Comedy review: 1000 Years of German Comedy

Published on Friday 22 August 2008 21:11

1000 YEARS OF GERMAN COMEDY **** UNDERBELLY (VENUE 61)

HERRN Wehn and Kuhnle, international ambassadors of German humour, are back (it is not only when Germans lose that they come back to fight again). Last year's funfest was A Beginner's Guide to German Humour. But, such are the skills of the two that, if you missed the guide last year, you will have no problem, this year, in understanding the many ways in which Germans have been hilarious for 1,000 years.

It has to be one of the most unusual, bravest comedy shows you will ever see. Yes The Jim Rose Circus has broken glass and racoon traps, but 1000 Years of German Humour has Bach, Snow White and Wagner. Henning Wehn is a comic well known to circuit audiences, and watching him play with British prejudices about Germans is wonderful. His attack on what was the Perrier award is as hilarious as it is vitriolic, his pondering the democratic credentials of the Dalai Lama thought-provoking and his description of Coventry is probably the most dangerous gag on the Fringe. I laughed so much I gave myself earache.

Otto Kuhnle is a wealth of talents wrapped in "Teutonic jolliness" and occasional Lederhosen. He is a very classy performer indeed. Something of the straight man to Wehn, he is someone I could watch for hours. He plays flute, sings Wagner (old Rikki being something of a seminal figure in German humour), yodels, charms sausages, does a bell-ringing act with a polar bear and makes an endearing, if unusual, Snow White. Herr Kuhnle also gives the definitive demonstration of German humour, and explains why the greatness of the genre cannot be denied – this is something you must not miss. The two are a glorious double act and their show is one hour of clever, classy comedy. This is one of few shows on the Fringe where you never know what to expect. And it isn't the Spanish Inquisition.

Until 24 August. Today 6.40pm