Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach is coached by Hazel Brugger in the new Prime Video format “One Mic Stand”. At the end he performs a comedy program. Unfortunately, it’s not his own.
A speech in the Bundestag and a stand-up program are not all that different: It’s about the attention of the audience and about speaking on a stage or in a podium in front of as many people as possible. So it’s not at all surprising that comedienne Hazel Brugger chose Karl Lauterbach to coach him for a solo appearance as a comedian: after all, he already has stage experience and she likes his way of speaking too. The best conditions for a successful cooperation. The fact that he is now Minister of Health makes it all the more interesting. When “One Mic Stand” was produced, Lauterbach was still known as an SPD health expert who sharply criticized his predecessor Jens Spahn’s corona measures. He is the “Corona Pope”, as Hazel Brugger calls Lauterbach.
There is no shortage of illustrious participants in the “One Mic Stand” show. Comedy legend Harald Schmidt is also celebrating his TV comeback and taking on the role of coach from Mats Hummels and Christoph Kramer. As footballers, they’re used to having a coach, but this time it’s all about making their audience laugh. Dancer and juror Motsi Mabuse and actor Fahri Yardim are also part of “One Mic Stand”, their coaches are Teddy Teclebrhan and Michael Mittermeier. There are five episodes of the show in total, each centered around a contestant. Episode 1 starts with Lauterbach and displays “sexual content” and “swear words” as warnings.
“One Mic Stand”: Karl Lauterbachs does not want to appear as “Professor Karl”.
And Hazel Brugger clarifies the important questions right at the beginning. Namely, whether Lauterbach wants to appear as “Professor Karl”. He counters quite wittily: “I’ll drop the professor, otherwise no one will come.” He boldly trumpets that he has the potential to replace presenter Oliver Welke on the satirical show “Heute Show” in a few years. And he wanted to make shallow, shallow jokes.
As a top politician, he unfortunately has no time for coaching. On a “road trip to Wiesbaden”, as the first episode is called, Lauterbach is therefore only instructed quickly. Little time, little preparation. Hazel Brugger is his chauffeur and after a short warm-up and philosophizing about heated seats in the car, things get straight to the point. Hazel Brugger: “The female orgasm cannot take place even if the woman has cold feet.” Lauterbach from the passenger seat: “Not much better for men.” The Minister of Health also talks about breasts: “It costs the mandate if I say ‘boobs’. Above all, my mother kills me”. The trip to Wiesbaden goes by quickly and is perhaps the highlight of this episode.
Before Lauterbach’s performance, the viewer first has to listen to Hazel Brugger’s birth report. And how she claims to have thrown a cherry stone pillow at her midwife. Then the time has finally come and Lauterbach comes on stage.
“I’ve never been so badly prepared,” he says before his performance and unfortunately you can tell. Hazel Brugger handed him a piece of paper on the drive with a prepared text for him that he was only supposed to memorize to a certain extent. But ghostwriters are also typical of politics, many speeches are created that way.
The text is of course a lot about fellow politicians and the corona pandemic, but it still sounds more like Hazel Brugger’s perspective than Lauterbach, which is a shame. He definitely would have had his own funny anecdotes from his everyday life. Lauterbach would have been funnier if he had narrated his own words, because unfortunately he lacks the important authenticity. The audience also seems to notice this and applauds rather cautiously. Lauterbach has already proven in previous TV appearances, for example on the “Today Show”, that he had the potential to do so himself.
