Georg Schramm

It was decided that we needed to go see a live cabaret and not just watch movies all the time. The director of activities decided that Georg Schramm would be just what the doctor ordered. His new program, Thomas Bernhard hätte geschossen, was on at the Wühlmäuse Theater.

"But I don't know this guy!" - "Sure you do, he's on TV all the time."

I got called over one evening to watch - hm. Kind of a weird old guy with glasses and a leather glove over a paralyzed hand. I never really understand what he is going on about.

The place was sold out - people stood outside, pleading for tickets. Our friend's daughter decided not to come, her ticket was gone in an instant long before the show. We seemed to be some of the younger ones there, I was afraid this would be a horrible ha-ha German laugh-a-thon.

No way. This guy is great. With a completely straight face he just recites at an impossible speed the daily insanities of life, couples with some observations that do demand closer investigation. He shoots off at the German health system and its Mafia-like structures; the degenerate school system; Politicians from top to bottom (Köhler over Merkel to Wazzisname Jung, the minister of defense); the German economy (or lack thereof).

Some of his characters speak a Frankfurt dialect (the real one not that "other" one in the East) that I found hard to understand, I really had to concentrate. Behind me sat two guys who had a good, lout guffaw after every joke, so you always missed the first few words of the next statement. Another guy tried pointing this out to them and a short fight erupted: When you go to a cabaret you laugh! Yes, but you are not at home, there are 500 others in the room with you.

The ringing mobile phones were horrible - why can't people discover it is their phone and get it off? They have such distinctive ring tones.

Schramm make fun of the people coming in late - digging in for a seat only to discover that the seats were already taken, then beating a retreat. Schramm picked this up, asked for empty seats, made sure they got real comfy before he continued - I bet that couple won't show up late to a theater again!

The last part got kind of strange - his talk of blowing up stuff, of killing some of the idiots in power was a bit out of taste. But his analysis of how Hanns Martin Schleyer was transformed through his assassination from nasty, mean, former member of the Nazi SS (he joined in 1933) president of the Confederation of German Employers' Associations into a martyr that they even have named a sports arena after, was brutal but honest.

Now, if this guy could organize the people on the streets and the Stammtische, he could easily overthrow the government, judging from the applause he got for every analysis.