German Television Comedy - Since 2000

Since 2000

By the first decade of the new millennium, the trend began to move back away from the pre-recorded sketch shows of the '80s and '90s. Comedy talk shows such as TV Total and Elton.tv naturally involved more off-the-cuff humour, and soon these were joined by improvised shows such as Genial daneben and the original Schillerstraße. The main role in the latter is played by an actress, Cordula Stratmann; by now there were several shows whose main stars were female comedians, such as Ladykracher with Anke Engelke. Slapstick now played a less important role: instead, realism was in, with shows removing the laugh track, such as Stromberg (similar to The Office) or the sitcom Pastewka.

• since 2000: Night Wash: live stand-up comedy show for upcoming new comedians, filmed in a real laundrette, ran on WDR and ARD until 2007; since then on Comedy Central Germany (which started broadcasting in 2007).
• 2000 - 2006: Alles Atze, comedy sitcom starring Atze Schröder, on RTL
• 2001 - 2003: Elton.tv, late night television comedy talk show hosted by Elton, on Pro Sieben
• 2001 - 2005: Was guckst du?!, sketch show starring Kaya Yanar, on Sat.1
• since 2002: Die Dreisten Drei, short sketches with Mirja Boes and others, runs on Sat.1
• 2002 - 2004, again since 2008: Ladykracher, comedy sketch series starring Anke Engelke, on Sat. 1; Anke won a Rose d'Or as best comedy performer in the series
• since 2002: Comedystreet, based on Trigger Happy TV and starring Simon Gosejohann, on Pro Sieben
• since 2002: Sechserpack, comedy sketch show with six actors including the British-German Emily Wood, on Sat.1
• since 2003: Genial daneben presented by Hugo Egon Balder on Sat. 1 (one of first improvised shows, set off a series of other improvisation-based shows)
• 2003 - 2006: Rent a Pocher, show starring Oliver Pocher, on Pro Sieben
• since 2004: Schillerstraße improvised comedy soap opera; main actress is Cordula Stratmann, runs on Sat.1. German concept, taken up by Fox TV and sold in many other countries; won Rose d'Or Press Prize (most innovative programme).
• since 2004: Stromberg, mockumentary comedy series partly based on The Office, starring Christoph Maria Herbst on Pro Sieben
• since 2005: Frei Schnauze (improvisational comedy show adapted from Whose Line Is It Anyway?), presented by Mike Krüger then Dirk Bach on RTL
• since 2005: Pastewka, sitcom starring Bastian Pastewka, partly based on Curb Your Enthusiasm, but scripted, on Sat.1; Pastewka won a Rose d'Or for his performance in the sitcom.
• since 2007: Switch reloaded, the sequel of Switch with partially same staff, on Pro Sieben.