ARD documentary “Loriot 100”: Homage to Germany’s greatest humorist
Published: Monday, Nov 6th 2023, 12:53
Updated At: Tuesday, Nov 7th 2023, 00:54
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What does Dickie Hoppenstedt say today? What was the legendary phrase "There used to be more tinsel" originally meant to be? How do companions and comedy experts classify the work of humorist Loriot?
And how did the master himself once explain his art? The ARD documentary "Loriot 100" by André Schäfer provides answers to such questions. It will be released on the 100th birthday (12.11.) of Vicco von Bülow, who died in 2011 at the age of 87 (documentary from 4.11. in ARD-Mediathek; 6.11. at 20.15 on ARD).
The caricaturist, satirist, comedian and author, who named himself after the French word "Loriot" for the songbird oriole from the Bülow family coat of arms, wrote television history. In German-speaking countries, Loriot is immortal as a linguistic artist, illustrator, actor and director. "If Loriot had Instagram today, he would be at the forefront - everyone would follow him," says cabaret artist Torsten Sträter about the "multimedia master".
In the documentary, the now grown-up child "Dickie" describes what it was like to shoot the sketch series "Weihnachten bei Hoppenstedts". Dickie actress Katja Bogdanski says that her mother was there behind the camera, that the tight clothes for the role made her stomach ache, but that Loriot was patient, kind and loving. But you also get a sense from the descriptions in the documentary that Loriot had some things repeated countless times during filming, simply because precision was everything in his work.
Loriot's congenial partner Evelyn Hamann, who would be 81 today (she died in 2007 at the age of just 65), is of course also praised. "She was like one of his cartoon characters in her precision," says Stefan Lukschy, who played a key role in the 1970s TV series "Loriot".
Co-director Lukschy reveals that the saying "There used to be more tinsel", quipped by Loriot as Grandpa Hoppenstedt, which became a catchphrase for the supposedly good old days, originally read differently. The original script page read: "In the old days... Where's the tinsel?" - but this was then crossed out and replaced.
Sarah Bosetti notes that some of Loriot's work is "slippery in an innocent way". One thinks of the cheeky salesman's visit to Mrs. Hoppenstedt ("The Heinzelmann sucks and blows where Mutti can otherwise only blow"). German scholar Stefan Neumann finds much of Loriot's work incredibly German. Some linguistic contortions are almost impossible to translate into foreign languages. Just think of a word like "Auslegeware". Helge Schneider says of the sketches: "You saw yourself in there somewhere, or at least what you knew from home." Loriot looked the people squarely in the mouth.
Oliver Kalkofe admires the fact that all generations can find something in Loriot and that Loriot hit the nail on the head when it comes to the meagre stuffiness of the 70s. Writer Kristof Magnusson sees Loriot's humor as having a lot to do with shame and not knowing exactly how to behave.
The caricaturist Gerhard Haderer calls Loriot a subversive artist because he took his own bourgeoisie as his subject - and self-irony is, after all, the highest form of humor.
Hape Kerkeling states: "Loriot has certainly made the masses more open to the subversive." During the Nazi dictatorship, subversive humor was "completely lost" in Germany due to emigration or persecution and murder. So there was a void in the young Federal Republic. Loriot revived this with subtle social criticism. "It's not political in the actual cabaret sense, as if it were somehow left-wing. But it is somehow liberal, if you had to categorize it politically, without being FDP. It's radically liberal."
On the talk show "3 nach 9" in 1979, Loriot himself once said in an interview with Marianne Koch: Satire is "fundamentally directed against power". In a functioning democracy, however, power lies with the people - which is why his target is the voters and citizens. "And not those few noses up there."
Loriot explained his approach: "What I try to do is just to be a very small step off, to make it clear how grotesque it actually is, what we experience every day."
Loriot's 100th in the media: ARD has announced "an extensive show with Loriot's best-known works" for its media library. "The widget with the iconic sketches and cartoon classics from SWR and Radio Bremen, Loriot's cinema films "Ödipussi" and "Pappa ante Portas" and also ARD's beloved birthday shows by and with Loriot as well as the documentary "LORIOT100" will be available from Saturday, November 4, and will be offered on the media library's homepage until November 18." ARD's "Loriot 100" offering also includes a podcast series and special programs (including "Loriot vor acht" four times before the 8 p.m. "Tagesschau" from November 6 to 9).
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