1963: Der 90. Geburtstag (Dinner for One) is a comedy sketch recorded on 8 July 1963 at Theater am Besenbinderhof in front of a real audience by
Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR). Although it is actually performed in English, it is considered a
cult television classic in Germany and it is still an integral component of the
New Year's Eve schedule at several German television stations.
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) and
Loriot (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 the
German 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 starring
Rudi Carrell, on
ARD
1967 – 1972: Cartoon sketch show starring
Loriot, on
ARD
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 political
satire. This caused trouble in 1987 when Carrell cut together footage of
Ayatollah Khomeni with shots of veiled women throwing their knickers. The outraged
Iranian government responded by expelling two German diplomats and closing the
Goethe 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 by
Guido Cantz, runs on
ARD
1980 – 1990: WWF Club, show with sketches, interviews, off-the-cuff humour, presented by
Jürgen von der Lippe on
ARD
1981: So ein Otto and Ein neues Programm mit Otto Waalkes, starring
Otto, on
WDR; much repeated.
The 1990s saw female comedians appearing in more prominent roles; whereas actresses such as
Evelyn Hamann in the '70s or
Iris Berben in the '80s usually played a main character's wife or girlfriend, now women such as
Esther Schweins,
Tanja Schumann,
Anke Engelke and
Hella von Sinnen made a name for themselves in more independent roles, although still mostly as part of larger casts.
since 1996: WWW – Die witzigsten Werbespots der Welt, clip and comedy show presented first by
Fritz Egner and since 2005 by
Ingo Oschmann, on
Sat.1; Ingo won the 2003 final of
Star Search in
Germany as best comedy performer.
1997–2000: Switch, a TV parody with Michael Müller, Peter Nottmeier and others, on
Pro Sieben
1999–2015: TV total, late night television comedy talk show, created, produced and hosted by
Stefan Raab, on
Pro Sieben
Since 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 and
Elton.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 the
laugh track, such as
Stromberg (similar to The Office) or the sitcom
Pastewka.
since 2000: Night Wash: live
stand-up comedy show for upcoming new comedians, filmed in a real
laundrette, ran on
WDR and
ARD until 2007; since then on
Comedy Central Germany (which started broadcasting in 2007).
2002 – 2004, again since 2008: Ladykracher, comedy sketch series starring
Anke Engelke, on
Sat. 1; Anke won a
Rose d'Or as best comedy performer in the series
2002 – 2009:
Sechserpack, comedy sketch show with six actors including the British-German
Emily Wood, on
Sat.1
2003 – 2011: Genial daneben – Die Comedy Arena presented by
Hugo Egon Balder on
Sat. 1 (one of first
improvised shows, set off a series of other improvisation-based shows)
2006 – 2009: Die ProSieben Märchenstunde ('ProSieben Fairy Tale Hour') comedy series featuring a changing cast of German and Austrian comedians and satirising fairy tale classics
since 2007: Switch reloaded, the sequel of Switch with partially same staff, on
Pro Sieben.
since 2009: heute-show a late-night satirical television program airing on public broadcasting channel
ZDF; a conceptual adaptation of
The Daily Show with
Jon Stewart; being presented by comedian and journalist
Oliver Welke
since 2010: Der letzte Bulle ('The last cop') a comedy-drama series centered about a cop, portrayed by
Henning Baum, from the 1980s put into a modern police department in
Essen
since 2011: Der Tatortreiniger ('Crime Scene Cleaner'), chamber-play comedy featuring
Bjarne Mädel, with only one or two other actors, who change each episode, on
NDR Fernsehen; it is also broadcast in France and the USA
since 2012: Nicht nachmachen! ('Don't Do This!'), a comedy-documentary television series that airs on
ZDF and
ZDFneo presented by
Wigald Boning and
Bernhard Hoëcker defying the warnings and restrictions on various items to see what happens when they do
Sources
Much of this article is taken from information on the
German language Wikipedia (articles on comedians and comedy programmes).