German humour

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 are fewer opportunities 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

Stone louse (female)

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.

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 Lessing 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).

Modern terminology

Atze Schröder, a German comedian on a live show 2010

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 law, 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.

British stereotyping

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, Spiegel 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")[1].

Language

German language's finesse offers a sort of unintentional humour through ambiguity: The sentence above is intended to mean: This area is video-observed by the police to prevent crimes but can also be understood as This area is video-observed to prevent crimes committed by the police.

German-language humour is, for linguistic reasons, constructed differently to English-language humour (e.g., British humour 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.

Example from East German political humour: "The train announcer at the main station was imprisoned!" - "Why?" - "He announced 'Please step back/abdicate!' as Erich Honecker'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 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.

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 Pfennig 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 banana 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 Nations initiated a poll 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 Iceman 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 Frisians (Ostfriesen) (East Frisians are a people living in East Frisia, 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? 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 (Beamte). Within jokes, they are considered slow and lazy, doing a nearly useless job in the bureaucracy.

Example: Three in a room and one is working, what's that? - Two officials and a fan.

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 Luftwaffe 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 Manta, 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 lore. 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 Sylvester'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).

Political satire

Magazines

Germany has a longstanding satirical 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.

Kabarett

Another tradition in Germany is political Kabarett, 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 bavarian television in 1986 while broadcasted in ARD.

Social critical Kabarett is often in an ambivalence between dolorousness and happiness 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:

• Die Distel (literally: The Thistle) in Berlin
• Münchner Lach- und Schießgesellschaft (literally: Munich Laugh and Shoot company referring to Wach- und Schließgesellschaft, a security company)
• Leipziger Pfeffermühle (literally: Leipzig pepper mill)
• Herkuleskeule (literally: Herkule's bat) in Dresden
• Kom(m)ödchen in Düsseldorf

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

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! 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 Fandubs. 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 bewildered fellows to stop robbing and raping strong people and rather stick to the weak, sick and disabled, who are easier to assault as they can hardly defend themselves.

See also

• Anti-German sentiment
• East German jokes
• German television comedy
• Cologne Comedy Festival
• List of German language comedians
• Stereotype
• Kabarett
• British humour
• American humour

External links

• Allo Allo dubbed into German 1 (April 2008)
• Allo Allo dubbed into German 2 (April 2008)
• Stewart Lee, The Guardian, 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 Herald, August 22, 1999, page E1