I think what Germans see as humour is not seen as humour everywhere. My uncle was on a plane from America to Germany in 1995. Next to him was an old american couple who were planning a tour through Europe. Germany had been their first destination and so they took out an old map of Germany (with the pre-World War I borders) and asked my uncle if he could draw the war zones in Germany for them. My uncle said that there would not be a war in Germany. However, the old couple did not want to believe that and insisted that my uncle help them to avoid the war zones in Germany. Thereupon my uncle took the pen in his hand and declared half of Germany a war zone. He used various clichés and claimed that in Schwabenland there were cannibals that should be avoided and that in East Germany tourists are only allowed to take photos at certain times of the day if they don't want to be arrested. Well, the couple decided not to leave Frankfurt airport at all and to take the next flight to Italy.
The explanation is quite simple: we have a secret law that forbids revealing to foreigners that we actually have a sense of humor. This law is part of our sense of humor - but it doesn't translate to U.S. citizens. The British, however, get it and support us in that effort by also telling everyone everywhere that they have a sense of humor, but we don't. Which in itself is a sarcastic joke.
That´s the reason we tell all Americans Journalists we love David Hasselhoff. In fact we hate his voice, but we are grateful that he teared down the Berlin wall. Thank you David.
I think it's pretty common honestly. If you haven't seen it that's probably due to your upbringing. I went to a Gymnasium and had most of my friends from there, and none of them smoked at that age. But I also had some friends in my town that went to Realschule and had working class or unemployed parents, and a large percentage of them started smoking around age 12 to 14. They basically did everything a couple of years earlier; most of them also started drinking and got sexually active around that age while for most people in Gymnasium that didn't happen until around age 16.
No matter whats the subject of a Nalf video, it is always a pleasure to watch, because the cinematography and the whole execution are so well done. Love it 😃
Theory: A British comedian once described American humor as being a quip-machine, trying to present yourself in the best light as the funny guy, the life of the party. So American humor is very overt and engaging. Whereas joking around with someone in Germany is a mark of friendship, a sign of mutual understanding. You're just not being as funny with a stranger as with your peers. So coming to Germany as an "outsider" you might get the impression that Germans have no humor, while in truth they are just being reserved and don't know yet if they can trust you enough to play pranks on.
there was a good article on BBC about german humour. The main "issue" is that the german language often plays a big role in our jokes. so of course german jokes do not translate well if the joke is a play on words. same goes vice versa. a wordplay joke in english won't be well translated. Combine that with jokes that are based on the culture, the other side will always have a hard time understanding whats so funny. For example in the US the police is "known" for eating a lot of donuts, but i have yet to talk to someone that associates a donut with german police. Now...a Wurst Semmel..thats another thing. (keep in mind, this comparison might also be lacking, but its the only one i could remember)
pretty off topic i just wanted to point out that if you are trying to find a german in a youtube comment section, look for the people who still have a shift key
When my mother (a German “war bride”) and her younger sister would get together there was always much laughter and they were so very much fun. With both my aunt and uncle, you can hear the smiles in their voices on the phone. Sunday morning breakfasts in Germany with my mother’s family (where I partially grew up and where my father was often stationed before retirement) was filled with laughing and funny stories. As someone above mentioned, the subject of Hitler and the Nazi party is never a source of humor. When I asked my mother to speak to my students about her experiences growing up in WWII Germany, she declined referencing her shame of what her country did. Even when I explained that she was only a child, she was never able to rid herself of that feeling.
I guess so, but your sample tells, they are humorous among themselves, with friends and family. What they not do, is entertaining strangers with humour, trying to cheer somebody up or so. This showbusiness gen is kind of missing.
@@mariannebraun8206 it's my Observation. Stand up comedy didn' exist in germany, maybe until 1990. Sheerleading or chearing, extroverted excitement is not so often happening. And if nobody starts, nobody joins in or copies it.
@@holger_p And there is nothing bad about it. Why should all cultures be a copy of each other? Different cultures communicate differently and I find that very interessting.
I think political cabaret and satire are the backbone of German humor. Those are often not translated or lost in translation, therefore as a non native speaker you are missing a lot of gems there.
I watch a lot of british and american polical satire, which in a sense gives me more aspects and nuances of the problems they face as a society as their news ever could. Still they call themselves all comedians, while here in germany i would see it even as an insult if a satirist would be called comedian.
Two men in a gameshow in Australia. A draw after the last question, so they both must say a short poem with the word "Timbuktu" in it and the audience will select the winner. First man, a priest says: "I was a father all my life, I had no son, I had no wife. I read the bible through and through, on my way to Timbuktu". The the other man, a shepherd makes his poem: " As Tim and I to Brisbane went, we met some ladies, cheap to rent, they were three and we were to, so I booked one and Tim booked two"... German humor in englisch words..... I love this joke!
It's ALL SO WELL SHOT! 😂 I'm always mesmerized by your videos. They're never mundane. The little under-the-bridge drone footage, the dutch tilt on a question, the split screen in the café. So. 👏 Dang. 👏 Good. 👏
Lucas Maybe you would consider becoming a patron, since we have started a Movie Club on Nalf's Patreon channel. We select movies to watch and discuss. I bet you'd add a lot to the discussion. The mention of a Dutch tilt convinced me of that. ;)
@@mojojim6458 Sure, I'll have a look! :) I've never dabbled in patreon before. Fun Fact: The Dutch angle is actually a "Deutsch angle" that was inspired by early German cinema. How fitting for this channel ;) th-cam.com/video/SHYfsYQDr6M/w-d-xo.html
Just a little hint how to eat the Brezel with butter: normally you just take a bite, than put a piece of butter on top of the Brezel and than take that bite. You don't cut it in half. In the same way you eat Croissants.
As an American journalist with an MA jn History married to a German citizen (gotta be specific!) I'd say much of that attitude comes from the fact that most American's familial experience of Germany dates back to the post-war years when so many US troops were stationed there. Not like Germans had much to laugh about at that point. They were literally shocked and traumatized. And then there's the ability to play the straight man so well when they're cracking a joke! But anyone who's spent a day with mein Mann knows just how much of a sense of humor Germans have!
I think a good portion of media internationally that shows germans is world war documentaries and movies or science based. Which both are automatically serious in nature. The germany comedy or other life styles are not "exported" as much. I think WW2 movies is also a big thing suporting to think that germans shout and the language is rough
We like sarcasm and cynicism ... a lot. The more serious the delivery the better. That can easily look like there is no humor, especially when it comes to a joke battle where after hearing a 'obvious' joke in all sincerity and not laughing (cause thats the rules!) you have to counter with something even more outlandish .. but also as seriously delivered as possible. Also: many of us like our jokes not to be 'on the nose' too much, a good joke is recognized by its content, not obvious it is told. But thats not universally that way, many germans do like comedians that throw obvious punchlines after punchlines. That and that we like to use our language a lot for the contents of the joke, words with more than one meaning or phrases that can be (usually not gramatically correct but commonly used somehow or -where) understood in different ways. Simple example for the language bit: (yes i know such things exist in other languages too but they are pretty common in german) "What did you do? You should have driven around that group of cyclists, not drive them over!" "Was hast du getan? Du solltest die Gruppe von Radfahrern *umfahren*, nicht sie *umfahren*!"
Back then the upper school yard closest to the seniors had a little segment called the smoker's corner which actually was a corner, its area defined by cigarette leftovers. Nowadays the entire upper school yard is an ashtray. Observed closely it's usually female teenagers who start smoking in cliques as well as peer pressure. The urge to perform in a grown-up world.
I think German humor is often a lot about playing with grammar and the meaning of words. It's often dry with a bunch of sarcsm. Often it ist about politics, realationships and work. Maybe the cultural difference in the way of life does not help to understand the jokes. Sometimes you have to overthink what you've Heard, before you understand the jokes and start laughing. Like the DB, it comes with a little delay.
I mean to be fair I laughed at the exageration then considered how I would react seeing a guy without shirts and pants in the park and honestly: as long as he wasn't full nude my first thought would propably be 'Wow isn't he cold?' 😅
@@DarkHarlequin I wouldn’t care about full nudity at all, as long as he‘s not …. „excited“ to be nude. But I would think „this had got to be cold“ as well. I mean, I think so when I see people walking around in shorts and t-Shirts when it’s less than 20°C.
In our six or seven months living here in Germany, I have found my German friends to be quite funny. Maybe it helps that I have a very dry sense of humor (I don't enjoy "typical" American comedy as much). But I think part of the problem is what gets lost in translation. I've definitely missed some jokes by not knowing enough German!
It's really hard to say why that stereotype exists but I've had a theory for some time now. I've talked to a lot of people that lived in the states and they basically had the same thing to say. Once Americans hear that you're German they'll joke about Hitler or the Nazis and that's not a laughing matter for us, not at all. I would say that we're generally not the best at laughing about ourselves (even if it's not Hitler related) but making fun of a German with that topic attached to it will only get you one reaction from anyone of us. I have the feeling that a lot of people outside of Germany don't have a clue how we're dealing with our past. The people are so used to these kind of jokes, you hear them all the time from all sides, they just have no understanding of how much of an insult that is to us Germans. So you meet a German, make your little joke, the German is pissed and you assume that he or she has no sense of humor. That's my theory.
Same happens to me here in Spain. It's either this or they think it's funny to say "Kartoffel". Obviously after several similar jokes you get annoyed. 🤷♀️
Really? I make Nazi jokes all the time with my american, french and italian coworkers, it is a way to bond, we all think that time, crimes and nazis were awful, terrible and disgusting so making fun about this means we are over it. We accept it as at least part of my ancestry in a way, but i m not one of them, i learned from the tradegy of the past and i can now laugh about jokes about this, even when my grand parents told me horrific stories they lived through. It is a way to cope, a way to get over it, i m not bound by my countries past, i dont war any guilt for the crimes comitted before i was even born and my coworkers dont either. We are here now even when our ancestors might have been enemies and maybe even tried to kill each other. We are here now in a better world and generations later we can laugh together.
@@DRouwnt you have your point. Obviously it's history and we did not commit those crimes. In my opinion it's just not funny what happened back then. And it will never be.. and I don't think it's funny to be connected with this even if it's a joke.🤷♀️
I am an American with German/American grandparents. I can say for a fact that Germans are funny if you are attuned to their style of humor. I find American "humor" to be predictable, brash and not very funny, whereas German humor is drier, more subtle and more sophisticated. It may require inside knowledge of the subject, and the humor may be lost on a non-German who is not accustomed to looking for irony that may not be blatant. Grandmother was carefree, quick to smile and laugh. Everyone new her as Inge. She was loved by everyone in the neighborhood. Grandfather on the other hand, was known to all as Mr. Brandstetter. He was a bit feared by most, he was considered very stern and was probably seen as a "stereotypical humorless German". A keen observer however, would have noted the twinkle in his eye and would have perceived that his dry demeanor was just part of the show. Among family he was an ardent prankster, but that side of him was not for the general public to see. German humor is real, it's just not for everyone.
Funny you say about humour not translating - I saw an interview with Greg Davies (one of UK's funniest men) on writing The Cleaner (a UK rendition of the German comedy Der Tatortreiniger). When asked to write the UK scripts, he said that he had thought it would be a piece of piss, switch on the computer and enter each line into Google Translate. He quickly realised that what was funny in Germany just didn't work in the UK. Still he did an excellent job imo in making the program.
As a swabian girl, let me tell you how this Butterbrezel-thing works: spread as much butter on your Brezel as you like but save a little to dip the crispy Brezel-arms in when eaten the big part
Jeez, that's how I walk all the time.😐 I worked with a woman from Germany in a hotel in a national park in California. "Birgit" had a sense of humor, but it was very dry and when she did say something funny it was really funny because she was so serious most of the time. She was definitely more reserved than the other folks at the front desk. That said there was an older German couple who ran the gift shop (we had a number of international employees) and they were very friendly and outgoing.
I saw Bob Newhart (he is an old comedian in case you don't know him) on the Tonight Show with Jonny Carson so it was about 40 to 50 years ago. He was talking about this humourless German who said "why do they call him curly when he has no hair"
On one of my visits to Germany (Bavaria) several years ago, I was having dinner with colleagues (a mix of Germans, Americans, and Chinese). One of the Germans (younger than myself) said, in a mildly serious tone, “I had an Uncle who died in a concentration camp. He fell out of a guard tower.” I took a few seconds, then Lol’d. I believe I was the only one that did. 😅 So yes, they do have a sense of humor. But you have to “get” it (and by extension, “get” them).
Maybe it's because most americans do not speak german? And as german humor is not so much transported by gestures, facial expressions but by words you need to speak german well to spot the funny bits. And, of course, the cultural context.
You got this right. ☺️ Our sense of humor can be pretty dry indeed, and when we are funny, we often say something funny with a straight face, before bursting out into laughter. 😀
I used to work in a team with three British colleagues, and I stumbled upon a FUNDAMENTAL difference between a certain aspect of their humo[u]r and German humor: The pun! The British love puns! They seem to consider a good pun as the highest form of humor. The big newspapers even have a "best puns of the year" column in December. We Germans have puns, too. We call them "Kalauer", and they are considered cringe worthy - the lowest form of humor.
That is absolutly true. One of my friends love to make a pun. Every time he makes one me and my friends don´t laugh but instead we behave as if we would feel physical pain or are ashamed of him.
Von wo bist du? Weil ich hab noch nie von Kalauern gehört, Das ähnlichste das ich kenne ist ein flachwitz. Außerdem sehr viel Humor Deutschlands sind puns.
Hey NALF, If you're still looking for a good butterbrezel for mikey, try the one at "Bäckerei Berger" in the Wilhelmstraße in Reutlingen. The city itself and the surrounding landscape is worth visiting too in my view. (And no im not some tourist bot I'm just a 16yo local obsessed with history, language, culture and all topics connected to the previous ones🤣)
As a German who was living abroad, I had real problems with this whole "Germans have no humour" stereotype because whenever I made a joke people took it 100% seriously and that sometimes upset people.
My father was born and raised in Germany, and he had a great sense of humor, mostly of the elaborate prank style. He was the head engineer of a well known electric company, and often understudies of the company would come to his office with questions or advice. He once caught a fly, glued it still alive to his desk and watched straight faced as people would try to wave it away. In my opinion some people mistake the somewhat gruff sound of the German language as harsh, without understanding the meaning. My friends often commented that my dad seemed very strict, but he wasn’t. I miss him and his sometimes goofy and off kilter humor to this day.
The „myth“ ,I think, stems 100% from Hollywood movies after WW II. „Jawoll, mein Führer“ is what has been fed to Americans for decades ;) Aside from that, we Germans have a very different sense of humor. After 25 years in the US, I‘m stll flabbergasted, how often American, friends don‘t get irony or sarcasm ;) All in all I‘d say , while the British are the best, we Germans are second ;) US humor very often sounds childish ,or as we like to say „Fritzle-Witze“ Niveau :)
American humour comes off as if it is wanted too badly. Like they would be making sure that everyone definitely got it :D I think it is more "direct" indeed, when in difference we are more subtle and seem very serious when being sarcastic. Maybe people in the U.S. think we're actually meaning everything we're saying? I don't know :D
the butter was almost ice cold. never understood why they serve it that way, i prefer it at about 10 degree, somewhat hard somewhat soft and within 15 min soft enough to spread it
I haven't researched this, and my history program in university I attended about 20 years ago. But here is what I think: The idea of humorless Germans comes from Old Prussia, especially from the reign of Frederick the Great.He ruled in the era of Enlightenment. His rule was characterized by pragmaticism, no-nonsense, and a disdain for any kind of debauchery. But he did enjoy playing music. He was a serious man ruling a poor country in serious trouble. (Seven Years War, for example). He inherited a focus on strong military from his Father, the Soldier King (Soldatenkönig), but in contrast to his father, his focus on military and discipline and industriousness seemed to come out of the necessities of the situation. His father was just fascinated by the idea of very tall imposing soldiers. (Lange Kerls). Ascribed characteristics of Prussians and subsequently Germans, have been industriousness, seriousness, militarism ever since Frederick the Great.
When I see American comedy and compare it to German comedy, I can imagine why Americans don't understand German humor and therefore believe Germans don't have any. It's simply to complicated to them. American humor is basal, very obvious and slab-built. German humor tends to be more around the corner, more bushwacky, more behind the lines.
True! US-American humor is very often delivered with obvious hints, that you are to laugh at the jokes, even by professionals like Colbert or Maher. On the other hand: any German can deliver jokes with a straight face, only keeping a sharp eye on the listener to see if the point is understood - like: kapierst du? It's the funnier the less the listener understands of it! And then there are Heimat-filme! They don't count as real humor in Germany. They count as "albern" - ridiculous.
I believe it's lost in translation and style of comedy. Americans are very loud and in your face. Germans are like the Brits were it's very tongue-in-cheek and very wrapped around dialog.
I think British and German humor isn't THAT much different. Both ADD a special, local layer to the humor but there is def. common ground. It's no coincidence that British comedy is highly successful in Germany and Germans adapt a lot of British entertainment. I always felt like Germans and Brits are in some kind of hate/love relationship. We can't live with them but we can't live without them either.
Butterbrezen sind was feines, es lässt sich aber noch steigern durch die Verwendung von Kräuterbutter. (sonst üblicherweise eher mit Schnitzeln oder Grillgut verwendet)
As a German I really hate it too that there are so many people smoking because it stinks and its very annoying if you sit in a Café eg and someone next to your table starts smoking. Because it stinks and also is bad for your health even if your just sitting next to somebody smoking
I do believe, the "German lack of humor" is a misconception: Humor and jokes are regarded rather a private matter in Germany - one would do between friends and not in conversation with strangers. The last could have seen as weird or akward. For American or Brits it could be a more public matter - the same way you would rather engaged in small talk with strangers. In the anglosaxon world even scientific speeches often start with some joke ... which could be considered as not appropriate in Germany. So if a German meets an American for the first time he or she is not very likely to start a conversation with a joke. Most people you will meet on travels or other tourists will be strangers - which leeds to the impression of not joking around. Maybe, subconsciously the topic has something to do with Nalf's last video: the German love for privacy and privacy protection - born in Gestapo and Stasi spying on them. Keeping jokes as a private thing could come from the same origin: you would never know, what consequences it would bring, if you tell political and critical jokes to a stranger.
There is a saying here in Germany about a certain type of people who "go to the basement to laugh" which just means that humor is a private matter to some and also unprofessional, sure things are changing but those people are still very much around.
Oh, interesting. Living in the region but not from here I've noticed when I've used humour to lighten up the mood and 'a smiley icebreaker' there's a weird vibe in response like 'I'm less than'... incompetent was the word that came to mind but dared not say it out loud (like how dare they see me as anything less than equal, I'm human too - how is that possible in such a large part of a population, aren't we all loveable with our flaws etc.) and your comment kind of confirms my suspicions. Same thing if I laugh at myself for tripping over something or bumping into something (with quick recovery) or laughing at the messiness of life - e.g. accidentally spraying water on myself when washing the car or having food on one's face. That's just me as a person (I'm Australian) so I find it really really hard to relate to folks locally. Note. I live in Switzerland on the border to Germany so have, I suspect, the regional variations of what you're describing, but I definitely recognise it, I think it's quite common here. I love shopping in Germany as a result, I found a favourite store with folks I can feel ok around.
@@mynameisheidi Yes the differences can be felt from region to region, there are regions that are more relaxed than others, also german humor can easily be overlooked, for example, do you know the term "diebische elster" (thieving magpie)? now what was the name of the german online tax program again? oh yes ... elster ... people who never did their taxes online in germany would never get this.
Growing up in the Netherlands I could watch both German and British television and I'm afraid Germans don't do comedy very well, which is of course just a single craft and tradition. The Brits can also get giggly about everything related to the naughty bits, toilets and bodily functions which is simply not funny to non puritans, that's actually no credit to their sense of humour. Germans are also a bit reserved and have very formal and hierachical professional relations, that's not inviting to joke around. The British can fit some of their understatments and subtle irony in. In international exchange the linguistical humour of the Germans often get lost, and they are more inhibited on the international stereotypes than other Europeans, while sarcasm does a lot better when people know eachother very well. So I think it's fair to say that German humour is less on the surface and doesn't always come out right away, but I never had the impression Germans have less sense of humour.
You're right, German comedy is shit. But the reason for this is that we consider comedy as the lowest form of humor. German humor is more in sarcasm and political cabaret. That is when we shine.
@@nieselpriem It's also a matter of British people, who don't speak a word of German of course, claiming Germans have no sense of humour because they don't hear them joke in English. They don't even realize people tend to be less funny in a foreign language. In high school we had "Otto, der Film" in German class, that was really funny but also seen as quite untypical for German comedy.
Have you ever tried DMSO (aka dimethyl sulfoxide...) for an injury? Although technically by law, it has to be labeled as a solvent (it's the liquid left over from turning wood pulp into paper, similar to turpentine...), it has amazing healing properties. It comes in liquid, gel, or creme form, and a tiny amount goes a long way. You must clean the affected area with something antibacterial, such as isopropyl alcohol or hydrogen peroxide. Then you gentle rub a small amount on the injury. It absorbs immediately into your skin, and helps fight the free radicals that cause pain and bruising. The only real side effects are a kind of garlic taste that will eventually appear after applying it (which obviously shows it's working...), and a possible slight reddening of the skin, like mild sunburn. Applying cool, clean water to the area will take care of that. The real problem is that because it's considered a waste product, no drug company can take credit or patent it, so they all malign it in the press. I've used it for years, and it usually helps even older pains/injuries. Good luck, and thanks for your very enjoyable videos!I 👍 😀😍🤩☺😃
Hi NALF Try a compression sleeve for your calf injury. You want it tight enough to compress the blood out of the tissue but not too tight that it cuts off blood supply. You can always try pack therapy. Cold pack then hot pack followed by a six pack. If that doesn’t work repeat the process and usually by the end of a 24 pack the pain goes away. 👍
I always asumed that the stereotype comes from a lot of German humor being very dry and deadpan and without inside knowledge of the culture it's hard to get but after some thinking on it that's just the humor in MY circle but I know plenty of Germans that have a very overt sense of humor. In fact most of Germanies most sucessful comedians have a very obvious style of humor (that is often condescendingly sneered at by snobbish people like me 😉). I really don't have an answer here and would be super interested to see a 'nonsense' video about it if you find out 🤗
Germans have a great sense of humor. Very dry and sarcastic, the problem for foreigners is that the germans look dead serious while joking, which of course is part of the humor. But that makes it incredibly difficult for foreigners to recognize when they're joking.
When I went to the US as an Au pair in 1991 the mother of the family asked if I had ever seen an iron and she held out a iron to me and pointed to the dry laundry in the basket. I told her I have never seen that and we iron laundry with hot rocks. The dad constantly asked me the same question, whether all english movies in Germany have subtitles. In that one year he asked me this question about three times a week and I told him each time that the movies are dubbed. i did homework the the ten year old, she had no idea that Spain, France, Italy or Sweden were countries….
I highly recommend to watch some videos of Volker Pispers if you are interested in german dark humor. "The history of USA and terrorism" is my favorite one. It also has english subtitles.
i once saw Jerry Lewis (in an interview for german tv) explaining the problems of americans to be funny in germany, and for "american humor" he twisted his legs to form an X, tilted the feet to walk on the side of the feet, dropped his jacket halfway down from his shouldrrs, made a stupid face, and then walked around like that, declaring "look how funny i am", and everybody loughed because they thought that that would really be funny. a german probably would laugh too, out of embarassement, just what we call "fremdschämen". if someone who likes THAT kind of humor now comes to germany, he will see the myth confirmed, that germans don't have THAT humor. imho, jerry lewis did one really funny sketch: "the typewriter song". and i believe that the classics (Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, etc) are liked too, but not what most americans seem to like and find funny now. compare all that "american humor" with Heinz Erhardt, Loriot, and even Otto, and you should easily see the difference, but also what is considered "good humor" in germany. it's debatable whether the newer "comedians" are really funny, or tend towards the more primitive jokes ... ps: besides possible problems with copyright (even when only reciting some Erhardt-poems), Nalf watching and reacting to Wilhelm Busch, Heinz Erhardt (eg "Die Made") or Loriot ("Adventsgedicht" or "Weihnachten bei Hoppenstedts", videos available on youtube) might be quite interesting, and some nice language training :-)
Mikes reaction when you catch him editing a thumbnail. Like you caught him watching nasty stuff. That i think is humor that translates into any culture.
also there is this one family guy cutaway, that might very well sum up how this stereotype came to be. Which is that in a film studio the boss says, he'd wanna make some comedy again, now that the whole war thing is over, and he then gets reminded repeatedly, that the guys he is asking for are no longer around, and when he asks what happened he immediately remembers himself. "oooh right...." After all, not only jewish people where put in the concentration camps, but people critisizing hitler in general, and that is what comedy tends to do. Make fun of the government, leading to a lack of fresh new comedy in german media after the war. And americans get most of the stereotypes form the late 40s/early 50s when soldiers have been stationed here.
@@armadspengler2717 I can believe that. But I can maybe de-escalate the situation. It was not in Swabia and we made our sandwiches with regular bread not with Brezeln.
I think Michael Mittermeier once explained it like this. In the past, comedians were mostly Jews. Due to WW2, Germany lost most of its comedians. Either in concentration camps or by their escape abroad. I think that has hit a big gap in our society.
Let me educate many of you. Which language is closest to German? The answer is English. I have managed to learn to speak a little German and my wife speaks French "comme une Parisienne". But when I try and Use my German in Germany, they all speak English and answer my questions in English - and they do speak it better than my German, politely but proudly
I think Americans have watched so many WW2 movies and TV shows they have digested the humorless (at best) stereotypes. Even in Hogans Heroes the Germans were always the straight guy vs Hogan and his group.
I was in Niedersachsen for 5 years during my army days (British) and met many Bundeswehr guys with amazing sense of humour, closer to the British than the American soh, which seems to be childish to me.
I think a lot of it comes from us Southern Europeans (Portuguese, Spanish, Italians, Greeks and Southern French) due to the fact that we talk in a joking manner. Even in serious occasions like business meetings, we will say important information and talk about serious topics in a jokingly matter. Germans, in my experience, really divide when it's time to be serious and when it's time to crack jokes. When us southerners make business with Germans (and other Northern Europeans) they don't understand why we joke around in what they deem "a moment to act serious" and look at us with poker faces or even get annoyed at us for not taking the situation seriously (we do take it seriously, btw, it's just a different way of doing it). So we just cross it off as they not having a sense of humor. So I think we spread that "myth" a lot. I put it in quotations because although they do have A sense of humor, after living in german Switzerland and going to Germany a lot, I can safely say that their sense of humor is dry, rancid and quite insulting in many occasions from southerner point of view. Americans coming to Europe have to understand that there's a huge cultural divide between Southern Europe (Latin Europe) and Northern Europe (Germanic Europe).
smoking is illegale for under 18 years but the thing is here in Germany it is forbidden to press charges against users of any drug, only possession is illegal ;)
I believe, another myth is that the Scandinavians or Dutch are better than us in English. The absolutely most difficult word, which was completely beyond recognizing and understanding for most Americans, I heard the other day in a speech of an elderly person from the US. It started with "America can be defined in one word" and then it came. I think it is worth an extra video! It went like "asomu-uh-hm". I was so intrigued and instantly understood what he wanted to say.
Groucho Marx: "I collect the thinnest books in the world. I already have three: Italian heroic legends, the secrets of English cuisine and 1000 years of German humor.” perhaps🤔
It’s important to see the cultural differences within Germany regarding humor. Whereas in the West the in-your-face humor is well established we in the Northern part of Germany favor a very British style of humor. Because of that fact it is challenging for film directors to produce a comedy which is acceptable in the whole country.
I was an Aupair in USA and I watshed a german comedy with english subtitles 😂 the translations were the best, almost. I stil watsh mostly movies in original becouse the german words can not mirrow the american so it gets a hole different meaning easy. But sometimes I like the german voice actor more. Howard Stern Privat Parts is the best excample wich movie doesnt work as well on german as on english!
About 15 years ago I gave a seminar to an international group of doctors. Their summary was 'Whow, we didnt know that germans have humor, but you have a great sense of humor! I just did the normal things I always do when teaching, in Germany nobody found that outstandingly funny before.
I think a huge part in the stereotype of the humorless German stems from how terrible German stand-up comedy is. Our humor is much more situational and doesn't really lend itself well to the stand-up style. The best German stand-up comedians would barely be considered mediocre in the USA.
Right. German speaking countries don't have a big stand-up-comedy scene. I remember watching a documentary of Michael Mittermeier from 2011 when he participated in the Canadian comedy festival "Just for laughs". He made being a "German comedian" into an integral part his show.
I think what Germans see as humour is not seen as humour everywhere. My uncle was on a plane from America to Germany in 1995. Next to him was an old american couple who were planning a tour through Europe. Germany had been their first destination and so they took out an old map of Germany (with the pre-World War I borders) and asked my uncle if he could draw the war zones in Germany for them. My uncle said that there would not be a war in Germany. However, the old couple did not want to believe that and insisted that my uncle help them to avoid the war zones in Germany. Thereupon my uncle took the pen in his hand and declared half of Germany a war zone. He used various clichés and claimed that in Schwabenland there were cannibals that should be avoided and that in East Germany tourists are only allowed to take photos at certain times of the day if they don't want to be arrested. Well, the couple decided not to leave Frankfurt airport at all and to take the next flight to Italy.
I’m howling, that’s the best thing I’ve heard in a long while. 😂😂
Man muss aus jeder Situation das beste machen - und Dein Onkel hat auf jeden Fall, zu 100% das beste aus dieser Situation gemacht. Genau mein Humor.
Viel zu geil 😂
Thanks, I needed that! I'm peeing my pants laughing! 🤣
Oh man, he missed the opportunity to ruin all of Europe for them? What a shame! No, seriously, great idea to prank some idiots!
I recommend a Laugenbrötchen. Same Dough as a Bretzel but in Breadrollform. Easier to put Butter on
So lecker!
Or Laugenstange, you can eat it like a baguette sandwich
Laugenecke oder Laugencroissant
Yes, Laugenbrötchen👍
@@kornar Jaaaaa!
The explanation is quite simple: we have a secret law that forbids revealing to foreigners that we actually have a sense of humor. This law is part of our sense of humor - but it doesn't translate to U.S. citizens. The British, however, get it and support us in that effort by also telling everyone everywhere that they have a sense of humor, but we don't.
Which in itself is a sarcastic joke.
That´s the reason we tell all Americans Journalists we love David Hasselhoff. In fact we hate his voice, but we are grateful that he teared down the Berlin wall. Thank you David.
Ja, dass stimpt! Witzich!
As a German, I would argue that that group of 12 year olds smoking cigarettes is still somewhat of a big deal. That is definitely not the norm.
Can confirm. I've yet to see a group of teens smoking. That is definitely a big deal.
@@frankkohnen516 theres a difference between teens and 12 yo
@@dominikmanthei4546 What I meant is I have not seen anyone you would consider a teen (18 and younger) out in the open smoking nonchalantly.
@@dominikmanthei4546 yeah a few months
I think it's pretty common honestly. If you haven't seen it that's probably due to your upbringing.
I went to a Gymnasium and had most of my friends from there, and none of them smoked at that age. But I also had some friends in my town that went to Realschule and had working class or unemployed parents, and a large percentage of them started smoking around age 12 to 14. They basically did everything a couple of years earlier; most of them also started drinking and got sexually active around that age while for most people in Gymnasium that didn't happen until around age 16.
No matter whats the subject of a Nalf video, it is always a pleasure to watch, because the cinematography and the whole execution are so well done. Love it 😃
Yes, well done Nalf. You truly love Germany. It’s so good to see through the production. Cheers kudos much success
Theory: A British comedian once described American humor as being a quip-machine, trying to present yourself in the best light as the funny guy, the life of the party. So American humor is very overt and engaging. Whereas joking around with someone in Germany is a mark of friendship, a sign of mutual understanding. You're just not being as funny with a stranger as with your peers. So coming to Germany as an "outsider" you might get the impression that Germans have no humor, while in truth they are just being reserved and don't know yet if they can trust you enough to play pranks on.
@Max შემიწყალე said no one ever
@Max შემიწყალე you meant british sausage is the wurst?
there was a good article on BBC about german humour. The main "issue" is that the german language often plays a big role in our jokes. so of course german jokes do not translate well if the joke is a play on words. same goes vice versa. a wordplay joke in english won't be well translated. Combine that with jokes that are based on the culture, the other side will always have a hard time understanding whats so funny.
For example in the US the police is "known" for eating a lot of donuts, but i have yet to talk to someone that associates a donut with german police. Now...a Wurst Semmel..thats another thing. (keep in mind, this comparison might also be lacking, but its the only one i could remember)
Actually, German humour is so dark, US cops keep trying to shoot it.
pretty off topic i just wanted to point out that if you are trying to find a german in a youtube comment section, look for the people who still have a shift key
When my mother (a German “war bride”) and her younger sister would get together there was always much laughter and they were so very much fun. With both my aunt and uncle, you can hear the smiles in their voices on the phone. Sunday morning breakfasts in Germany with my mother’s family (where I partially grew up and where my father was often stationed before retirement) was filled with laughing and funny stories. As someone above mentioned, the subject of Hitler and the Nazi party is never a source of humor. When I asked my mother to speak to my students about her experiences growing up in WWII Germany, she declined referencing her shame of what her country did. Even when I explained that she was only a child, she was never able to rid herself of that feeling.
I guess so, but your sample tells, they are humorous among themselves, with friends and family.
What they not do, is entertaining strangers with humour, trying to cheer somebody up or so. This showbusiness gen is kind of missing.
@@holger_p This is definitely not true!
@@mariannebraun8206 it's my Observation. Stand up comedy didn' exist in germany, maybe until 1990. Sheerleading or chearing, extroverted excitement is not so often happening. And if nobody starts, nobody joins in or copies it.
@@holger_p And there is nothing bad about it. Why should all cultures be a copy of each other? Different cultures communicate differently and I find that very interessting.
I think political cabaret and satire are the backbone of German humor. Those are often not translated or lost in translation, therefore as a non native speaker you are missing a lot of gems there.
I watch a lot of british and american polical satire, which in a sense gives me more aspects and nuances of the problems they face as a society as their news ever could. Still they call themselves all comedians, while here in germany i would see it even as an insult if a satirist would be called comedian.
NALFS videos. Always fun to watch.
Two men in a gameshow in Australia. A draw after the last question, so they both must say a short poem with the word "Timbuktu" in it and the audience will select the winner. First man, a priest says: "I was a father all my life, I had no son, I had no wife. I read the bible through and through, on my way to Timbuktu". The the other man, a shepherd makes his poem: " As Tim and I to Brisbane went, we met some ladies, cheap to rent, they were three and we were to, so I booked one and Tim booked two"...
German humor in englisch words..... I love this joke!
"Your gonna need a bigger brot", Chief Brody.
@@berulan8463 that’s why the shark was so hungry
@@undeadwerewolves9463 He was hangry??
I really laughed, imagine, as a German !
@@wolfgangsimons9183 stop pretending, they know we cant.
It's ALL SO WELL SHOT! 😂 I'm always mesmerized by your videos. They're never mundane. The little under-the-bridge drone footage, the dutch tilt on a question, the split screen in the café. So. 👏 Dang. 👏 Good. 👏
Thank you so much for noticing, Lucas. I appreciate this comment so much.
Lucas Maybe you would consider becoming a patron, since we have started a Movie Club on Nalf's Patreon channel. We select movies to watch and discuss. I bet you'd add a lot to the discussion. The mention of a Dutch tilt convinced me of that. ;)
@@mojojim6458 Sure, I'll have a look! :) I've never dabbled in patreon before.
Fun Fact: The Dutch angle is actually a "Deutsch angle" that was inspired by early German cinema. How fitting for this channel ;)
th-cam.com/video/SHYfsYQDr6M/w-d-xo.html
@@LucasBenderChannel Thanks for considering joining.
Just a little hint how to eat the Brezel with butter: normally you just take a bite, than put a piece of butter on top of the Brezel and than take that bite. You don't cut it in half. In the same way you eat Croissants.
But why can you buy " ready " Butterbrezels at the bakeries ?
@@margots.597 because they are the ideal snack to go. If take your time to take a seat you cam do it your self sometimes
@@margots.597 Take a warm Butterbrezel and than put creamy Butter on top of it ---- a dream. But don't count the calories.
@@erdmuthehoppe7248 Kalorien ? Die sind beschäftigt . Die nähen nachts meine Kleider enger ......😎😅
@@margots.597 Die machen bei mir Überstunden.
As an American journalist with an MA jn History married to a German citizen (gotta be specific!) I'd say much of that attitude comes from the fact that most American's familial experience of Germany dates back to the post-war years when so many US troops were stationed there. Not like Germans had much to laugh about at that point. They were literally shocked and traumatized. And then there's the ability to play the straight man so well when they're cracking a joke! But anyone who's spent a day with mein Mann knows just how much of a sense of humor Germans have!
I think a good portion of media internationally that shows germans is world war documentaries and movies or science based. Which both are automatically serious in nature. The germany comedy or other life styles are not "exported" as much. I think WW2 movies is also a big thing suporting to think that germans shout and the language is rough
We like sarcasm and cynicism ... a lot. The more serious the delivery the better. That can easily look like there is no humor, especially when it comes to a joke battle where after hearing a 'obvious' joke in all sincerity and not laughing (cause thats the rules!) you have to counter with something even more outlandish .. but also as seriously delivered as possible.
Also: many of us like our jokes not to be 'on the nose' too much, a good joke is recognized by its content, not obvious it is told. But thats not universally that way, many germans do like comedians that throw obvious punchlines after punchlines.
That and that we like to use our language a lot for the contents of the joke, words with more than one meaning or phrases that can be (usually not gramatically correct but commonly used somehow or -where) understood in different ways.
Simple example for the language bit: (yes i know such things exist in other languages too but they are pretty common in german)
"What did you do? You should have driven around that group of cyclists, not drive them over!"
"Was hast du getan? Du solltest die Gruppe von Radfahrern *umfahren*, nicht sie *umfahren*!"
Back then the upper school yard closest to the seniors had a little segment called the smoker's corner which actually was a corner, its area defined by cigarette leftovers.
Nowadays the entire upper school yard is an ashtray.
Observed closely it's usually female teenagers who start smoking in cliques as well as peer pressure. The urge to perform in a grown-up world.
I think German humor is often a lot about playing with grammar and the meaning of words. It's often dry with a bunch of sarcsm. Often it ist about politics, realationships and work. Maybe the cultural difference in the way of life does not help to understand the jokes. Sometimes you have to overthink what you've Heard, before you understand the jokes and start laughing. Like the DB, it comes with a little delay.
"This is Europe, you can take your pants off in the park."
Perfect.
I mean to be fair I laughed at the exageration then considered how I would react seeing a guy without shirts and pants in the park and honestly: as long as he wasn't full nude my first thought would propably be 'Wow isn't he cold?' 😅
This is always so funny for me, because in my British English, pants means underwear, not trousers…! 😂
@@DarkHarlequin I wouldn’t care about full nudity at all, as long as he‘s not …. „excited“ to be nude.
But I would think „this had got to be cold“ as well. I mean, I think so when I see people walking around in shorts and t-Shirts when it’s less than 20°C.
😂
In our six or seven months living here in Germany, I have found my German friends to be quite funny. Maybe it helps that I have a very dry sense of humor (I don't enjoy "typical" American comedy as much). But I think part of the problem is what gets lost in translation. I've definitely missed some jokes by not knowing enough German!
It's really hard to say why that stereotype exists but I've had a theory for some time now. I've talked to a lot of people that lived in the states and they basically had the same thing to say. Once Americans hear that you're German they'll joke about Hitler or the Nazis and that's not a laughing matter for us, not at all. I would say that we're generally not the best at laughing about ourselves (even if it's not Hitler related) but making fun of a German with that topic attached to it will only get you one reaction from anyone of us. I have the feeling that a lot of people outside of Germany don't have a clue how we're dealing with our past. The people are so used to these kind of jokes, you hear them all the time from all sides, they just have no understanding of how much of an insult that is to us Germans. So you meet a German, make your little joke, the German is pissed and you assume that he or she has no sense of humor. That's my theory.
@dawurfmaul. True.👍👍
i would say we are mosly more anoyed or bored if an american makes hitlerjokes, because there typically lame jokes. i agree with the rest
Same happens to me here in Spain. It's either this or they think it's funny to say "Kartoffel". Obviously after several similar jokes you get annoyed. 🤷♀️
Really? I make Nazi jokes all the time with my american, french and italian coworkers, it is a way to bond, we all think that time, crimes and nazis were awful, terrible and disgusting so making fun about this means we are over it. We accept it as at least part of my ancestry in a way, but i m not one of them, i learned from the tradegy of the past and i can now laugh about jokes about this, even when my grand parents told me horrific stories they lived through. It is a way to cope, a way to get over it, i m not bound by my countries past, i dont war any guilt for the crimes comitted before i was even born and my coworkers dont either. We are here now even when our ancestors might have been enemies and maybe even tried to kill each other. We are here now in a better world and generations later we can laugh together.
@@DRouwnt you have your point. Obviously it's history and we did not commit those crimes.
In my opinion it's just not funny what happened back then. And it will never be.. and I don't think it's funny to be connected with this even if it's a joke.🤷♀️
I am an American with German/American grandparents. I can say for a fact that Germans are funny if you are attuned to their style of humor. I find American "humor" to be predictable, brash and not very funny, whereas German humor is drier, more subtle and more sophisticated. It may require inside knowledge of the subject, and the humor may be lost on a non-German who is not accustomed to looking for irony that may not be blatant.
Grandmother was carefree, quick to smile and laugh. Everyone new her as Inge. She was loved by everyone in the neighborhood. Grandfather on the other hand, was known to all as Mr. Brandstetter. He was a bit feared by most, he was considered very stern and was probably seen as a "stereotypical humorless German". A keen observer however, would have noted the twinkle in his eye and would have perceived that his dry demeanor was just part of the show. Among family he was an ardent prankster, but that side of him was not for the general public to see.
German humor is real, it's just not for everyone.
Genau so ist es!
Great video. Your videos are always so well put together, I'm sure it takes a lot of time, keeps it up!!
Funny you say about humour not translating - I saw an interview with Greg Davies (one of UK's funniest men) on writing The Cleaner (a UK rendition of the German comedy Der Tatortreiniger). When asked to write the UK scripts, he said that he had thought it would be a piece of piss, switch on the computer and enter each line into Google Translate. He quickly realised that what was funny in Germany just didn't work in the UK. Still he did an excellent job imo in making the program.
As a swabian girl, let me tell you how this Butterbrezel-thing works: spread as much butter on your Brezel as you like but save a little to dip the crispy Brezel-arms in when eaten the big part
Someone speaking facts
"Mit Sonne im Märzen ist nicht zu scherzen!"
Jeez, that's how I walk all the time.😐 I worked with a woman from Germany in a hotel in a national park in California. "Birgit" had a sense of humor, but it was very dry and when she did say something funny it was really funny because she was so serious most of the time. She was definitely more reserved than the other folks at the front desk. That said there was an older German couple who ran the gift shop (we had a number of international employees) and they were very friendly and outgoing.
I saw Bob Newhart (he is an old comedian in case you don't know him) on the Tonight Show with Jonny Carson so it was about 40 to 50 years ago. He was talking about this humourless German who said "why do they call him curly when he has no hair"
On one of my visits to Germany (Bavaria) several years ago, I was having dinner with colleagues (a mix of Germans, Americans, and Chinese). One of the Germans (younger than myself) said, in a mildly serious tone, “I had an Uncle who died in a concentration camp. He fell out of a guard tower.” I took a few seconds, then Lol’d. I believe I was the only one that did. 😅
So yes, they do have a sense of humor. But you have to “get” it (and by extension, “get” them).
Maybe it's because most americans do not speak german? And as german humor is not so much transported by gestures, facial expressions but by words you need to speak german well to spot the funny bits. And, of course, the cultural context.
You got this right. ☺️
Our sense of humor can be pretty dry indeed, and when we are funny, we often say something funny with a straight face, before bursting out into laughter. 😀
I used to work in a team with three British colleagues, and I stumbled upon a FUNDAMENTAL difference between a certain aspect of their humo[u]r and German humor: The pun! The British love puns! They seem to consider a good pun as the highest form of humor. The big newspapers even have a "best puns of the year" column in December.
We Germans have puns, too. We call them "Kalauer", and they are considered cringe worthy - the lowest form of humor.
That is absolutly true. One of my friends love to make a pun. Every time he makes one me and my friends don´t laugh but instead we behave as if we would feel physical pain or are ashamed of him.
Ein guter Kalauer bringt dich zum Lachen, gerade weil er so albern ist.
Von wo bist du? Weil ich hab noch nie von Kalauern gehört, Das ähnlichste das ich kenne ist ein flachwitz. Außerdem sehr viel Humor Deutschlands sind puns.
@@EgoTheDeranged de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalauer#:~:text=Als%20Kalauer%20bezeichnet%20man%20ein,gleichem%20Klang%20oder%20gleicher%20Schreibweise.
@@hartmutbohn danke
Hey NALF, If you're still looking for a good butterbrezel for mikey, try the one at "Bäckerei Berger" in the Wilhelmstraße in Reutlingen. The city itself and the surrounding landscape is worth visiting too in my view. (And no im not some tourist bot I'm just a 16yo local obsessed with history, language, culture and all topics connected to the previous ones🤣)
Oh and you could go for a hike on the achalm. (It's free and you have nice view over the city)
Great idea, would love it if Nalf visit us here, also Berge is quite good, think he could enjoy it. Greetings from Reutlingen
This sounds beautiful - is it a very sporty hike, or more of a Wanderweg?
@@LaureninGermany it is more of a wanderweg. According to my dad it takes about 90 min to the top from downtown Reutlingen.
Oh and the narrowest street in the word is found in our city
As a German who was living abroad, I had real problems with this whole "Germans have no humour" stereotype because whenever I made a joke people took it 100% seriously and that sometimes upset people.
Germany is now eagerly anticipating Mikey’s standup comedy routine (once the soft toys/stuffed animals gives their glowing testimonials) ! 😉🥳😎
My father was born and raised in Germany, and he had a great sense of humor, mostly of the elaborate prank style. He was the head engineer of a well known electric company, and often understudies of the company would come to his office with questions or advice. He once caught a fly, glued it still alive to his desk and watched straight faced as people would try to wave it away. In my opinion some people mistake the somewhat gruff sound of the German language as harsh, without understanding the meaning. My friends often commented that my dad seemed very strict, but he wasn’t. I miss him and his sometimes goofy and off kilter humor to this day.
The quality of your videos stuns me everytime
Thanks for promoting that comedian.
He's hilarious indeed.
The „myth“ ,I think, stems 100% from Hollywood movies after WW II. „Jawoll, mein Führer“ is what has been fed to Americans for decades ;)
Aside from that, we Germans have a very different sense of humor. After 25 years in the US, I‘m stll flabbergasted, how often American, friends don‘t get irony or sarcasm ;)
All in all I‘d say , while the British are the best, we Germans are second ;)
US humor very often sounds childish ,or as we like to say „Fritzle-Witze“ Niveau :)
American humour comes off as if it is wanted too badly. Like they would be making sure that everyone definitely got it :D I think it is more "direct" indeed, when in difference we are more subtle and seem very serious when being sarcastic. Maybe people in the U.S. think we're actually meaning everything we're saying? I don't know :D
the butter was almost ice cold. never understood why they serve it that way, i prefer it at about 10 degree, somewhat hard somewhat soft and within 15 min soft enough to spread it
I haven't researched this, and my history program in university I attended about 20 years ago. But here is what I think: The idea of humorless Germans comes from Old Prussia, especially from the reign of Frederick the Great.He ruled in the era of Enlightenment. His rule was characterized by pragmaticism, no-nonsense, and a disdain for any kind of debauchery. But he did enjoy playing music. He was a serious man ruling a poor country in serious trouble. (Seven Years War, for example). He inherited a focus on strong military from his Father, the Soldier King (Soldatenkönig), but in contrast to his father, his focus on military and discipline and industriousness seemed to come out of the necessities of the situation. His father was just fascinated by the idea of very tall imposing soldiers. (Lange Kerls). Ascribed characteristics of Prussians and subsequently Germans, have been industriousness, seriousness, militarism ever since Frederick the Great.
and Lange Kerls.
Frederick loved himself some Lange Kerls...
Funny & good observation
When I see American comedy and compare it to German comedy, I can imagine why Americans don't understand German humor and therefore believe Germans don't have any. It's simply to complicated to them. American humor is basal, very obvious and slab-built. German humor tends to be more around the corner, more bushwacky, more behind the lines.
True! US-American humor is very often delivered with obvious hints, that you are to laugh at the jokes, even by professionals like Colbert or Maher. On the other hand: any German can deliver jokes with a straight face, only keeping a sharp eye on the listener to see if the point is understood - like: kapierst du? It's the funnier the less the listener understands of it!
And then there are Heimat-filme! They don't count as real humor in Germany. They count as "albern" - ridiculous.
Hazel Brugger is a perfect example of dry german humor
But strictly speaking she is Swiss. :-)
And some of her best jokes only work in a Swiss context.
It's the same as with the stereotype that German is a harsh language.
Thank you, I appreciate your respect man! I also love how you present German life through your eyes!
Buttering a pretzel is quite easy if you are not given frozen butter. Maybe the cafe waitress was just demonstrating German humor.
I believe it's lost in translation and style of comedy. Americans are very loud and in your face. Germans are like the Brits were it's very tongue-in-cheek and very wrapped around dialog.
I think British and German humor isn't THAT much different. Both ADD a special, local layer to the humor but there is def. common ground. It's no coincidence that British comedy is highly successful in Germany and Germans adapt a lot of British entertainment. I always felt like Germans and Brits are in some kind of hate/love relationship. We can't live with them but we can't live without them either.
I remember reading TV listings back in the UK. The paper listed a movie playing that day. It described the film: German comedy. Ha, ha.
For political jokes, try Extra3 or Heute Show (can you find on TH-cam both).
That poor scooter having to graze upon the unsmoothest of sidewalks ive ever seen
Butterbrezen sind was feines, es lässt sich aber noch steigern durch die Verwendung von Kräuterbutter. (sonst üblicherweise eher mit Schnitzeln oder Grillgut verwendet)
As a German I really hate it too that there are so many people smoking because it stinks and its very annoying if you sit in a Café eg and someone next to your table starts smoking. Because it stinks and also is bad for your health even if your just sitting next to somebody smoking
I do believe, the "German lack of humor" is a misconception: Humor and jokes are regarded rather a private matter in Germany - one would do between friends and not in conversation with strangers. The last could have seen as weird or akward. For American or Brits it could be a more public matter - the same way you would rather engaged in small talk with strangers. In the anglosaxon world even scientific speeches often start with some joke ... which could be considered as not appropriate in Germany. So if a German meets an American for the first time he or she is not very likely to start a conversation with a joke. Most people you will meet on travels or other tourists will be strangers - which leeds to the impression of not joking around.
Maybe, subconsciously the topic has something to do with Nalf's last video: the German love for privacy and privacy protection - born in Gestapo and Stasi spying on them. Keeping jokes as a private thing could come from the same origin: you would never know, what consequences it would bring, if you tell political and critical jokes to a stranger.
So many great insights here in the comments. Quite the subject Nalf.
Talking about the wedding video and cutting to the pigeons - now that was actually funny
This is Europe - you can take your pants off in the park 😅
There is a saying here in Germany about a certain type of people who "go to the basement to laugh" which just means that humor is a private matter to some and also unprofessional, sure things are changing but those people are still very much around.
Oh, interesting. Living in the region but not from here I've noticed when I've used humour to lighten up the mood and 'a smiley icebreaker' there's a weird vibe in response like 'I'm less than'... incompetent was the word that came to mind but dared not say it out loud (like how dare they see me as anything less than equal, I'm human too - how is that possible in such a large part of a population, aren't we all loveable with our flaws etc.) and your comment kind of confirms my suspicions. Same thing if I laugh at myself for tripping over something or bumping into something (with quick recovery) or laughing at the messiness of life - e.g. accidentally spraying water on myself when washing the car or having food on one's face. That's just me as a person (I'm Australian) so I find it really really hard to relate to folks locally. Note. I live in Switzerland on the border to Germany so have, I suspect, the regional variations of what you're describing, but I definitely recognise it, I think it's quite common here. I love shopping in Germany as a result, I found a favourite store with folks I can feel ok around.
@@mynameisheidi Yes the differences can be felt from region to region, there are regions that are more relaxed than others, also german humor can easily be overlooked, for example, do you know the term "diebische elster" (thieving magpie)? now what was the name of the german online tax program again? oh yes ... elster ... people who never did their taxes online in germany would never get this.
That scene when you come back and Mikey is on the couch somehow reminds me of a 13 y/o when the parents suddenly come into his room... xD
Growing up in the Netherlands I could watch both German and British television and I'm afraid Germans don't do comedy very well, which is of course just a single craft and tradition. The Brits can also get giggly about everything related to the naughty bits, toilets and bodily functions which is simply not funny to non puritans, that's actually no credit to their sense of humour.
Germans are also a bit reserved and have very formal and hierachical professional relations, that's not inviting to joke around. The British can fit some of their understatments and subtle irony in. In international exchange the linguistical humour of the Germans often get lost, and they are more inhibited on the international stereotypes than other Europeans, while sarcasm does a lot better when people know eachother very well.
So I think it's fair to say that German humour is less on the surface and doesn't always come out right away, but I never had the impression Germans have less sense of humour.
You're right, German comedy is shit. But the reason for this is that we consider comedy as the lowest form of humor. German humor is more in sarcasm and political cabaret. That is when we shine.
@@nieselpriem It's also a matter of British people, who don't speak a word of German of course, claiming Germans have no sense of humour because they don't hear them joke in English. They don't even realize people tend to be less funny in a foreign language.
In high school we had "Otto, der Film" in German class, that was really funny but also seen as quite untypical for German comedy.
"Sir, not all germans are nazis ! Yes I know this theory..."
OSS117, a French spy comedy with Jean Dujardin
Have you ever tried DMSO (aka dimethyl sulfoxide...) for an injury? Although technically by law, it has to be labeled as a solvent (it's the liquid left over from turning wood pulp into paper, similar to turpentine...), it has amazing healing properties. It comes in liquid, gel, or creme form, and a tiny amount goes a long way. You must clean the affected area with something antibacterial, such as isopropyl alcohol or hydrogen peroxide. Then you gentle rub a small amount on the injury. It absorbs immediately into your skin, and helps fight the free radicals that cause pain and bruising. The only real side effects are a kind of garlic taste that will eventually appear after applying it (which obviously shows it's working...), and a possible slight reddening of the skin, like mild sunburn. Applying cool, clean water to the area will take care of that. The real problem is that because it's considered a waste product, no drug company can take credit or patent it, so they all malign it in the press. I've used it for years, and it usually helps even older pains/injuries. Good luck, and thanks for your very enjoyable videos!I 👍 😀😍🤩☺😃
Hi NALF
Try a compression sleeve for your calf injury. You want it tight enough to compress the blood out of the tissue but not too tight that it cuts off blood supply. You can always try pack therapy. Cold pack then hot pack followed by a six pack. If that doesn’t work repeat the process and usually by the end of a 24 pack the pain goes away. 👍
Butterbrezel: I don't cut the brezel but put the butter on the brezel before I bite off. For me- best way to eat it.
I always asumed that the stereotype comes from a lot of German humor being very dry and deadpan and without inside knowledge of the culture it's hard to get but after some thinking on it that's just the humor in MY circle but I know plenty of Germans that have a very overt sense of humor. In fact most of Germanies most sucessful comedians have a very obvious style of humor (that is often condescendingly sneered at by snobbish people like me 😉). I really don't have an answer here and would be super interested to see a 'nonsense' video about it if you find out 🤗
Germans have a great sense of humor. Very dry and sarcastic, the problem for foreigners is that the germans look dead serious while joking, which of course is part of the humor. But that makes it incredibly difficult for foreigners to recognize when they're joking.
Butter-trick: Try not to cut off a big chunk of butter, rather scrape it off. It is way easier to spread on bread
Without humour, how would the people in the GDR have survived?
When I went to the US as an Au pair in 1991 the mother of the family asked if I had ever seen an iron and she held out a iron to me and pointed to the dry laundry in the basket. I told her I have never seen that and we iron laundry with hot rocks. The dad constantly asked me the same question, whether all english movies in Germany have subtitles. In that one year he asked me this question about three times a week and I told him each time that the movies are dubbed. i did homework the the ten year old, she had no idea that Spain, France, Italy or Sweden were countries….
This should have been on the nonesense channel
I highly recommend to watch some videos of Volker Pispers if you are interested in german dark humor.
"The history of USA and terrorism" is my favorite one. It also has english subtitles.
2:33 You could also be a savage and ask for Margarine instead.
i once saw Jerry Lewis (in an interview for german tv) explaining the problems of americans to be funny in germany, and for "american humor" he twisted his legs to form an X, tilted the feet to walk on the side of the feet, dropped his jacket halfway down from his shouldrrs, made a stupid face, and then walked around like that, declaring "look how funny i am", and everybody loughed because they thought that that would really be funny. a german probably would laugh too, out of embarassement, just what we call "fremdschämen".
if someone who likes THAT kind of humor now comes to germany, he will see the myth confirmed, that germans don't have THAT humor.
imho, jerry lewis did one really funny sketch: "the typewriter song". and i believe that the classics (Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, etc) are liked too, but not what most americans seem to like and find funny now. compare all that "american humor" with Heinz Erhardt, Loriot, and even Otto, and you should easily see the difference, but also what is considered "good humor" in germany. it's debatable whether the newer "comedians" are really funny, or tend towards the more primitive jokes ...
ps: besides possible problems with copyright (even when only reciting some Erhardt-poems), Nalf watching and reacting to Wilhelm Busch, Heinz Erhardt (eg "Die Made") or Loriot ("Adventsgedicht" or "Weihnachten bei Hoppenstedts", videos available on youtube) might be quite interesting, and some nice language training :-)
Heinz Erhardt and Loriot! Great suggestions!
No one would consider Jerry Lewis as an accomplished comedian. He was a clown.
Jerry Lewis was a clown and buffoon.
A joke: How many Germans does it take to change a light bulb?
One. We are efficient and we don't have humour. :D
Mikes reaction when you catch him editing a thumbnail. Like you caught him watching nasty stuff. That i think is humor that translates into any culture.
also there is this one family guy cutaway, that might very well sum up how this stereotype came to be. Which is that in a film studio the boss says, he'd wanna make some comedy again, now that the whole war thing is over, and he then gets reminded repeatedly, that the guys he is asking for are no longer around, and when he asks what happened he immediately remembers himself. "oooh right...." After all, not only jewish people where put in the concentration camps, but people critisizing hitler in general, and that is what comedy tends to do. Make fun of the government, leading to a lack of fresh new comedy in german media after the war. And americans get most of the stereotypes form the late 40s/early 50s when soldiers have been stationed here.
I worked in a café/restaurant once, so I'll let you in on a little secret. We used margarine in our sandwiches, which is super easy to spread.
I'm pretty sure that in Swabia there is a death penalty for commiting an atrocity as to spread margarine on a Bretzel instead of butter...
@@armadspengler2717 I can believe that. But I can maybe de-escalate the situation. It was not in Swabia and we made our sandwiches with regular bread not with Brezeln.
I think Michael Mittermeier once explained it like this. In the past, comedians were mostly Jews. Due to WW2, Germany lost most of its comedians. Either in concentration camps or by their escape abroad. I think that has hit a big gap in our society.
and only 3 generations to recover.... ;)
German Humor is like the "fun" in funeral. It is there in plain sight but some just don't see it.
Let me educate many of you. Which language is closest to German? The answer is English. I have managed to learn to speak a little German and my wife speaks French "comme une Parisienne". But when I try and Use my German in Germany, they all speak English and answer my questions in English - and they do speak it better than my German, politely but proudly
I think Americans have watched so many WW2 movies and TV shows they have digested the humorless (at best) stereotypes. Even in Hogans Heroes the Germans were always the straight guy vs Hogan and his group.
How much audio compression would you like?
Video editor: YES!
Germany must be seen quite "regional", dear. Speaking of humour: It exists everywhere, but differs very much from north to south.
I was in Niedersachsen for 5 years during my army days (British) and met many Bundeswehr guys with amazing sense of humour, closer to the British than the American soh, which seems to be childish to me.
Great video NALF :)
What?! You've never heard of the 1989 book German Humor: On the Fritz by John L. Anderson? A classic.
I think a lot of it comes from us Southern Europeans (Portuguese, Spanish, Italians, Greeks and Southern French) due to the fact that we talk in a joking manner. Even in serious occasions like business meetings, we will say important information and talk about serious topics in a jokingly matter. Germans, in my experience, really divide when it's time to be serious and when it's time to crack jokes. When us southerners make business with Germans (and other Northern Europeans) they don't understand why we joke around in what they deem "a moment to act serious" and look at us with poker faces or even get annoyed at us for not taking the situation seriously (we do take it seriously, btw, it's just a different way of doing it). So we just cross it off as they not having a sense of humor. So I think we spread that "myth" a lot.
I put it in quotations because although they do have A sense of humor, after living in german Switzerland and going to Germany a lot, I can safely say that their sense of humor is dry, rancid and quite insulting in many occasions from southerner point of view.
Americans coming to Europe have to understand that there's a huge cultural divide between Southern Europe (Latin Europe) and Northern Europe (Germanic Europe).
smoking is illegale for under 18 years but the thing is here in Germany it is forbidden to press charges against users of any drug, only possession is illegal ;)
Life is full of challenges. Buttering a Pretzel is one of the more problematic ones.
I believe, another myth is that the Scandinavians or Dutch are better than us in English. The absolutely most difficult word, which was completely beyond recognizing and understanding for most Americans, I heard the other day in a speech of an elderly person from the US. It started with "America can be defined in one word" and then it came. I think it is worth an extra video! It went like "asomu-uh-hm". I was so intrigued and instantly understood what he wanted to say.
I like that he gives us time to guess what it is. I was yelling humor at my screen for the first 4 minutes of this video
Groucho Marx: "I collect the thinnest books in the world. I already have three: Italian heroic legends, the secrets of English cuisine and 1000 years of German humor.” perhaps🤔
I have a suggestion for Nalfs nonsens... Why American football players do not wear pants in the German park...
Taking your 'pants' off in the park in Ireland would rise a lot of eye brow & unhappy people as 'pants' means mens underpants.
It’s important to see the cultural differences within Germany regarding humor. Whereas in the West the in-your-face humor is well established we in the Northern part of Germany favor a very British style of humor. Because of that fact it is challenging for film directors to produce a comedy which is acceptable in the whole country.
Film school! Now I understand! Wherever you went, it worked.
Humour died with the trauma of war and then slowly grew back.
Mickey really seems to like pudding or yogurt.. or whatever he`s eating at the beginning of every video
I was an Aupair in USA and I watshed a german comedy with english subtitles 😂 the translations were the best, almost. I stil watsh mostly movies in original becouse the german words can not mirrow the american so it gets a hole different meaning easy. But sometimes I like the german voice actor more. Howard Stern Privat Parts is the best excample wich movie doesnt work as well on german as on english!
Ja, so "Pferdeküsse" Blaue Flecken (Bruces) sind oder können sehr schmerzhaft sein!
i tried to find out what a caff? is, but failed miserabely
About 15 years ago I gave a seminar to an international group of doctors. Their summary was 'Whow, we didnt know that germans have humor, but you have a great sense of humor! I just did the normal things I always do when teaching, in Germany nobody found that outstandingly funny before.
I think a huge part in the stereotype of the humorless German stems from how terrible German stand-up comedy is. Our humor is much more situational and doesn't really lend itself well to the stand-up style. The best German stand-up comedians would barely be considered mediocre in the USA.
Right. German speaking countries don't have a big stand-up-comedy scene. I remember watching a documentary of Michael Mittermeier from 2011 when he participated in the Canadian comedy festival "Just for laughs". He made being a "German comedian" into an integral part his show.
That rings kind of true actually. Many people around me are very very funny but whenever I watch german standup I kind of curl up inside.