In Loriot’s cartoon sketch Herren im Bad, first broadcast on 15 June 1978, Dr. Klöbner and Herr Müller-Lüdenscheidt find themselves in the same hotel bathtub, because Dr. Klöbner got the room number wrong. The two men argue in a measured tone, addressing each other as Sie. Wissen Sie, dass viele Menschen überhaupt kein Bad besitzen? Do you know that many people do not own a bath at all? Sie lassen sofort die Ente zu Wasser! You will put the duck in the water at once!
humor
The Yodeling Diploma
In a sketch by Loriot, first broadcast on 7 December 1978, Frau Hoppenstedt attends a yodeling school. She wants her yodeling diploma so that she has was Eigenes, something of her own. The word Jodeldiplom entered the language, and the dictionary DWDS lists it. It is used for a superfluous or worthless qualification. Die Zeit wrote in 2006: “Das ist jetzt, ohne Drachen im Land, kaum mehr wert als ein Jodeldiplom.” Now, with no dragons in the land, that is hardly worth more than a yodeling diploma.
The Stone Louse in the Medical Dictionary
On 18 October 1976 Loriot presented the Steinlaus, the stone louse, on television, in a parody of the zoologist and television presenter Bernhard Grzimek. The adult male, he explained, needs about 28 kilograms of concrete and bricks a day. In 1983 the Pschyrembel, the standard German clinical dictionary, added an entry on the stone louse in its 255th edition. The entry was removed in the 257th edition in 1994. After unexpectedly strong protests from readers, it returned in the next edition in 1997.
The Purchasing Director Comes Home
In Loriot’s film Pappa ante portas, which premiered in 1991, Heinrich Lohse is purchasing director of the Deutsche Röhren AG. To get a volume discount, he buys typewriter paper and erasers for about the next 40 years. Facing early retirement, he resigns and carries his methods home. There, again for a volume discount, he orders dozens of jars of mustard.
A Speech Made of Half-Sentences
In his television series Loriot, broadcast by Radio Bremen from 1976 to 1978, the humorist Loriot parodied speeches in the Bundestag. His speaker produces half-sentences that never end. Politik bedeutet, und davon sollte man ausgehen, das ist doch – ohne darum herum zu reden – in Anbetracht der Situation … Politics means, and one should assume this, that is surely, without talking around it, in view of the situation … Hier und heute stellen sich die Fragen, und ich glaube, Sie stimmen mit mir überein, wenn ich sage: Letzten Endes … Here and today the questions arise, and I believe you agree with me when I say: in the end …
Overrunning on Saturday Night
Wetten, dass..?, ZDF’s big Saturday-night show, was famous for running over its airtime. Frank Elstner overran the very first show by 43 minutes, and overrunning became a hallmark of the program. Thomas Gottschalk set the record in December 1996 in Hanover, with 73 minutes. Up to the summer show of 2011, the overruns added up to 3,851 minutes. Gottschalk’s last show, on 25 November 2023, ran only five minutes over the planned end.
Stromberg
The comedy series Stromberg ran on ProSieben from 2004 to 2012. Bernd Stromberg heads the claims department M to Z at the fictional Capitol insurance company. German Wikipedia sums up the character: Seine fachliche Kompetenz ist mangelhaft. His professional competence is poor. As a result, he mostly ignores the work instructions he is given, does them badly or passes them on to his staff. In December 2011, one million euros was raised from the public through crowdfunding to make a Stromberg film.
If You Have No Idea
Wenn man keine Ahnung hat, einfach mal die Fresse halten. If you have no idea, just shut your trap. The sentence is crude, and it is often quoted. It is attributed to the comedian Dieter Nuhr. He tried to register it as a trademark, but this failed at the Higher Regional Court of Stuttgart in January 2023. A similar line had already been spoken in 1974, in the WDR sitcom Ein Herz und eine Seele: Wenn man keine Ahnung hat, dann hält man bescheiden die Schnauze. If you have no idea, you modestly keep your mouth shut.
Weiberfastnacht
On Weiberfastnacht, the women’s day of carnival, women storm the town halls in many towns in the Rhineland and Westphalia. Since the middle of the 20th century it has also been the custom for women to cut off men’s ties, als Symbol der männlichen Macht, as a symbol of male power. In the office, this includes the boss’s tie. Legal advice columns point out that cutting off a tie without consent is in principle a criminal offense. If the boss has only recently moved to the area, his silent consent may not be assumed. The season ends with a carnival song from 1953: Am Aschermittwoch ist alles vorbei. On Ash Wednesday it is all over.
Satire With Sources
Die Anstalt is a political cabaret show on ZDF. Max Uthoff and Claus von Wagner have presented it since 2014. It is comedy. Even so, ZDF publishes Der Faktencheck zur Sendung, the fact check for the show, with its episodes. The aim is to support every statement in the show with sources that are named openly. The fact check for the episode of 11 November 2025, on the housing market, runs to about 33 pages. Most lines from the show are followed by an extract from a source and a link.