
, Ludwig Tieck
Ludwig Tieck
Johann Ludwig Tieck was a German poet, translator, editor, novelist, writer of Novellen, and critic, who was one of the founding fathers of the Romantic movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.-Early life:...
, the Schlegel brothers, as well as many critics and philosophers both in the literary journals and in their own publications. Probably the most renowned ironic texts and poems in that era were written by Heinrich Heine
Heinrich Heine
Christian Johann Heinrich Heine was one of the most significant German poets of the 19th century. He was also a journalist, essayist, and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of Lieder by composers such as Robert Schumann...
, who developed a very distinct tongue-in-cheek style of writing, embracing Romantic ideals while mocking at the same time, often even within one poem. Up until today Heine remains to be titled one of the most insightful and witty among German writers.
One of the most important figures in the beginning of filmed comedy in Germany was stage comedian Karl Valentin
Karl Valentin
Karl Valentin was a Bavarian comedian, cabaret performer, clown, author and film producer. He had significant influence on German Weimar culture...
who produced short films from 1912 to 1941. The works of Buster Keaton
Buster Keaton
Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton was an American comic actor, filmmaker, producer and writer. He was best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic, deadpan expression, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face".Keaton was recognized as the...
, Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
and Laurel and Hardy
Laurel and Hardy
Laurel and Hardy were one of the most popular and critically acclaimed comedy double acts of the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema...
, among others, were shown in Germany and Austria until the Nazis prohibited the exhibition of American films in 1938. Most popular post-war comedians were/are also linked to movies and television, for example Heinz Erhardt
Heinz Erhardt
Heinz Erhardt was a German comedian, musician, entertainer, actor, and poet.Heinz Erhardt was the son of Baltic German Kapellmeister Gustl Erhardt. He lived most of his childhood at his grandparents in Riga, where his grandfather, Paul Nelder, owned a music house...
, Loriot
Loriot
Loriot may refer to:* the French for the Orioles*Vicco von Bülow, German humorist, graphic artist, director, actor and writer* Loriot, an animated television series by von Bülow*Loriot , a mid 19th Century American ship...
, Otto Waalkes
Otto Waalkes
Otto Gerhard Waalkes is a Frisian comedian and actor. He became famous in the 1970s and 1980s in Germany with his shows, books and movies. His perhaps most famous trademark are the 'Ottifanten' , elephant-like comic characters of his own design...
, Karl Dall
Karl Dall
Karl Bernhard Dall is a German comedian, singer and television presenter. His distinctive 'hanging' eye is caused by an inborn Ptosis.- Family :...
, Helge Schneider
Helge Schneider
Helge Schneider is a German comedian, jazz musician and multi-instrumentalist, author, film and theatre director, and actor....
, Dieter Hallervorden
Dieter Hallervorden
Dieter "Didi" Hallervorden is a German comedian, comic actor, singer and cabaret artist.-Biography:...
, Gerhard Polt
Gerhard Polt
Gerhard Polt is a Bavarian writer, filmmaker, actor and satirical cabaret artist.Gerhard Polt often performs using Bavarian dialect. His main topics are Bavarian people, culture and politics. His performances in Munich theaters, which he started in 1976, are very popular...
, Hape Kerkeling
Hape Kerkeling
Hans Peter Wilhelm "Hape" Kerkeling is a well-known German actor, presenter and comedian.-Career:At secondary school in Recklinghausen, Hape Kerkeling and some fellow students formed a band and published a record .Kerkeling started his career as a comedian in radio, working for various German...
, Anke Engelke
Anke Engelke
Anke Christina Fischer is a German comedian, actress and voice-over actress born in Montréal, Quebec, Canada.Engelke moved to Cologne in 1971 with her parents...
, Bastian Pastewka
Bastian Pastewka
Bastian Pastewka is a German actor and comedian.He first became known to a wider audience in Germany around 1996 as a regular cast member of the comedy show Die Wochenshow , essentially a mock news program...
, Oliver Kalkofe
Oliver Kalkofe
Oliver Kalkofe is a German satirist, columnist, book author and actor.- Career :Kalkofe grew up in Langenhagen-Engelbostel near Hanover and in Peine...
and Michael Herbig, as well as Kabarettists like Dieter Hildebrandt
Dieter Hildebrandt
Dieter Hildebrandt is a German Kabarett artist.Born in Bunzlau, Lower Silesia, Hildebrandt attended school until he became an assistant for the German Air Force in World War II...
and Mathias Richling
Mathias Richling
Mathias Richling is a German actor, author, comedian and cabaret artist.Richling studied literature, music and theatre. From 1989 to 1996 he had a program called Jetzt schlägt's Richling' on the German TV channel ARD'. Since 1999 he produced the program Zwerch trifft Fell on the German TV channel...
. Modern comedy was and is influenced by films and TV shows from Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
.
Humour plays a role throughout popular culture, including music (The Comedian Harmonists, Falco
Falco (musician)
Johann Hölzel , better known by his stage name Falco, was an Austrian pop and rock musician and rapper. He had several international hits: "Der Kommissar", "Rock Me Amadeus", "Vienna Calling", "Jeanny", "The Sound of Musik", "Coming Home " and posthumously, "Out Of The Dark"...
, EAV
Erste Allgemeine Verunsicherung
The EAV is an Austrian band that got together in 1977....
, Sido
Sido
Sido may refer to:* Sido , stage name of Paul Würdig, a German rapper* Sido , a South Korean island*Sido, Mali* Sidoh , the final boss monster of the NES and Game Boy Color video game, Dragon Warrior II...
, Die Atzen (Frauenarzt
Frauenarzt
Vincente de Teba Költerhoff , better known as Frauenarzt , is a German rapper from Berlin-Tempelhof, also known as "DJ Kologe," "MC Digital F," "Arzt," "Gyniko," and "Günther." Frauenarzt was well known for his sexually explicit, Miami bass style music...
).
Modern terminology
German distinguishes between "Comedy" (using the English word) and "Komödie" (the German word of the same origin). "Comedy" refers to post-90s TV-comedy, which is characterized by comedic entertainment in the form of stand-up comedy, stage shows, modern satire, cabaret and adaptations of foreign comedy concepts, including airing of foreign shows. "Komödie" refers to films and plays.Political correctness
To avoid spilled humour about Germany's Nazi past in the line with Godwin's lawGodwin's Law
Godwin's law is a humorous observation made by Mike Godwin in 1990 that has become an Internet adage...
, Harald Schmidt
Harald Schmidt
Harald Franz Schmidt is a German actor, writer, comedian and television entertainer best known as host of two popular German late-night shows.- Early life :...
, referring to and criticizing the importance of political correctness in Germany, suggested a Nazometer, a mock measurement device (and causing a minor scandal). The device allegedly will give alarms even for minor Nazi-specific formulations and politically incorrect wording.
Stereotypes
Because having a good sense of humour is an essential part of the British national self-image and resentments against Germans remain strong in the country, the Germans still have a reputation in Britain for having no sense of humour at all (although it is not the only country where this stereotype is prevalent). In May 2007, for example, SpiegelDer Spiegel
Der Spiegel is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. It is one of Europe's largest publications of its kind, with a weekly circulation of more than one million.-Overview:...
magazine commented that the British now had an image of the typical German as "der gnadenlos effiziente, aber humorlose Ingenieur" ("the mercilessly efficient but humourless engineer")http://service.spiegel.de/digas/find?DID=51536466.
Language
German-language humour is, for linguistic reasons, constructed differently to English-language humour (e.g., British humourBritish humour
British humour is a somewhat general term applied to certain comedic motifs that are often prevalent in comedic acts originating in the United Kingdom and its current or former colonies...
and American humour
American humor
American humor refers collectively to the conventions and common threads that tie together humor in the United States. It is often defined in comparison to the humor of another country - for example, how it is different from British humor and Canadian humor...
). German sentence construction (due to the regular use of compound word
Compound (linguistics)
In linguistics, a compound is a lexeme that consists of more than one stem. Compounding or composition is the word formation that creates compound lexemes...
constructions) means that German humour relies more on humorous ideas than on wordplay. German grammar is often (but not always) flexible in the sense that one can reorder a sentence without changing its meaning.
Nevertheless, in German there are a series of jokes based on double meanings, while English uses several words.
- Example from East German political humour: "The train announcer at the main station was imprisoned!" - "Why?" - "He announced 'Please step back/abdicate!' as Erich HoneckerErich HoneckerErich Honecker was a German communist politician who led the German Democratic Republic as General Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party from 1971 until 1989, serving as Head of State as well from Willi Stoph's relinquishment of that post in 1976....
's train was arriving!"; in German zurücktreten, bitte! can mean both please, step back! as well as please, abdicate!.
However, German wordplay can also be based on compound word constructions. German phonology
German phonology
This article is about the phonology of the German language based on standard German. It deals with current phonology and phonetics as well as with historical developments thereof, including geographical variants .Since German is a pluricentric language, there are a number of different...
has a high count of vowels and consonants which often offers the potential for puns due to subtle differences in pronunciation (for example; Leitkultur
Leitkultur
The German language term Leitkultur is a politically controversial concept, first introduced in 1998 by the German-Arab sociologist Bassam Tibi. It can be translated as 'guiding culture' or 'leading culture', less literally as 'common culture', 'core culture' or 'basic culture'...
is mispronounced Leidkultur (sorrow culture) ). Not only does the German language allow one to easily create compound nouns and verbs, it also permits one to split them to reorder a sentence. Compounds often have another sense than singular words. This grammatical area of German wordplay does not have a direct English-language equivalent.
Non-German speakers may find understanding German humour difficult, simply due to the language barrier
Language barrier
Language barrier is a figurative phrase used primarily to indicate the difficulties faced when people who have no language in common attempt to communicate with each other...
. It is likely that some jokes, puns
Puns
Puns may refer to:*Partido de Unión Nacional Saharaui, the Sahrawi political party* Pun, figure of speech* Phoenicians...
and humorous turns of phrase would be lost in translation
Untranslatability
Untranslatability is a property of a text, or of any utterance, in one language, for which no equivalent text or utterance can be found in another language when translated....
.
Hansgeorg Stengel, a German Kabarettist and writer, said: Germans are unable to speak the German language. Commonly or apparently incorrect usage of German grammar is another form of humour ironically called Stilblüten (bloomer). Edmund Stoiber
Edmund Stoiber
Edmund Rüdiger Stoiber is a German politician, former minister-president of the state of Bavaria and former chairman of the Christian Social Union...
once said Wir müssen den Kindern richtiges Deutsch lernen (literally We must learn the children correct German) leading to unintended humour because while he applied himself to correctness, he didn't speak the statement in the correct way (using "learn" instead of "teach"). Using "Lernen" with dative and accusative to mean teach is however a typical example of what Germans do speak (Stoiber said so on a Political Ash Wednesday, where more popular way of speaking is used), the Duden
Duden
The Duden is a German dictionary, first published by Konrad Duden in 1880.Currently the Duden is in its 25th edition and published in 12 volumes, each covering different aspects like loan words, etymology, pronunciation, synonyms, etc...
classifies as "colloquial usage", but German teachers will count as mistakes.
Traditional joke themes and forms
- Fritzchen (Little Fritz): A boy of 8-10, who traps adults (usually teachers, parents or policemen) in witty plays of question and answer, exposing their silly or bashful adult ways.
- Example: Fritzchen and his grandma walk along the pavement. Fritzchen finds a 10 PfennigPfennigThe Pfennig , plural Pfennige, is an old German coin or note, which existed from the 9th century until the introduction of the euro in 2002....
coin, but his grandma intervenes: "No, don't pick up anything lying on the ground!" Soon afterwards Fritzchen finds a 10 Mark note, but again his grandma says "No, don't pick up anything lying on the ground!" Soon there is a bananaBananaBanana is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce. Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red....
lying on the pavement, grandma steps on it and slips over. "Help me, Fritzchen!", she cries, but Fritzchen says: "No, don't pick up anything lying on the ground!"
- Jokes about other nationals: Germans have their own set of stereotypes about other nations, that sometimes appear in jokes. For example, Scotsmen are portrayed as miserly, Swiss as slow, French as sophisticated lovers, Poles as notorious thieves, the Dutch either as marijuana smokers or slow drivers on motorways (typically with a caravan attached to their car), Chinese employ caricatures of Confucian wisdom. An Austrian is usually merely an antagonist of a German character, and may be presented as superior, inferior, or an unacknowledged equal.
- Example: The United NationsUnited NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
initiated a pollOpinion pollAn opinion poll, sometimes simply referred to as a poll is a survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions of a population by conducting a series of questions and then extrapolating generalities in ratio or within confidence...
with the request, "Please tell us your honest opinion about the lack of food in the rest of the world." The poll was a total failure. The Russians did not understand "Please". The Italians did not know the word "honest". The Chinese did not know what an "opinion" was. The Europeans did not know "lack", while the Africans did not know "food". Finally, the Americans didn't know anything about the "rest of the world".
- In some respect, the jokes try to be just as in Which nationality did Ötzi the IcemanÖtzi the IcemanÖtzi the Iceman , Similaun Man, and Man from Hauslabjoch are modern names for a well-preserved natural mummy of a man who lived about 5,300 years ago. The mummy was found in September 1991 in the Ötztal Alps, near Hauslabjoch on the border between Austria and Italy. The nickname comes from the...
have? It wasn't Italian, as he carried tools, it wasn't an Austrian, since he had brains, it might have been a Swiss, since he was overtaken by a glacier, but most probably a Northern German, since nobody else walks with sandals in the mountains
- East FrisiansEast Frisian jokesEast Frisian jokes belong to the group of jokes about certain nationalities, in this case the East Frisians of northern Germany.The basic structure of these jokes takes the form of a simple question and answer; the question often asking something about the nature of the East Frisian and the...
(Ostfriesen) (East FrisiansEast FrisiansEast Frisians are, in the wider sense, the inhabitants of East Frisia in the northwest of the German state of Lower Saxony. In the narrower sense the East Frisians are the eastern branch of the Frisians, a Germanic people and belong, together with the Danes, Sorbs, Sinti and Romanies to the...
are a people living in East FrisiaEast FrisiaEast Frisia or Eastern Friesland is a coastal region in the northwest of the German federal state of Lower Saxony....
, the north-western corner of Germany): This national minority is portrayed as absurdly stupid or naive. Jokes are often in the form of question and answer, both given by the joke-teller.
- Example: How many Frisians does it take to screw in a light bulb?Lightbulb jokeA lightbulb joke is a joke that asks how many people of a certain group are needed to change, replace, or screw in a light bulb. Generally, the punch line answer highlights a stereotype of the target group...
Five! One to hold the bulb and four to turn the table he's standing on.
- Example: What would you do in case of the Great Flood? Go to East Frisia, because there everything happens fifty years later.
- Beamte: German state officials (BeamteBeamterThe German word Beamter means civil servant, and is pronounced , with a glottal stop between the 'e' and the 'a'...
). Within jokes, they are considered slow and lazy, doing a nearly useless job in the bureaucracyBureaucracyA bureaucracy is an organization of non-elected officials of a governmental or organization who implement the rules, laws, and functions of their institution, and are occasionally characterized by officialism and red tape.-Weberian bureaucracy:...
.
- Example: Three in a room and one is working, what's that? - Two officials and a fanFan (mechanical)A mechanical fan is a machine used to create flow within a fluid, typically a gas such as air.A fan consists of a rotating arrangement of vanes or blades which act on the air. Usually, it is contained within some form of housing or case. This may direct the airflow or increase safety by preventing...
.
- Example: Three boys argue whose father is the fastest. The first one says: "My father is a race driver, he is the fastest." The second one contradicts: "No, my father is a LuftwaffeLuftwaffeLuftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
pilot, surely the fastest one." "That's nothing.", says the third one. "My father is a Beamter, he is so fast that when work ends at 5 PM, he's already home at 1 PM."
- Mantawitz (Manta joke): The male counterpart to the blonde is the Mantafahrer, the male driver of an Opel MantaOpel MantaThe Opel Manta was a rear-wheel-drive sports coupé motor vehicle built by Opel, from 1970 to 1988.-1970–75: Opel Manta A:The Manta A was released in September 1970, two months ahead of the then new Opel Ascona on which it was based...
, who is dull, lower class, macho, infatuated with his car and his blonde hairdresser girl friend, and often exceedingly proud and possessive about things that most people would consider embarrassing. Popular in the 1990s.
- Example: What does a Manta driver say to a tree after a crash? - "Why didn't you get out of my way, I used the horn!"
- Antiwitz (anti-joke): A short, often absurd scene, which has the recognizable structure of a joke, but is illogical or lacking a punch-line.
- Example: Two thick feet are crossing the street. Says one thick foot to the other thick foot: "Hello!"
- Other examples: "Nachts ist es kälter als draußen" (At night it's colder than outside) or "Zu Fuß ist es kürzer als über'n Berg" ("Walking is faster than over the mountain").
- Kalauer: Short, often deliberately clumsy puns and plays on words.
- Examples: See "Kalauer" in the German-language Wikipedia
- Bauernregel (Farmers' rule): Told in the traditional rhyme scheme of weather loreWeather loreWeather lore is the body of informal folklore related to the prediction of the weather.It has been a human desire for millennia to make accurate weather predictions. Oral and written history is full of rhymes, anecdotes, and adages meant to guide the uncertain in determining whether the next day...
. There are two variants: one is really about weather, but the rule is absurd or tautologous; the other can be about any other topic, makes some sense, often with sexual connotations, and may feature word play or some real, hidden or twisted wisdom.
- Examples of the first variant: Wenn der Hahn kräht auf dem Mist, dann ändert sich das Wetter, oder es bleibt wie es ist. (When the rooster crows on the dungheap, then the weather will change, or stay as it is)
- Wenn noch im November steht das Korn, dann isses wohl vergesse worn (If in November there is still much crop in the field, then the farmer must have forgotten about it).
- Ists an Silvester hell und klar, dann ist am nächsten Tag Neujahr (If Saint SylvesterNew Year's EveNew Year's Eve is observed annually on December 31, the final day of any given year in the Gregorian calendar. In modern societies, New Year's Eve is often celebrated at social gatherings, during which participants dance, eat, consume alcoholic beverages, and watch or light fireworks to mark the...
's light and clear, the next day'll surely be New Year).
- Liegt der Bauer tot im Zimmer, lebt er nimmer (If a farmer lies dead in a room, he doesn't live no more).
Magazines
Germany has a longstanding satiricalSatire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
tradition. From 1896 to 1944, the weekly magazine 'Simplicissimus
Simplicissimus
Simplicissimus was a satirical German weekly magazine started by Albert Langen in April 1896 and published through 1967, with a hiatus from 1944-1954. It became a biweekly in 1964...
' made fun of politics and society (however, during the Gleichschaltung
Gleichschaltung
Gleichschaltung , meaning "coordination", "making the same", "bringing into line", is a Nazi term for the process by which the Nazi regime successively established a system of totalitarian control and tight coordination over all aspects of society. The historian Richard J...
in Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
it was turned into a propaganda paper). Starting in the 1960s, the magazine 'Pardon' continued the satirical tradition in West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
. Later on, the magazine 'Titanic
Titanic (magazine)
Titanic is a German monthly satirical magazine based in Frankfurt. It has a circulation of approximately 100,000.- History :Titanic was founded in 1979 by former contributors and editors of Pardon, a satirical monthly, which the group had left after conflicts with its publisher...
' followed. In Socialist East Germany the satirical magazine 'Eulenspiegel' was founded which in strict limits was allowed to make fun of grievances within the GDR. 'Eulenspiegel' and 'Titanic' still exist in today's Federal Republic of Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. Titanic's satire without boundaries (which is often directed against politicians and public figures) has been the subject of numerous legal cases within Germany. However, German law is very liberal when it comes to satirical freedom. Titanic's practical jokes have also drawn some international attention: In 2000, a Titanic prank led to the award of the FIFA World Cup 2006 to Germany. In 2007, a spoof ad in the Titanic, making fun of the media phenomenon around the missing girl Madeleine McCann, has been condemned as tasteless and caused outrage in the UK.
Political Satire is also a popular theme for TV shows, 'Scheibenwischer' (now called 'Satiregipfel') being one example.
Kabarett
Another tradition in Germany is political KabarettKabarett
Kabarett is a form of cabaret which developed in Germany from 1901, with the creation of the Überbrettl venue, and that by the Weimar era in the mid 1920s was characterized by political satire and gallows humor...
, which is often seen as a special form of cabarett. Kabarett is dedicated almost completely to serious topics. Especially in former East Germany (where Kabarett stages were allowed in the larger cities) political Kabarett had some importance in opinion formation although it had to be very careful and had to create some kind of ambiguous and ironic humour with hidden messages due to censorship. East German Kabarett was tolerated to have a controlled valve for political topics. Kabarett in West Germany had more to struggle with taboos on policital themes and broke with common opinions. An episode of Scheibenwischer
Scheibenwischer
Scheibenwischer was the name of a long-running German Kabarett show. It was founded in 1980 by Dieter Hildebrandt and produced by BR / RBB to be broadcast on Das Erste...
was censored in bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
n television in 1986 while broadcasted in ARD
ARD (broadcaster)
ARD is a joint organization of Germany's regional public-service broadcasters...
.
Social critical Kabarett is often in an ambivalence between dolorousness and happyness while humour is some kind of key for controversial and critical messages. Its focus spreads from general political to very personal questions highlighting the individual being in social context and responsibility. Themes of modern Kabarett is social progress in the Berlin Republic
History of Germany since 1990
The history of Germany since 1990 spans the period following the Reunification of Germany, when West Germany and East Germany were reunited after being divided during the Cold War. Germany after 1990 is sometimes referred to as the Berlin Republic...
as there are migration, education, reforms of the social systems, mission of the Bundeswehr
Bundeswehr
The Bundeswehr consists of the unified armed forces of Germany and their civil administration and procurement authorities...
, development of the economy, ethics in politics and society and German reflexivity.
Famous Kabarett stages in Germany include:
- Die Distel (literally: The Thistle) in BerlinBerlinBerlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
- Münchner Lach- und Schießgesellschaft (literally: MunichMunichMunich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
Laugh and Shoot company referring to Wach- und Schließgesellschaft, a security company) - Leipziger Pfeffermühle (literally: LeipzigLeipzigLeipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
pepper mill) - Herkuleskeule (literally: Herkule's bat) in DresdenDresdenDresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
- Kom(m)ödchenKom(m)ödchenThe Komödchen is a cabaret stage in Düsseldorf.The Komödchen was created in 1947 as a political-literary cabaret by Kay and Lore Lorentz. Other participants in the initial program "Positiv dagegen", which had its premiere on March 29, 1947, were Werner Vielhaber, Bernd Nesselhut, Hans Walter...
in DüsseldorfDüsseldorfDüsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
Some Kabarett artists in Germany:
Classical Kabarett: Peter Ensikat, Lisa Fitz, Dieter Hildebrandt
Dieter Hildebrandt
Dieter Hildebrandt is a German Kabarett artist.Born in Bunzlau, Lower Silesia, Hildebrandt attended school until he became an assistant for the German Air Force in World War II...
, Urban Priol
Urban Priol
Urban Priol is an award-winning German cabaret artist and comedian. He is currently the host of the ZDF show Neues aus der Anstalt.-External links:* - Portrait of Priol in Der Tagesspiegel...
, Georg Schramm
Georg Schramm
Georg Schramm is a German psychologist and Kabarett artist. He was a host of the Kabarett shows Scheibenwischer and Neues aus der Anstalt.-Biography:...
Dialect Kabarett: Jürgen Becker
Jürgen Becker
Jürgen Becker is a German comedian, kabarett artist, and actor.- Life :After school in Cologne, Becker became a graphic designer in German company 4711. Later Becker studied social science in Cologne....
(Rhinelandic
Rhinelandic
Rhinelandic is a term occasionally used for linguistic varieties of a region on both sides of the Middle and Lower Rhine river in Central West Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. It has at least two distinct meanings which often can only be determined from the fine grain context in...
), Erwin Pelzig
Erwin Pelzig
Frank-Markus Barwasser is a German political satirist and journalist. On stage, he almost always acts as the character of Erwin Pelzig, wearing a corduroy hat.Barwasser grew up in Würzburg, Upper Franconia, Bavaria...
(East Franconian German
East Franconian German
East Franconian is a dialect which is spoken in northern Bavaria and other areas in Germany around Nuremberg, Bamberg, Coburg, Würzburg, Hof, Bayreuth, Bad Mergentheim, Crailsheim and Suhl...
), Olaf Schubert (Upper Saxon German
Upper Saxon German
Upper Saxon is a Central German dialect spoken in much of the modern German states of Saxony and Thuringia. Contrary to its name it is not a descendant of Old Saxon. The degree of accent varies from place to place within the states, with it being anywhere from a relatively mild accent in the...
)
Music Kabarett: Rainald Grebe, Hagen Rether
Hagen Rether
Hagen Rether is a German political cabaret artist. The most remarkable features in his performance are usually the presence and use of a grand piano and his carrying a baseball club while entering stage, then puts it on the piano before taking off his dinner jacket...
, Bodo Wartke
Between classical Kabarett and modern comedy: Eckart von Hirschhausen
Eckart von Hirschhausen
Eckart von Hirschhausen is a German physician and comedian.-Academic career:Eckart von Hirschhausen studied medicine, supported by a scholarship from the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes , at the Free University of Berlin, the University of Heidelberg and the University of London...
, Dieter Nuhr
Dieter Nuhr
Dieter Nuhr is a German comedian. From 1981 to 1989, Nuhr studied art and history at the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen. From 1982 to 1987 he attended the University of Duisburg-Essen, where he studied to become a teacher...
Carnival
German traditional "Karneval" or "Fasching" includes lots of humoristic elements. Especially the Rhineland Carnival with its fancy dresses, parades and stage shows is all about jokes and parody. However, some specific features of Carnival, especially the televised "funny" speeches, are considered dull and antiquated by many of the younger generation.Humorous dubbing
One distinct phenomenon of German humour since the emergence of television and the internet is that of dubbing or redubbing foreign language television series and movies and bring them into a completely new humorous context or one more humorous than the original. This originates in the tradition of Schnodderdeutsch or Schnoddersynchron, a form of dubbing that was invented in the 1960s by voice actor Rainer Brandt. Since American TV series and movies are highly popular in Germany and almost always receive a dubbing into German, voice actors sooner or later encounter jokes, wordplays and irony getting lost in translation. Brandt, though, began to not literally translate slang phrases in American movies into German but rather came up with phrases that were funny only in German language context, thereby altering what was actually being said in the English version to great extent. Thus, when German language did not offer a way to translate literal meaning and the humour hidden in it at the same time, choices were made to invent new jokes and contexts to maintain the humour rather than the context. As time went on, this style became more and more independent and daring, culminating in the German version of the TV series The Persuaders!The Persuaders!
The Persuaders! is a 1971 action/adventure series, produced by ITC Entertainment for initial broadcast on ITV and ABC. It has been called "the last major entry in the cycle of adventure series that had begun eleven years earlier with Danger Man in 1960", as well as "the most ambitious and most...
being a success in Germany while the English language version was a flop in the United States. This was due to the vast changes that the program underwent during the German dubbing process, that under Brandt's supervision transformed the show into a much more comedy-oriented spy persiflage contrasting the more subdued, mild humour of the English language original. A quite astounding, exemplar Schnoddersynchron has been performed with Monty Python's Die Ritter der Kokosnuss (that is, Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Monty Python and the Holy Grail is a 1974 British comedy film written and performed by the comedy group Monty Python , and directed by Gilliam and Jones...
) where the initial dialogue will contain phrases such as: "Heda! Wer reitet so spät durch Nacht und Wind" (Hey yo! who rides there so late through the night dark and drear?, parody of a poem by Goethe with music by Schubert, the Erlkönig) or "Ich habe den Sachsen das Angeln beigebracht, seitdem heißen sie Angelsachsen" (I taught the Saxons how to fish/angle, and they're called Anglo-Saxons ever since) etc. which have no ground whatsoever in the original.
Yet, Schnoddersynchron has become rare nowadays with primarily comedic programs employing it for practical reasons, like the German dub of Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mystery Science Theater 3000 is an American cult television comedy series created by Joel Hodgson and produced by Best Brains, Inc., that ran from 1988 to 1999....
's feature film, Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie
Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie
Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie is a 1996 theatrical adaptation of the television series Mystery Science Theater 3000, produced and set between seasons 6 and 7 of the show. It was released by Gramercy Pictures and Best Brains with distribution held by Universal Pictures...
. Because the German dubbing of This Island Earth, the movie spoofed by this film, already varied greatly from the English original, a huge portion of the original jokes commenting the film became obsolete. To deal with this matter, a group of German comedians (Oliver Kalkofe
Oliver Kalkofe
Oliver Kalkofe is a German satirist, columnist, book author and actor.- Career :Kalkofe grew up in Langenhagen-Engelbostel near Hanover and in Peine...
, Oliver Welke
Oliver Welke
Oliver Welke is a German television presenter, actor, comedian and television journalist.- Life :Welke studied journalism at University of Münster. In 1993 he finished his university studies. Welke works on German television. Since May 2009 Welke is part of comedy team heuteshow on German...
, among others) were assigned to create a dub that better addressed the German version of the spoofed film. This version, therefore, was actually ment to in parts differ from the original text and in consequence was also given the freedom of making heavy use of references to German culture, like Servo finding an issue of German children's magazine Yps
YPS
YPS may refer to:*Yadavindra Public School, Patiala*Port Hawkesbury Airport, the IATA airport code*Yps, a German comic*Yellow prussiate of soda, another name for sodium ferrocyanide, an anticaking agent used in salt...
in his room and the group alluding to the music of German organist Franz Lambert
Franz Lambert
Franz Lambert is a German composer and organist. He is an avid Hammond organ player, however he is more noted in later years for playing the Wersi range of electronic organs...
during the opening credits. On other occasions, though, puns addressing the films visuals or meant for moments in which the English and German text of the original movie actually coincide were translated literally most of the time, as far as the humour could be transported.
Apart from comedic films and programs, German internet culture has developed the tradition further into so-called Fandub
Fandub
A fandub is a fan-made dub or redub of a production, typically completely altering dialogues, story plots and personalities of protagonists in a funny way...
s. A more recent popular example of these fan-made dubs is the viral internet video Lord of the Weed, a redub of the first hour of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, interpreting the pipe smoking Hobbits as drug addicts who go on a journey to find a ring that can produce endless amounts of cannabis. Before Lord of the Weed, Sinnlos im Weltraum mocked Star Trek - The Next Generation in a similar way. The use of local dialects and customs can also be observed here. Occasionally even original German programs are being redubbed and brought into humorous context, like a TV commercial accompanying the advertising campaign Du bist Deutschland. A later foray of German television into humorous dubbing was the Harald Schmidt Show mocking scenes from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves is a 1991 American adventure film directed by Kevin Reynolds. Kevin Costner heads the cast list as Robin Hood...
that made Robin Hood seem rather ignoble, him suggesting in front of his fellows to stop robbing and raping strong people and rather stick to the weak, sick and disabled.
See also
- Anti-German sentimentAnti-German sentimentAnti-German sentiment is defined as an opposition to or fear of Germany, its inhabitants, and the German language. Its opposite is Germanophilia.-Russia:...
- East German jokes
- German television comedyGerman television comedyGermany has a long tradition of television comedy stretching as far back as the 1950s, and with its origins in cabaret and radio.-1960s:*1963: Der 90. Geburtstag is a comedy sketch recorded on July 8, 1963 at Theater am Besenbinderhof in front of a real audience by Norddeutscher Rundfunk...
- Cologne Comedy FestivalCologne Comedy FestivalThe Cologne Comedy Festival is an international comedy festival held in Cologne, Germany every year since 1991. The festival initially started by importing comedians from around the world. During the 1990s, stand-up comedy became popular with young German audiences, who had experienced humor...
- List of German language comedians
- StereotypeStereotypeA stereotype is a popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals. The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings...
- KabarettKabarettKabarett is a form of cabaret which developed in Germany from 1901, with the creation of the Überbrettl venue, and that by the Weimar era in the mid 1920s was characterized by political satire and gallows humor...
- British humourBritish humourBritish humour is a somewhat general term applied to certain comedic motifs that are often prevalent in comedic acts originating in the United Kingdom and its current or former colonies...
- American humour
External links
- Allo Allo dubbed into German 1 (April 2008)
- Allo Allo dubbed into German 2 (April 2008)
- Stewart LeeStewart LeeStewart Lee is an English stand-up comedian, writer and director known for being one half of the 1990s comedy duo Lee and Herring, and for co-writing and directing the critically acclaimed and controversial stage show Jerry Springer - The Opera...
, The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, 23 May 2006, "Lost in translation" and a comment on this article in the Language Log - Chicago based researcher Josh Schonwald on German Humour
- "It's almost Comedy Central: German humor has ties to the past..." By Paulette Tobin, published in the Grand Forks HeraldGrand Forks HeraldThe Grand Forks Herald is a daily broadsheet newspaper, begun in 1879, published in Grand Forks, North Dakota. It is the primary daily paper for northeast North Dakota and northwest Minnesota. Its average daily circulation is 34,763 on Sundays and 31,524 on weekdays...
, August 22, 1999, page E1