No Laughing Matter?A Short History of German Comedy

Abstract

This article is the first stage of research for the book “No Laughing Matter: A Short History of German Comedy’ by Chris Ritchie and James Harris which will look at some key moments in German comedy, representations of Germans in English language comedy and ’and also take a look at the current Berlin comedy scene. It begins with an example of how the British, or particularly the English, represent the ‘comedy German’, and is followed by an overview of some key moments in the history of German comedy, in particular the work of Hans Sachs and the development of 20th century cabaret. The second section then looks at how the Germans view English comedy through an analysis of the sketch Dinner for One and Monty Python’s German-language episode. This article is the first stage of research for the book “No Laughing Matter: A Short History of German Comedy’ by Chris Ritchie and James Harris which will look at some key moments in German comedy, representations of Germans in English language comedy and ’and also take a look at the current Berlin comedy scene. It begins with an example of how the British, or particularly the English, represent the ‘comedy German’, and is followed by an overview of some key moments in the history of German comedy, in particular the work of Hans Sachs and the development of 20th century cabaret. The second section then looks at how the Germans view English comedy through an analysis of the sketch Dinner for One and Monty Python’s German-language episode.