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Joko Winterscheidt: climate instead of slapstick
Joko Winterscheidt is about the global climate crisis. photo
© Paul Ripke/prime video/dpa
With Klamauk and Klaas, Joko Winterscheidt has come a long way in the entertainment industry. For his new project, he breaks with many expectations – and it works.
In his long show career, Joko Winterscheidt (44) was primarily concerned with entertainment. With his TV partner Klaas Heufer-Umlauf (39), he still presents all kinds of slapstick. The streaming giant Amazon Prime Video initially played with this image when it announced the new Joko project a few weeks ago. It’s called “The World’s Most Dangerous Show” and it’s been available since June 7th.
In a short clip, the presenter and show band could be seen in a studio and spoke of “daring stunts, absurd competitions and pointless celebrity games”. The surprise was all the greater when it became known a little later what was really going on: namely the global climate crisis.
“I’ve been entertaining for almost 20 years, so I push my limits, my own, those of good taste and beyond,” explains the 44-year-old at the beginning of the first episode. “Nevertheless, one question arose for me: Maybe I never went far enough.”
“Hopes and Ideas”
Images of floods in Italy, forest fires in the USA or drought in Namibia follow. The consequences of the climate crisis are felt everywhere. He wanted to look for “hopes and ideas” in the climate documentary.
First of all, it’s about technologies that could stop the climate crisis – a solar car from California or a device in Iceland that sucks CO2 out of the atmosphere. In another episode, climate activist Luisa Neubauer and farmer Thomas Dorsch, who works for meat giant Tönnies, debate sustainable nutrition over dinner.
This mixture of school instructional film and entertainment elements could introduce the topic to many young people in particular, who are likely to be receptive to it anyway. Winterscheidt is the perfect host for this.
Contradictions are addressed
The creators also do not shy away from openly addressing contradictions: that a lot of air travel was necessary for the documentary. Or when Neubauer says to the Amazon camera that she actually associates the US group with “exploitation and tax avoidance.”
The entertainer describes the motivation behind the six-part documentary, in which Bill Gates and comedian Oliver Kalkofe also appear, right at the beginning: “Is there any other way to tell a crappy topic like the climate crisis?” Winterscheidt’s team shows: Yes, you can.