R.I.P. Loriot
Loriot, the greatest German humorist that ever lived, died yesterday.
His sketches and cartoons are still as relevant and funny as they were decades ago when they were first aired/published. I doubt I will live long enough to see another comedian who’s able to match the standard he set. Loriot was a keen observer of the German nature, the petty bourgeois was the main target, but not victim, of his humor. In his sketches, seemingly ordinary situations featuring ordinary people subtly escalated into absurdity.
The following sketch doesn’t require proficiency in German except for his last sentence: “The picture is crooked.”
Sadly, Jack Layton, one of the great current canadian politician, very loved by a lot of people, died yesterday too =(((
Classic humour at its best!
He will be missed
That’s just soooo funny! XD Thanks for bringing this clip to my attention. I see both inspiration from Buster Keaton and Chaplin in his work, and I wonder if Rowan Atkinson haven’t burrowed at bit to his hilarious Mr.Bean. Like Mike said above, classic humour at its best. 🙂
This is very similar to an early Monty Python sketch, and I’d love to know which came first (the Python version goes to greater extremes, e.g. the maid gets stabbed accidentally, so I’m guessing they’d seen this one)
Wait, you mean to tell me they have humor in Germany!?!?!?
I’ve been to Germany and I have seen no evidence of such a thing.
@ Bucc-i:
Dieter Wedel said:
I can guarantee you we have humor. 😛 (except for the magistrate and politicians…)
We just don’t make jokes for no reason all over the place and all over the time.
(And I don’t think there is any country that does, is there?)
In which part of Germany have you been?
I see. Clearly, he was a post-modern stumblebum of the modern era. From what little I’ve seen of his work, one could safely argue that he shared many qualities with Benny Hill.
@ Bucc-i:
Bruno was funny at least once….for about five minutes and then the rest of the movie was a total freakshow. Sadly, Dr. Calagari, Nosforatu, Documentary footage, and an indie film called Eureka are the extent of my first hand knowledge of German Cinema. Other than that, my familiarity with german artwork is limited to photographs and descriptions I found among assorted textbooks. Plus, I understand Hitchcock was heavily influenced by it as well.
A German version of Mr. Bean? (Or is Mr. Bean a British version of Loriot?) Come to think of it, pretty much *every* culture seems to have it’s Klutzy Man-child…