A Battle of Witze Miranda Moore Travels to Berlin to Find out Why the English-Language Comedy Scene There Is Booming

FEATURES A battle of Witze Miranda Moore travels to Berlin to find out why the English-language comedy scene there is booming n the graffitied basement of a bar in the Kreuzberg area of Berlin, an intimate crowd Iis slowly settling into an assortment of thread-bare sofas and mix-matched chairs. For ) 0 . 2 the last two years, the ‘We are not Gemüsed’ Y B open-mic session has been drawing in savvy C C ( A I Berliners and anglophone ex-pats looking for D E P I K I a sophisticated brand of comedy – in English. W A I V In three years, the city’s English-language 3 1 / 6 / comedy scene has grown from one night a 8 , N A week to seven weekly sessions at various Z A K O R I locations across the city. A regular at ‘We are H S not Gemüsed’, Stefan Danziger did his first stand-up show in 2011 after a tour group he In January, Pfäfflin won the Comedy Grand COMIC EXPORTS: Stefan Danziger on had been guiding suggested he give it a go. Prix, a German-language contest that began stage (above left); and German comic He has since developed his own brand of in 2011 and now attracts TV audiences of Henning Wehn (above right), who tried historical comedy, and has performed 3.5m. He has found that people’s reactions stand-up for the first time after moving to internationally in Amsterdam, London, Poland differ depending on the language he is using. the UK and is now a regular on British TV and Edinburgh. One of his jokes is about the porn industry Although he started doing comedy in and the set-up gag has him watching inspiration comes from the US and UK. German, Danziger soon ventured into English pornography as part of a feminist research ‘You can make darker jokes in English, to maximise the number of shows he could project. It’s a standard joke that enables him because there are still some topics where a do. Although high-brow political Kabarett , to hit the audience off-guard with a final German-speaking audience would react, popular entertainment, satire and comedic punchline that is highly critical of the porn like, “oh my god, that was too much”. But plays are well established traditions, ‘stand- industry. ‘In English, people applaud it with in English people just think it’s hilarious,’ up comedy is very new in Germany,’ he says. warmth, because it’s an ethical joke,’ he says. agrees Danziger. Even now, many of the open-mic nights ‘In German, people are more taken aback.’ are still essentially variety shows, with comics Although things are beginning to change, Translating the joke vying for space alongside musicians, jugglers German audiences are used to particular Danziger’s comedy is rooted in historical and magicians, and facing audiences who comedic styles, agrees Georg Krammerer. insights and his own personal view of modern aren’t always familiar with the comic set-up, ‘German humour tends to be more top- history. He grew up in East Germany and the says German-US comic Vincent Pfäfflin. ‘They down’ – take Mario Barth, for example, who USSR/Russia, has studied interpreting as well tend to laugh shortly and then clap. So you has a huge following but has also been widely as ancient archaeology, and speaks six have the clap break; it ruins your timing. In criticised for perpetuating gender stereotypes. languages, including Greek and Swedish. But English, you add another joke and another ‘If the comedian shows vulnerability on humour is notoriously difficult to translate, so joke and they keep rolling, but you can’t do stage it makes the cliché German audience does he use the same material in both that if the audience claps,’ he adds. ‘English uncomfortable. But I’m always looking for languages? ‘It’s hard to find a joke that works audiences are more schooled in stand-up the emotional connection, the moment exactly the same way in both languages, but comedy and have much more knowledge when the comedian shares something you can adapt them. 70% of my jokes are in about how it works.’ about themselves,’ says Krammerer, whose German and English,’ he says. 22 The Linguist FEBRUARY/MARCH www.ciol.org.uk FEATURES Z E M O G L O R © : S E G A M I In one joke, he reimagines James Bond as OPEN MIC: Vincent Pfäfflin performs a German: there would be a lot of paperwork ‘In English, people (above left); and Sameheads bar, where and the films would be short because he ‘We are not Gemüsed’ is held (above) would be so efficient. It plays to well-known applaud with warmth stereotypes; audiences get it whether he’s German comics brought their show to the performing in German or English. Then he because it’s an ethical Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2013, they considers an East German Bond who doesn’t called it ‘The Wurst Käse Scenario’ , punning need a licence to kill, just to spy on his joke. In German, on the English ‘worst case’ and German neighbour. In German, it gets a big laugh, Wurst Käse (‘sausage cheese’). No one got it. but the joke falls flat in English. Once you they are taken aback’ ‘It’s important not to do jokes just for the have to explain a joke, it doesn’t work. locals if you want to perform internationally,’ Danziger also finds it easier to do accents says Danziger. ‘If you want to do this in German, which helps to set the scene for It is clearly something the comics discuss professionally, you want to do it in English,’ his socio-political material. ‘When I do jokes regularly. Those I speak to believe that English adds German-Pakistani comic Toby Arsalan, about East Germany in German, I can do the lends itself particularly well to the direct, who grew up in South Africa and now lives in special Saxon accent, which everybody spoken-word humour of stand-up. ‘You need Berlin. ‘English-speaking comedy is massive.’ knows, but that would never work in English,’ less syllables to say the same thing in English, he says. which is a very basic thing, but the shorter Personal choice you can make your sentence the better it is, Whether you believe that the structure of a Is German a funny language? usually, for your timing,’ says Krammerer. ‘And language can make it more or less funny, it In 2006, the British comic Stewart Lee wrote there are more words in the English language seems intuitive that culture and comedic an article defending Germans against the that have a broad range of meaning, which traditions do come into play here. Ultimately, prevalent British view that they have no sense makes it easier to create some ambiguity, however, a stand-up’s language of choice will of humour. Essentially, he argued that the and that often helps the joke.’ be personal. Arsalan bores himself when he structure of the language makes humour He believes that English is ‘more forgiving speaks German: ‘I’m not as creative, I’m not more difficult. The piece was criticised by for spoken-word comedy’, and Danziger as funny,’ he says. While Pfäfflin’s laid-back academics for its pseudo-linguistic analysis agrees: ‘In German, you have to set the words laconic style is, he says, more suited to and ‘ethnic prejudice’, yet the German in the right position, but no one speaks very English. ‘For me, American English is very comics I speak to repeat many of Lee’s proper English. It’s a very tolerant language.’ relaxed and in the back of the throat. I can claims, based on their own experience of sing better and use these vowels to express doing stand-up in the two languages. Bilingual punning emotion. If I switch to German, it’s more One of the suggestions is that punchlines With audiences at the city’s anglophone consonant based and fast – the sounds form don’t work as well in German because the comedy nights speaking both languages, a your mouth more tightly.’ verb, rather than the object, is at the end of whole new area of bilingual punning opens Danziger, on the other hand, is more the sentence. ‘In English, the last word of the up. Or so it might seem. But I am informed comfortable working in different languages, sentence will be the punchline, while in the clever wordplay of comics Caroline tweaking his material as appropriate. He is German you will be at the punchline and Clifford and Paul Salamone, founders of ‘We now keen to try stand-up in Swedish because then have the verb coming after that,’ affirms are not Gemüsed’, is a rare success in that ‘there is a good comedy scene in Sweden and Krammerer. ‘The joke still works but it just area. Other attempts have been dismal in Scandinavia generally’. And perhaps that – slightly skews the timing.’ failures. When a group of US, UK and rather than any quirks of language – is key. Vol/54 No/1 2015 FEBRUARY/MARCH The Linguist 23.

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