Media library
“Faking Bad” – the new show with Oliver Kalkofe
Oliver Kalkofe’s new format “Faking Bad – Better than the Truth” can be seen in the ARD media library from the end of June. Photo
© Annette Riedl/dpa
Oliver Kalkofe invites fellow comedians to his show “Faking Bad”. The result is a mixture of “Nobody’s Perfect” and “Genial daneben”.
Bizarre answers to unusual questions – she is looking Oliver Kalkofe (58) in his new show “Faking Bad – Better than the Truth”. The format can be seen in the ARD media library from June 27th and will then be broadcast on television in July.
The aim of the game is to think up false answers and deceive the other candidates with these fakes. Torsten Sträter, Oliver Welke, Laura Karasek and Michael Kessler are taking part in the first episode.
The concept of the show, produced in the Burda studios in Munich, is reminiscent of the party game “Nobody is perfect”, but also of the show “Genial daneben” with Hugo Egon Balder, which was broadcast on Sat.1 for years.
“Television is a pure chain of theft”
For Kalkofe, this also brings things full circle. “I was involved in the pilot of “Genial daneben” at the time, which was actually supposed to go to ZDF. But the comedians weren’t trusted to speak freely without books and without written jokes. There were too many concerns, the show went to Sat.1, and it turned out: of course it works, very well in fact! And now everyone is doing it,” said Kalkofe in an interview with the German Press Agency. “But everyone steals from everyone else anyway, television is a pure chain of theft, that’s in its nature.”
But “Faking Bad” is not a copy, Kalkofe stressed. He “thought about what I liked about the many shows that already exist, what I liked and what I was missing,” he said. “I always thought “Genial daneben” was great, but in the end it was about nothing and often fell apart in content. Quizzes are always interesting, but rarely funny. And in general I missed the battle idea, the bluffing and fighting with each other, like in “LOL”. From that I developed a game that I simply wanted to play and see myself.”
Format with “corners and edges”
One change in “Faking Bad” is the competitive nature. It’s not just about creative answers, but also about exposing the wrong answers and those who made them up and keeping your own points account as full as possible.
“With all new formats, it is extremely important not to immediately smooth out the rough edges that make it so special. However, all broadcasters are generally very concerned that new ideas could scare away the audience – which is completely wrong, because it is precisely the new and different that attracts viewers,” Kalkofe told the dpa. “I don’t think you always have to reach absolutely everyone, there is already enough programming for those without high expectations. And that is exactly what I don’t do.”