German humour

German humour is the conventions of comedy and its cultural meaning within German-speaking countries. German humour encompasses traditions such as Kabarett and other forms of satire as well as more recent trends such as TV shows and stand-up comedy.

Media

Feuerzangenbowle (1944) is aired every silvester and during Christmastime on TV alongside Dinner for One (1963).[1][2][3]

There are German comedic adventure games, such as Edna & Harvey: The Breakout and the Deponia.

Further information: German television comedy

Foreign perception

Germans being stiff and humorless and German humor being dull and dry has become a popular German stereotype that is said to have originated from World War I atrocity propaganda and spread from Great Britain to other English-speaking countries. The stereotype is virtually unknown outside the Anglosphere and still most prevalent in Britain.[7][8] British media continued perpetuating world war stereotypes of Germans in the 21st century.[9] The BBC justifies "people thinking Germans aren't funny" and shifts the blame to the German language with questionable explanations like compound words not having spaces in German.[10] The "humorless" stereotype is often retold in US-American media too. For example in the South Park episode Funnybot[11] or by the comedian Robin Williams.[12]

Wrong stereotypes about Germans having a fixation on feces including in humor also continue to be perpetuated in English.[13]

In a popular but criticised article in 2006, English comedian Stewart Lee claimed misconceptions about German humour among English speakers might derive from linguistic differences such as German leaving less room for confusion-based humor. Some jokes do not translate well because grammatical differences can rearrange a punchline.[14]

There has been harsh criticism of Lee's views, especially from academics. Linguist Mark Liberman states that in trying to eliminate stereotypes about German humour, Lee himself falls victim to "ethnic prejudice and [...] incoherent linguistic analyses" by basing his "opinions on unsupported and unexamined national stereotypes". Liberman also finds many possibilities for a "pull back and reveal" joke structure in German language.[15]

Some popular old German children's book like Struwwelpeter or Max and Moritz contain black humor and are often seen as too brutal by English-speakers[16] and sometimes explicitly mocked in English media. For example in Family Guy[17] and The Office[18].

See also

German joke cycles

Notes

  1. ^ In Latin, the title reads "Hic oscula pedibus papae figuntur".
  2. ^ "Nicht Bapst: nicht schreck uns mit deim ban, Und sey nicht so zorniger man. Wir thun sonst ein gegen wehre, Und zeigen dirs Bel vedere"

References

  1. ^ "People all over the world watch "Dinner for One" on New Year's Eve". The Economist. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 26 May 2026.
  2. ^ Waldschmidt, Fedor (24 November 2025). "Die Feuerzangenbowle: Infos, unbekannte Fakten, Sendetermine & mehr!". Wildwechsel (in German). Retrieved 26 May 2026.
  3. ^ "„Die Feuerzangenbowle": Sendetermine an Weihnachten & Silvester 2025/2026". Wunderweib (in German). 8 December 2025. Retrieved 26 May 2026.
  4. ^ Oberman, Heiko Augustinus (1 January 1994). The Impact of the Reformation: Essays. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. ISBN 978-0-8028-0732-8 – via Google Books.
  5. ^ Luther's Last Battles: Politics And Polemics 1531-46 By Mark U. Edwards, Jr. Fortress Press, 2004. ISBN 978-0-8006-3735-4
  6. ^ Edwards, Mark U. Jr. (19 November 2004). Luther's Last Battles: Politics and Polemics 1531–46. Fortress Press. ISBN 978-1-4514-1398-4 – via Google Books.
  7. ^ Ritchie, Chris; Harris, James (1 July 2007). "No Laughing Matter?A Short History of German Comedy". Scenario: A Journal of Performative Teaching, Learning, Research: 68–83. doi:10.33178/scenario.1.2.6. hdl:10468/13058. ISSN 1649-8526.
  8. ^ Jabłońska-Hood, Joanna (20 October 2020). "What is the Impact of Multimodality and Intersubjectivity on the English Humour?". Horyzonty Wychowania. 19 (52): 83–92. doi:10.35765/hw.1729. ISSN 2391-9485.
  9. ^ "The Perception of Germany in the UK Media - A Case Study of World Cup 2006 Coverage | Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism". reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 25 May 2026.
  10. ^ "Why people think Germans aren't funny". www.bbc.com. 25 February 2022. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
  11. ^ Southparkseason15 (7 May 2011). German's tell jokes. Retrieved 27 May 2026 – via YouTube.{{cite AV media}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. ^ Robin Williams (10 November 2017). Robin Williams "Germans not funny because they killed the funny people". Retrieved 27 May 2026 – via YouTube.
  13. ^ Anatol Stefanowitsch, "No Shit! » Sprachlog » SciLogs - Wissenschaftsblogs". 2 March 2012. Retrieved 26 May 2026.
  14. ^ Lee, Stewart (22 May 2006). "Lost in translation". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 30 August 2013. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
  15. ^ Liberman, Mark (24 May 2006). "Thriving on confusion in the Guardian". Language Log. Archived from the original on 28 June 2006. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
  16. ^ Laskow, Sarah (14 June 2017). "The 19th-Century Book of Horrors That Scared German Kids Into Behaving". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved 28 May 2026.
  17. ^ Slinkerdeer (8 January 2021). Family Guy: German Bedtime Story. Retrieved 27 May 2026 – via YouTube.
  18. ^ Rachel Williams Williams (3 December 2019). Struwwelpeter. Retrieved 28 May 2026 – via YouTube.

Further reading

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