German Television Comedy - 1990s

1990s

The 1990s saw female comedians appearing in more prominent roles; whereas actresses such as Evelyn Hamann in the '70s or Iris Berben in the '80s usually played a main character's wife or girlfriend, now women such as Esther Schweins, Tanja Schumann, Anke Engelke and Hella von Sinnen made a name for themselves in more independent roles, although still mostly as part of larger casts.

With television becoming more and more international, there was a lot of influence from abroad in many shows of the '90s: RTL Samstag Nacht was based on Saturday Night Live (USA), the Harald Schmidt Show was similar to the Late Show with David Letterman (USA), 7 Tage, 7 Köpfe was superficially based on Have I Got News For You? (GB).

• 1990 - 1994: Schmidteinander, a satirical comedy show, presented by Harald Schmidt and Herbert Feuerstein on WDR and ARD
• since 1992: Quatsch Comedy Club presented by Thomas Hermanns on Pro Sieben
• 1992 - 1994: Lippes Lachmix show starring Jürgen von der Lippe on WDR
• 1993 - 1998: RTL Samstag Nacht, live comedy show based on Saturday Night Live, starring Wigald Boning, Olli Dittrich, Esther Schweins, Stefan Jürgens, Tanja Schumann and Mirco Nontschew, on RTL
• 1995 - 2003: Harald Schmidt Show, a late night television show, originally similar to the Late Show with David Letterman, presented by Harald Schmidt on Sat. 1
• 1996 - 1997: Happiness, sketch show with Markus Maria Profitlich on Sat.1
• 1996 - 2002: Die Wochenshow, sketch show starring Anke Engelke, Bastian Pastewka and Ingolf Lück, on Sat.1
• 1996 - 2005: 7 Tage, 7 Köpfe, comedy news show similar to Have I Got News For You? except that pre-planned gags were not only confined to the host Jochen Busse; most famous team captains Mike Krüger and Rudi Carrell, on RTL
• since 1996: WWW - Die witzigsten Werbespots der Welt, clip and comedy show presented first by Fritz Egner and since 2005 by Ingo Oschmann, on Sat.1; Ingo won the 2003 final of Star Search in Germany as best comedy performer.
• 1997-2000: Switch, a TV parody with Michael Müller, Peter Nottmeier and others, on Pro Sieben
• 1997 - 2002: Bullyparade, a mixture of live and pre-filmed comedy sketches, starring Michael Herbig as "Bully", on Pro Sieben
• since 1999: TV total, late night television comedy talk show, created, produced and hosted by Stefan Raab, on Pro Sieben