German humour is the conventions of comedy and its cultural meaning within the country of Germany. German humour encompasses traditions such as Kabarett and other forms of satire as well as more recent trends such as TV shows and stand-up comedy.
Culture
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.[1]
Loriot, an icon of refined German humour († 2011)Humour through syntactic ambiguity: the sentence depicted is intended to mean "this area is under video surveillance by the police to prevent crimes", but also means "this area is under video surveillance to prevent crimes committed by the police".
Alan Dundes in his book Life Is Like a Chicken Coop Ladder: A Portrait of German Culture Through Folklore suggests that the prominence of scatological humour in German culture stems from the "Teutonic parents' overemphasis on cleanliness".[2]
Another example of German political satire getting international recognition was the 2016 Böhmermann affair, when German satirist Jan Böhmermann caused a political affair and diplomatic dispute between Germany and Turkey after reading an experimental poem that insulted Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on his show Neo Magazin Royale. This followed a music video titled "Erdowie, Erdowo, Erdoğan" in another German satire show, Extra 3, which also was heavily criticized in Turkey and prompted Ankara to summon the German ambassador.
From a series of woodcuts dated to 1545, usually referred to in German as the Papstspotbilder or Papstspottbilder, and in English as Depictions of the Papacy,[5] by Lucas Cranach, commissioned by Martin Luther.[6] Title: Kissing the Pope's Feet.[a] German peasants respond to a papal bull of Pope Paul III. Caption reads: "Don't frighten us Pope, with your ban, and don't be such a furious man. Otherwise we shall turn around and show you our rears."[b][7]
Germans being stiff and humorless and German humor being dull and dry has become a popular German stereotype. There are many pop cultural references to the perceived lack of humor in Germany, a notable example being the South Park episode Funnybot.
In a popular but criticised article in 2006, English comedian Stewart Lee put forward the theory that misconceptions about German humour among English speakers might derive from differences between the English and German languages. In German, new ideas are often named by creating compounds, sometimes resulting in long, quite specific words. Some English-language jokes, according to Lee, do not translate well because German grammar is different from that of English and there is not always a direct translation for a delayed punchline, one of the most common joke formats for English speakers,[8] and such language-based humour.
There has been harsh criticism of Lee's views, especially from academics. Linguist Mark Liberman states that in trying to eliminate stereotypes about German humour, Lee himself falls victim to "ethnic prejudice and [...] incoherent linguistic analyses" by basing his "opinions on unsupported and unexamined national stereotypes". Liberman also finds many possibilities for a "pull back and reveal" joke structure in German language.[9]
↑15. November 2007, STREIT UM SCHMIDT & POCHER Rettet das Nazometer! Henryk M. Broder, in Der Spiegel ("Conflict about Schmidt & Pocher: Save the Nazometer").
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