201–210 of 229 posts
German here - New Year's Eve preparations are nearly done. The Raclette is ready, and I have prepared "Do-it-yourself Mr. Bean" and "Dinner for One" for repeated re-watching. My 3 year old loves it, as I did when I was 3, and as my parents did when they were 3 in the 60ies. The same procedure as every year.
And how old were each of you when you caught on to the slightly risqué punchline?
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"the movie is set on NYE" Is it? I don't recall anything to suggest that. The title in German in "The 90th birthday".
It's a frequent misconception that it is set on NYE, since one of the guests (Mr. Pomeroy) says "Happy New Year Miss Sophie" in one of his toasts. But this is intended to be a joke, that the butler James is drunk enough to believe for a moment that it is NYE.
This is a week after the crowd is already warmed up by die Feuerzangenbowle, right?
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James assists Miss Sophie to “retire”. The same procedure as every year. wink wink
And furthermore, presumably poor old James has to perform the duties of all the four deceased friends of Miss Sophie that night. Same procedure as every year, James.
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Germans stereotypically have a conceptual intelligence. If something is good, they will like it. This is why they like badly-translated US sitcoms so much when there's a laugh track. This is why the French sell so much bad-tier wines in fancy bottles (even if you know the producer and the wine, don't buy it in Germany unless you've tasted it or it's certified like AOC). This is why their sense of humour is so...stran…
I’m German-American, and I would say I am culturally much more American than German, but I find German comedy quite funny. I think it is much more observational and satirical than US standup comedy, but it’s also more biting, which makes it funny in a more self reflective way. German comedy seems to play the role of a court jester speaking uncomfortable truths through humor. American comedy to me is much more surface…
Not to forget the German TV tradition of watching the "Die Hard" sequel over Christmas on public television.
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To be fair, he used to be huge in the 80s, 90s, with Knight Rider and Baywatch being essential TV shows for every kid. Now I guess he's just a washed out actor, I didn't even realize he's still touring
If you've been raised in Germany a long time ago, you can watch this Hasselhoff/Reim duet to realise your advanced age... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoa9HfWIx6I
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I’m German-American, and I would say I am culturally much more American than German, but I find German comedy quite funny. I think it is much more observational and satirical than US standup comedy, but it’s also more biting, which makes it funny in a more self reflective way. German comedy seems to play the role of a court jester speaking uncomfortable truths through humor. American comedy to me is much more surface…
That is embodied very well in the Fastnacht (Carneval), especially of the Mainz and southern German variants (Cologne is a little bit more "Kokelores"), with many acts with biting political satire and commentary.