The work piles up before the eyes of the Federal Minister of Health. The vaccination requirement: failed. The Infection Protection Act: urgently needs to be revised before the autumn wave. The nursing shortage: devastating. The deficit in the health insurance funds: billions. And what does Karl Lauterbach, the health expert once celebrated and demanded by so many, do with the license to tweet all the time? He’s retraining to be a stand-up comedian for a new Amazon show.
This unfavorable reading may be imposed on some superficially interested people – now that the man to whom “Spiegel” recently dedicated a podcast entitled “From talk show star to stumbling minister” appears on a program called “One Mic Stand”.
However, the impression is not justified: the new VoD glossy product, with which Amazon Prime Video has high expectations, was recorded months ago. At that time, Karl Lauterbach was not yet a minister, but “King Karl”, the most effective face of a rather pale SPD. The patron saint of that social group that would have wished for more caution and consistency in the fight against the pandemic.
Anyone looking for the Lauterbach episode on Amazon Prime from July 15 will quickly become aware of the timing of the recording. You can see how Hazel Brugger suddenly throws herself at the politician’s feet at the Leverkusen SPD election party on the evening of the federal elections in September last year (“The guy hasn’t said anything yet and the people are already clapping!”). From here there are still two weeks until the planned appearance, which Lauterbach initially had no idea about. Brugger, 28-year-old comedienne with German-Swiss roots, is supposed to coach the non-specialist celebrity with a crash course – that’s the concept of “One Mic Stand”. The chosen one does not fight back.
Hazel’s guerrilla action in the local club and the ping-pong with the newly elected direct candidate are the funniest of the 45-minute episode. The Rhinelander is quite good at spontaneous self-mockery. “What kind of comedy do you want to do?” asks Hazel. “Either shallow, flat jokes,” Lauterbach envisions. Or a kind of comedy influencer for political business. “Because I have experience with older people, I see myself as a replacement for Oliver Welke in the ‘heute-show’ in a few years.”
However, the coaching then fails – the much-sought-after member of parliament has no time. Ten hours before the performance, Hazel Brugger picks him up in the Tesla at the SPD office in Cologne-Mülheim. “I wrote a few jokes for you,” she hands over two sloppily creased A4 sheets of paper. The passenger reads: “‘My name is Karl Lauterbach. I’m the person who’s been telling you not to have any fun for a year and a half. I’m like her mother – only without the good food.’ I think it’s a good start!”
However, everything does not go through the final inspection without complaint: “What I find hackneyed are the jokes, how often I was on talk shows.” Hazel played outraged: “But then 25 percent of the material falls away!” The professional comedian recommends a tit joke . Lauterbach: “That costs the mandate!” The conditions for embarrassment are favorable anyway: “I’ve never been so badly prepared.”
In front of a gratefully inclined audience in the Wiesbaden Kurhaus, an amazingly frankly speaking Karl Lauterbach then got no more muddled than usual in the context of his professorial-cute explanatory style. In the self-mockery department, he works on the SPD (“Like my hairdresser is an expert in bad performance”), on his own appearance (“You are what you eat – in my case leeks”) and finally on the talk show frequency. In addition to Armin Laschet (“Because I was annoyed by him a lot”), the attack department meets Lauterbach’s Corona nemesis: “When Wolfgang Kubicki calls a ‘Spack’, it’s similar to when a young, modern, cool person praises you .”
It all seems nerdy to cute, in any case authentic, one is inclined to say: likeable. Even if some politicians’ handmade speeches, for example at the Aachen Carnival Order Against Animal Seriousness, came along with a safer timing. It might be better to practice beforehand.
For background research by “t-online”, Kathrin Vogler, health policy spokeswoman for the left, recently said about her long-time companion Karl Lauterbach: “He didn’t manage to change roles from admonisher to doer.” The role change from politician to comedian, one could maliciously add , was not easy for him either. However, that is much more forgivable. And should it ever cost him the mandate: Hazel Brugger is not to blame. The boob joke was deleted without replacement.
Five episodes of “One Mic Stand” will be available to watch on Amazon Prime Video starting Friday, July 15. In addition to Karl Lauterbach, comedy newcomers Motsi Mabuse, Christoph Kramer, Mats Hummels, Fahri Yardim and Victoria’s Secret angel Lorena Rae took up the challenge. You will be coached by Michael Mittermeier, Harald Schmidt. Teddy Teclebrhan and Torsten Sträter.
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The original of this post “”That costs the mandate!” That’s how Karl Lauterbach did as a stand-up comedian” comes from Teleschau.
