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Dinner for one: A little-known British comedy famous in Germany

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Re: Dinner for one: A little-known British comedy famous in Germany

#151

Post by Sharlin »

vlz wrote: post #49
antihero wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do people drink along with it? Is it on TV or is a vaguely good copy available.

I‘m sure some people are drinking along with James the Butler (quite a feat) but that is not widespread. It is on TV each year but I would be surprised if many people aren‘t watching via YouTube.

Several years ago, some friends at my then uni started organizing a special sittning [1] on the New Year's Eve, where the idea is simply to watch Dinner for One when it's broadcast and to drink the four served drinks in sync with Miss Sophie. For added challenge one can decide to go either "half" or "full James". It's something of a hilarious deconstruction of the entire concept of sittning, normally a three-course dinner party lasting several hours and featuring plenty of drinking songs and often other entertainment.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sittning#Student_sittning

Re: Dinner for one: A little-known British comedy famous in Germany

#152

Post by jll29 »

mbg721 wrote: post #129

This is a week after the crowd is already warmed up by die Feuerzangenbowle, right?

In some German universities, on December 6 (St. Nicolaus' Day) the movie "Die Feuerzangenbowle is" shown in auditorium maximum and tradition has it that students brew live fire tongs punch in the back rows.

Re: Dinner for one: A little-known British comedy famous in Germany

#154

Post by sails »

wernsey wrote: post #73

Growing up here in South Africa, my parents and their friends also had a tradition of watching this (recorded on VHS) on New Year's Eve. I always assumed it was just a thing among my parent's friend group

I wonder why, maybe influence of German heritage South Africans?

This was part of my childhood, and I presumed it must be a British influenced thing.

Re: Dinner for one: A little-known British comedy famous in Germany

#156

Post by cycomanic »

Simran-B wrote: post #61
erk__ wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some yeas back a DR2 made a satirical parody of it called the 80 years birthday (in Danish it is called "the 90 years birthday") where all the characters was played by a series of Danish comedians https://youtu.be/H07O6j6-6vQ

Thanks for sharing! I didn't know Dinner for One is a thing elsewhere in Europe, and even had parodies. There are also some German adaptations, like the one with Anette Frier and Ralf Schmitz (two well-known comedians). It's in _kölsch_, the dialect spoken in the Cologne area - which is quite fun to listen to, at least for Germans: https://youtu.be/yGUo9VfbxnE

A lot of famous comedians have played one version of it (often live ans Theater plays, which I believe is also true for the original). Here is a version with Otto: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4iCGdURpd4

There are also several platt versions (a dialekt spoken in the north which is actually more like a separate language)

Re: Dinner for one: A little-known British comedy famous in Germany

#157

Post by drfuchs »

lqet wrote: post #90

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?

Re: Dinner for one: A little-known British comedy famous in Germany

#159

Post by Barrin92 »

sebmellen wrote: post #140
pm3003 wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Being German I think our political satire is really good. Kabarett/Cabaret is huge and has a long tradition and it's often uniquely dark and has a lot of gallows humor compared to other places. We also I think have one of the largest poetry slam communities. Everything that comes out of the performing arts scene really is pretty solid.

But popular television type comedians here are really bad and cringeworthy. Much worse than in Britain or the US. Kind of like music in that way. Popular music in Germany is bad compared to across the pond and most of the good stuff is more niche.

Re: Dinner for one: A little-known British comedy famous in Germany

#160

Post by martinclayton »

dusted wrote: post #4

Here in Denmark, it's new years tradition to watch this on NYE, it's about as important as the Queens new years address. Also, it _NEVER_ stops being fun* [*] Legally required to hold this opinion.

First time I (Brit) saw it was Christmas at my mother-in-laws in Denmark in about 1998. They couldn’t believe I didn’t know it.
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