"Of course the Germans have as much a sense of humour as any other people...

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Penguin

IAnd Shakespeare is as funny as MP?
Maybe I should try to read him again.

And right in the middle of one of his histories, no less. In fact Python stole that routine from old Will.

"Truly, my name is Cinna."

"Tear him to pieces; he's a conspirator!"

"I am Cinna the poet! I am Cinna the poet!"

"Tear him for his bad verses!"
http://www.shakespeare-literature.co...Caesar/10.html

Not to mention his several comedies. I highly recommend the Franco Zefferelli version of The Taming Of The Shrew, with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.

[Penguin]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

And right in the middle of one of his histories, no less. In fact Python stole that routine from old Will.

"Truly, my name is Cinna."

"Tear him to pieces; he's a conspirator!"

"I am Cinna the poet! I am Cinna the poet!"

"Tear him for his bad verses!"
http://www.shakespeare-literature.co...Caesar/10.html

Not to mention his several comedies. I highly recommend the Franco Zefferelli version of The Taming Of The Shrew, with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.

What the school failed to accomplish, does Steve: Alright, I will check out Shaky!

My tip of the day: Spike Mulligan's Puckoon. This was also definitely an inspiration for Monty Python, sadly a nearly unknown author in Germany. The British also made a film of this book some years ago, don't know if it's good though.

[Bilge_Rat]

British humour about the Germans:








(apologies to my German friends )

[SquareSteelBar]

There're so many variations of humor in the world.
One of my favorites is the British humor. In Germany Monty Python, Benny Hill, Mr. Bean etc. are very well liked. They got nearly a cultic state.

Loriot* [real name: Victor von Bülow] was one of the best german humorists. His main target was the german philistinism which was very distinctive until circa the end of the seventies of the last century.
The name 'Loriot' is the French word for 'golden oriole'; the bird is a part of his family crest.

Originally Posted by nikimcbee

...Monolog of a drunk



Efin Shifrin...

There's a german guy named 'Olaf Böhme' who does something similar. He personifies 'Der betrunkene Sachse' ['The Drunken Saxon']:



Very funny...


*BTW:
surely you all know the movie 'The Longest Day'. In this movie there're two short sequences wherein you can see 'Loriot' as a german officer when he was a very young actor...


.

[Catfish]

Originally Posted by Bilge_Rat

British humour about the Germans:

(apologies to my German friends )

How comes you think you had any ?

B.t.w. John Cleese was really making fun about his fellow-english people and their stereotypic perceptance of germans. At least he said so in an english interview

Greetings,
Catfish

[Torplexed]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

Not to mention his several comedies. I highly recommend the Franco Zefferelli version of The Taming Of The Shrew, with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.

The funny thing is that one of my favorite episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000 lampoons a dark, dreary version of Shakespeare's Hamlet made in 1960 for West German television. The best of both worlds.

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by Penguin

And Shakespeare is as funny as MP?

In my high school all the English & literature classes used to do a yearly field trip to the Cincinnati Playhouse, they would put on matinees of "classic" plays for all the local school systems.

One year they did "Twelfth Night." I didn't think Shakespearean comedy was LOL funny from just reading it off the page... but you must remember that, just like the tragedies, those works were meant to be performed - not read. And I think the comedy in particular loses something without the live performance. But anyway - seeing that production completely changed my appreciation for Shakespeare as a comedic playwright, because what happened was that an entire theater of high school kids, most of whom would never in a million years read Shakespeare given the choice, ended up falling out of their seats laughing at that performance. It was AWESOME.

And may I also recommend: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107616/

It's been a while since I've seen it but I remember finding it most amusing.

[jumpy]

[Skybird]

I read that you Brits laugh a lot about Wehn.

Shows me how very much different the two of us are! Can't laugh about him.

Longer time ahgo, he had a small radio show in a local radiostation here in my hometown Münster. It got cancelled quickly, since numbers dropped quickly and then nobody listened anymore at all.

[jumpy]

I think one of the reason us englanders like Wehn is because he plays on the english/german/german/english thing.... sort of 'don't mention the war' humour, he makes fun of us and himself.
We brits like self-depreciating comedy.
It's a bit like 'wooo! look how great we used to be! ...er, oh... hmmm...'

[Herr-Berbunch]

Originally Posted by Skybird

Longer time ahgo, he had a small radio show in a local radiostation here in my hometown Münster. It got cancelled quickly, since numbers dropped quickly and then nobody listened anymore at all.

I think that is the same for most comedians, the ones here in the UK are great on film or live on stage, but just about all who've tried to do a radio show fail miserably. I'll often be browsing through podcasts and see a funnyman's name and after five minutes I switch off.

Wehn must be funny, as he's the German Comedy Ambassador , surely no German would've made-up such nonsense, it must have come from some higher command.

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Catfish

B.t.w. John Cleese was really making fun about his fellow-english people and their stereotypic perceptance of germans. At least he said so in an english interview

I would have thought that was obvious. Fawlty Towers was all about making fun of the stereotypical bigoted pompous, clueless Brit. Just as All In The Family was all about making fun of the stereotypical bigoted, pompous clueless Yank.

And of course the stereotype in both cases is only partly true, but funny nonetheless.

[Penguin]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

I would have thought that was obvious. Fawlty Towers was all about making fun of the stereotypical bigoted pompous, clueless Brit. Just as All In The Family was all about making fun of the stereotypical bigoted, pompous clueless Yank.

And of course the stereotype in both cases is only partly true, but funny nonetheless.

We had our very own "All In The Family" during the 70s, called "Ein Herz und Eine Seele".

This cool guy was its main character:


Afaik there are no English subs available, also this is very German specific humor, with the clash between the "reactionary WW2 generation" and the upcoming "progressive '68 generation" - (both names intentionally set in quotation marks by me)