A highlight of the WDR political magazine Zak was an extremely grumpy appearance by the SPD grand designer Hans-Jochen Vogel at the beginning of the nineties. “They were funnier,” he certified the moderator Friedrich Küppersbusch. When asked, he replied brusquely: “You have already played everything.” The cause of the anger were the rubber dolls on the satire show Hurray Germany – their bird version at Zak the real bird didn’t like it at all.
Hurray Germany was from 1989 to 1991 the first attempt at a German version of the British series Spitting image to establish in Germany. At that time, despite Vogel’s anger, she seemed harmless compared to the extremely vicious role model in which Maggie Thatcher sucked the blood of the people as a vampire. Measured against German humor standards, however, the format was solid. Now there is another attempt Spitting image to establish in Germany. After the channels ITV – on which the original version ran in the eighties – and the BBC presented a new British edition a year ago, it premiered on Thursday Spitting Image – The Krauts Edition at Sky Comedy. The twenty-minute programs can also be seen on Sky Ticket and on demand.
Armin Laschet? Well made. Heidi Klum? Consists almost entirely of teeth.
Compared to Hurray Germany It should be noted that the dolls look much better, they have the quality of the original figures. Armin Laschet’s crumpled Aachen garden gnome look is just as good as Angela Merkel’s vertical mouth folds. In terms of content, however, there is no great upgrade to 30 years ago. A Heidi Klum, consisting almost entirely of teeth, moderates “Germany’s Next Top-Poliddiker” with a sinus-stimulating high voice. The choices here are Laschet, who can’t stop laughing since he became a candidate for chancellor, a – of course – a Janker-wearing Markus Söder and an Ursula von der Leyen with gigantic upturned hair, who takes notes for a cursed speech in Turkish President Erdogan makes (keyword: sofa scandal). The puns are on the level of “Not so, lasch-et!”, As a slapstick insert, Söder tricks the CDU candidate for chancellor. Söder is made to walk straight ahead when Klum holds a white sausage (not even a Nuremberg bratwurst) under his nose. Annalena Baerbock is made fit for chancellor by Klum using a “makeover” to transform her into, well, Merkel.
Armin Laschet and Markus Söder as we know them.
(Photo: Mark Harrison / Sky Germany)
Merkel and Baerbock rap in latex clothes behind the doors of the Chancellery, whereby Merkel Laschet points out: “I’ve been at the start for 16 years, have what you don’t have, call me Obi-Wan, have the power!” In a separate room, an Alice Weidel doll whips an Adolf Hitler doll. In the end, however, Klums will be more Cuban than Chancellor Top model-Colleague Jorge González. None of this really wants to ignite. Part of this may be due to the fact that the news cycle has become so fast that some links are no longer understood. The main problem of this German Spitting imageBut the offshoot is that he lacks really funny ideas (Olaf Scholz as Smurf?). Even well-made dolls cannot compensate for this.
Spitting Image – The Krauts Edition at Sky Ticket.