Can you make German people laugh?

Seriously, can you do it? That’s the ultimate test for a standup comedian based out of North America. Germans have a reputation as being really stoic but of course, everyone likes to laugh and have fun. So what are they really like as far as an audience?

I’ve been studying various forms of standup for a while now and I’ve found that Europeans are really diverse when it comes to taste. Each region is their own microverse as far as comedic culture. I am picking on the Germans a bit here because I find the accent to be hilarious. Would our North American approach to funny go over with them? Mostly, probably not. Though there is a North American comedy scene there. However, to indulge in the German scene and face the stoic music, you would have to understand their values and linguistic forms of conversation. Otherwise, your narratives will likely miss getting a reaction. American comedians living in Germany who have adapted to their scene would say the same (I’ve asked them!). This is probably true for North Americans thinking of entertaining anywhere outside of their national borders.

German standup is really long and explanatory, just like their language and conversational style. They explain every minutia of detail like reading a book. North American standup is more direct to the funny, eliminating unnecessary filler that would delay an audience reaction. German comedians go on forever, sometimes without a punchline or their version of a punchline is over our heads.

I have a friend who recently moved there after many years in the San Francisco Bay Area producing music shows. As far as heavy metal music goes anyway, American and German tastes are often aligned. But comedy isn’t so fortunate. If you want to dig that truly unique, awesomeness that is German culture, you need to be a windbag fluent in German. I don’t think I’m ready for that challenge but it’s on my bucket list to try.