History Main / GermanHumour

** Did you hear? Berlin is now the city of warehouses! "''Where'' is my house? ''Where is my house''?!" [[note]](This works much better in German, as "Warenhaus", the German word for warehouse, is a homophone to "war 'n Haus", the contraction of "War ein Haus", which means "[there] was a house". That's why, as seen above, in English the plural is a better/more homophonic translation.)[[/note]]

* Also: Alfred Dorfer, host of ''Dorfers Donnerstalk'. Quite similiar to the above mentioned show, though the humour is more of the random and satirical variety. A popular segment on the show are the comedy group maschek (másik in Hungarian, meaning 'from the other side') who dub television reports or similiar passages, giving them entirely new meanings. They also made three puppet theater shows, each making fun of the current Austrian chancellor or president. He also created ''MA2412'', a hilarious show about Austrian bureaucracy.

* Christoph Grisseman and Dirk Sterman, hosts of the Austrian late-night show 'Willkommen Österreich' (Welcome Austria). As mentioned above, the show's humour is typically Austrian, which is quite dark, often dealing with deportation of immigrants or the antics of the far-right parties in Austria. One of them (Stermann) is actually German, though most Germans don't know that. They are alse well-known for their coverage of the Eurovision Song Contest, and actually competed once in the national preliminaries for it with a deliberately awful song called "Das schönste Lied der Welt" ("The most beautiful song in the world"), coming in second.
* Also: Alfred Dorfer, host of 'Dorfers Donnerstalk'. Quite similiar to the above mentioned show, though the humour is more of the random and satirical variety. A popular segment on the show are the comedy group maschek (másik in Hungarian, meaning 'from the other side') who dub television reports or similiar passages, giving them entirely new meanings. They also made three puppet theater shows, each making fun of the current Austrian chancellor or president. He also created ''MA2412'', a hilarious show about Austrian bureaucracy.

* Lukas Resetarits of the Resetarits family, which also included his brother Willi, better known as a musician under the name of "Ostbahn-Kurti".
* EAV (Erste Allgemeine Verunsicherung - First Public/General Uncertainty/Un-Insurance) is a band with many satirical and humourous lyrics and themes.

* ''Theatre/DinnerForOne'', a sketch by Freddie Frinton and May Warden performed in English is still an essential part of German New Year's celebrations (Silvester). Nobody really knows why and few Brits have ever heard of either, though in recent years more and more British Newspapers have run stories on "that obscure German tradition" making it primarily known for its obscurity. This is also true for Austria, when otherwise Austrians and Germans rarely see eye to eye in terms of what's considered humorous.

* Christoph Grisseman and Dirk Sterman, hosts of the Austrian late-night show 'Willkommen Österreich' (Welcome Austria). As mentioned above, the show's humour is typically Austrian, which is quite dark, often dealing with deportation of immigrants or the antics of the far-right parties in Austria. One of them is actually German, though most Germans don't know that.

* Josef Hader is commonly regarded as the most successful stand up comedian, having now a thriving career as an actor in Austrian movies (''Indien'', ''Komm, Süsser Tod'', ''Der Aufschneider'').

* ''Series/DieKrankenSchwestern'' (literally "The Sick Sisters" as well as a pun on the word "Krankenschwestern", meaning "nurses"), a comedy show on Austrian TV starring three female comedians, among them Andrea Händler of ''Film/Muttertag'' fame. It was later shifted to an (even more) unfavourable broadcasting time and at the same time rebranded as "Die kranken Brüder und ihre Schwestern" (The Sick Brothers and Their Sisters), which ruined both the original pun in the name and the original focus on - for once - female comedians.

* ''Theatre/DinnerForOne'', a sketch by Freddie Frinton and May Warden performed in English is still an essential part of German New Year's celebrations (Silvester). Nobody really knows why and few Brits have ever heard of either, though in recent years more and more British Newspapers have run stories on "that obscure German tradition" making it primarily known for its obscurity.

** How do you know the Stasi has bugged your apartment? [[IncrediblyObviousBug You have a new closet and there's a generator in the street]].

* BlackComedy such as ''Webcomic/{{Nichtlustig}}'' ("not funny"). The english version can be found [[http://www.notfunnycartoons.com/main.html here]].

* There were several extremely dark jokes during the [[UsefulNotes/NaziGermany Nazi era]], which had about the same function as [[RussianHumour Soviet political anecdotes]] and were about as dangerous to tell. The jokes usually focused on the Gestapo, the SS or [[AdolfHitlarious the "Führer" himself]], and were definitely intended to be derisive (hence the covert nature). Later, during [[UsefulNotes/WorldWar2 the war itself]], the jokes got progressively darker and darker and were more related to the war itself, outright transforming into GallowsHumor at the very end.

** ''"Have you heard? The Reichstag is on fire!" "Shhh! Not 'til tomorrow!"'' It was widely believed in Germany at the time that the Nazis started the fire themselves. [[note]] They didn't, as recent investigations have shown. But as they say, 'let no crisis go to waste'. The Nazis certainly didn't. [[/note]]

** The majority of the rest are Politicians, which are considered AcceptableTargets of satire. This is demonstrated to great effect in the annual Bavarian ritual of the "Series/{{Nockherberg}}" - essentially a political satire featuring a monk, or recently Mother Bavaria, preaching at the occasion of opening the first barrel of strong beer in lent. It can get quite ugly, but being reprimanded or spoofed in the following "singspiel" (comedic musical) is considered an honor. Politicians are expected to be good sports, and quite a few genuinely are, thus inviting being mocked even more the following year.

* Creator/GermainMuller, while French, was from (formerly German) Alsace, an area with an Alemannic dialect, in which he wrote most of his works. He drew considerable inspiration from German and Swiss comedy theatre for his cabaret numbers and stage plays and was well known in the Germanophone sphere.

* Henning Wehn, a German comedian based in the UK (self-styled as the "German Comedy Ambassador in London"), most known for his appearances on shows such as ''Radio/TheNewsQuiz'', ''Radio/TheNowShow'' and ''Radio/TheUnbelievableTruth''. His act is typically based upon English stereotypes of the Germans. Henning also has been known to turn the tables on England though, including referencing England's performance in the [[UsefulNotes/TheWorldCup 2010 Soccer World Cup]][[note]]If you don't know, Germany knocked England out (the latter having had a perfectly valid goal ruled out)[[/note]], "Nobody mention the World Cup! I mentioned it once, but [[Series/FawltyTowers I think I got away with it!]]"