The best bit of German comedy of all times feat. languages!

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German comedy is not particularly good in general, compared to the great Anglo-American tradition.

One exception, maybe the only, is Hape Kerkeling, whose active phase seems to have been in past decades.

I heartily recommend him and his characters Horst Schlämmer, Evje van Dampen etc to all interested in this rarity of good German comedy. He is not only a jester, but also very talented musically and linguistically, including songs and accent parodies. I gather he speaks English and Dutch perfectly, and probably some of the Romance languages.

Here the wonderful bit of self-deprecating humour, and pretty good accent performance:

Hape Kerkeling - Deutsche im Ausland Petersplatz Durchsage

St. Peter’s square announcement
English
French
Italian
Spanish
Fake Polish/Slavic
Fake Danish/Norse
Dutch
ACHTUNG ACHTUNG!

Can any speakers of Polish and Danish tell if some of it is real, or is it just complete fake gibberish? The others seem to be close to correct, mostly.

Also if someone is aware of other German comedians or bits that are really good, please post.

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He is hilarious. Does Polish sound like Russian? One of the languages sounded Russian to my ears. I may be wrong.

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Speaking from a Russian C1 Slovak A2 Ukrainian A2 perspective, and only superficial impressions of the others, the phonetics of what he’s spoofing sound very Polish to me,. Def not Russian. I don’t hear any real Slavic words in there after “Atentie”.

Also, thinking about it, a Polish catholic pope announcement makes more sense than a Russian one, maybe :wink:

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I can tell you that his parody of our Viennese accent and mood is SPOT ON
Slightly drunk and arrogant, depressed, wailing, and deeply ironically dry:
Hape Kerkeling - Zugabe-Song “Winterszeit in Wien”

Knowing nothing about Finnish, his legendary Finnish song, is pure brilliance:
Hape Kerkeling - Finnland-Song “Nauvravat Silmät muistetan”

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Lyrics to “Winterszeit in Wien”:

Viennese Bavarian dialect coloured German
Standard German
English

Steht da Raureif auf den Stroßn
Steht der Raureif auf den Straßen
Stands the soft rime on the streets

friat da Dropfn auf da Nosn
friert der Tropfen auf der Nase
freezes the drop on the nose

Steht da Raureif auf am Wein
Steht der Raureif auf einem Wein
Stands the soft rime on a wine

konns ka guada Dropfn sein
kann’s kein guter Tropfen sein
it can’t be a good drop

Koit is wuan. Jo, koit is wuan.
Kalt ist es geworden. Ja, kalt ist es geworden.
It got cold. Yeah, it got cold.

Aus dem Gulli dampft die Scheiße
same
Out of the manhole steams the shit

Auf den Straßen fressn’s Maronen heiße
same
On the streets they’re feeding on hot chestnuts (like animals)

Erboch’ner Glühwein am Straßenrand
same
vomited Glühwein on the curb

Hom’s gleich am Geruch erkannt
Haben es gleich am Geruch erkannt
we recognized it immediately by the smell

[Ses Winterzeit x3 in Wean] x2
Es ist Winterzeit in Wien
It’s wintertime in Vienna

A Fiaker foat iba a Katzn
Eine Kutsche fährt über eine Katze
a horse carriage runs over a cat

und die Katzn, die duad Blatzn
und die Katze, die tut Platzen
and the cat, it does burst

Heraus fliegen Hirn und Gedärm
same
out fly brains and guts

gö, da kömma uns schön wärm
gell, da können wir uns schön wärmen
we can warm up over this nicely, right?

Mei Muata woa a Rentnerin
Meine Mutter war eine Rentnerin
my mother was a pensioner

die zog’s immer zum Prater hin
same
it always drew her to the Prater (park)

doch on der koidn Jahreszeit
doch in der kalten Jahreszeit
but in the cold season

schaffte sie’s nicht mehr so weit
same
she didn’t make it that far anymore

sie’s erfroan auf hoiba Strecken
Sie’s erfrohren auf halber Strecke
she froze to death halfway

sie tat beim Südbahnhof verrecken
same
she perished around Railway Station South

[Ses Winterzeit x3 in Wean] x2
Es ist Winterzeit in Wien
It’s wintertime in Vienna

yodeling

SERVUS!

Did I forget to write macabre, when descibing Vienna spirit?

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I couldn’t understand a word apart from first word “atencje atencje” that is false friends with english. In most slavic languages it means “care” and not attention.
To my ear it started sounding slovenian and then went russian.

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It’s kind of like saying that Spanish sounds Italian.
Well - yes, but no.
Polish shares many sounds with european Portugese in my opinion

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I remembered another legendary piece of comedy!

In the unlikely event, that someone with a high level of German wants to shred their brain by enjoying 80 minutes straight of heavy Viennese Bavarian dialect:

ALFRED DORFER / SCHLABARETT Atompilz von links

It is a 1985 satirical play, critically parodying the military, from what would be the equivalent of an “anti-war piece movement” point of view. Absoluter Kult!

It has two of the few better Austrian comedians in their early glory days.

  1. Alfred Dorfer
  2. early Roland Düringer
  3. Michael Niavarani
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