Six weeks ago he was allowed to go onto the big show stage next door: Nektarios Vlachopoulos received the Bavarian cabaret prize in the category “high starter” in the Lustspielhaus. But that doesn’t mean much in the post-corona period. For the premiere of his new program, we went back to the tranquil clubhouse, and that wasn’t completely sold out either. Which, for a former poetry slammer and extraordinarily clever head, is of course a great template: It was deliberately advertised in such a way that only the “best 70 people” would come: “It should remain a cool insider tip.”
In any case, the program title fitted so perfectly: “The problem is the people”. The phenomenon of populism and its consequences led Vlachopoulos, among other things, to a dystopian mini-play between Orwell and “Terminator” or with the banal question shot in the social media, how best to boil a soft egg, in their outrageous automatic insults. Of course, the 36-year-old could have titled the rest of it “I’m the problem”. As with most cabaret artists and comedians of his generation, most of it revolves around his own state of mind: relationship stress, dating, self-perception, “coming of age” problems.
However, Vlachopoulos is more self-deprecating, quicker and linguistically more polished than most of his colleagues. What begins with a review that changes from hymn of praise to savagery, ends with an audience evaluation and culminates in two fantastic raps in between, a linguistic Dadaistic (“Rhubarb-Barbarabbarbar”) and “Meine Opinion”, which takes aim at fat pants types. The whole thing is very quick, cheeky and funny, even if, despite running gags and the link between the godchild “Socrates” (a girl!), the overarching structure suggested by the title was missing. Will definitely come with age.