When it comes to refusing vaccinations, Wolfgang Krebs gets angry.
“As a stage person, however, I have to rely on the audience being vaccinated, because this is the only way we can safely get together again indoors,” says the cabaret artist and parodist, who, like many other small artists, had to cancel his performances because of the high incidences.
He delivered his first stoiber in 2004 during Mardi Gras, spontaneously, at the insistence of a presenter of the Bavarian Radio.
And thus made the hall riot.
Since then, Wolfgang Krebs (55) has made a name for himself as a parodist and cabaret artist, on stage and on television he slips into the role of the most important Bavarian politician.
But that is over again, many cabaret theaters in the Free State have ceased operations for the time being due to the high incidence or the artists are playing in front of a very small audience.
A conversation about cabaret in times of Corona, about vaccination and the relationship to its characters.
Your colleague Monika Gruber recently said in a talk show that the 2G regulation divides society. Would you agree with that?
Wolfgang Krebs:
I can't see any division, division for me means 50 to 50. But if 70 percent have been vaccinated and maybe ten percent cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons, then 20 percent remain vaccine refusals.
As a stage person, however, I have to rely on the audience being vaccinated, because that's the only way we can come together again safely indoors.
That is also a question of people's solidarity with us creative people.
For you, the unvaccinated people are above all showing a lack of solidarity?
Cancer:
yes!
And not just the unvaccinated, and not just since Corona.
This vocal minority has existed for five or six years and drowns out the silent majority via social media.
It is time for the sensible to either get loud or for us all to see social media for what it is - a meaningless fringe.
One of your other selves, Hubert Aiwanger, has now been vaccinated.
Cancer:
And - what has he lost?
Nothing!
Maybe a few anonymous cowards who turned away from him on Facebook and Instagram. The vast majority of us are vaccinated, it makes sense as a politician to orientate yourself to the majority.
(Laughs)
Do you think he acted tactically precisely because he wanted to be on the side of the majority? Or did he let himself be convinced?
Cancer:
hard to say.
It's always a question of communication.
In the beginning there were people who would have loved to go to the vaccination center with the lawyer so that they could get their turn first.
Like back then on the Titanic.
But there were always those who were reluctant because they felt they were not well informed.
In addition, Astrazeneca was discredited from time to time.
Many were unsettled, which created a vacuum that was then filled by self-appointed scientists and unprofessional journalists.
The current, strict regulations for culture - from your point of view no alternative? For many small stages this could be the death knell.
Krebs:
I was a paramedic at the Bundeswehr Hospital here in Munich as a military service worker and saw people who are in a coma and only kept alive by machines.
If you've witnessed something like this, you don't want to contribute to the fact that people get infected in your imagination and maybe become seriously ill.
Many now say that those responsible should have taken the warnings of the virologists seriously and responded in the summer. Instead everything starts all over again.
Krebs:
I actually got a press release from the RKI in July, it said that the incidences could be very high again in autumn - there was talk of the then unimaginable number 800.
I thought: Funny, the politicians must have noticed that too.
But maybe the election campaign was more important?
But the discussion is idle now that the child has fallen into the well.
Let's talk about Markus Söder, one of your favorite characters. He was the hero for a year, but now he's fallen a little out of favor, not just because of Corona. How do you translate that into your role?
Cancer:
It actually makes a difference whether the parodied politician is particularly popular or particularly unpopular.
I saw this for the first time with Edmund Stoiber.
He was cheered in every beer tent until he introduced the 42-hour week for civil servants.
A short time later, I spoke to the Bavarian Finance Union.
And there were whistles when I performed, I wasn't used to that.
How did you react?
Cancer:
Fortunately, I can withdraw into my figure and let it speak.
And that's what I did at that moment.
(Imitates Stoiber :)
"That is an outrage, I can go again too, ladies and things!"
And now you can feel the displeasure of the audience at Söder too?
Cancer:
Yes, a little, but I believe that sooner or later he will win back people's sympathies. At the beginning I was angry with him when he presented the situation as if the strong beer festivals were the drivers of the pandemic. I'm very committed to this, and like many others, I felt pushed into a corner. I was terribly upset when the Nockherberg was not allowed to take place, I gave an interview for which I can only apologize today. I didn't have the knowledge then. My children stopped me and advised me to listen to the experts ...
Your colleague Helmut Schleich lets his Franz Josef Strauss blaspheme about the dwarfing of today's CSU. You also have Stoiber, Günther Beckstein and Horst Seehofer in your repertoire - would they have mastered the crisis better?
Cancer:
I don't know, I can only speculate.
The Stoiber would have known everything about the disease immediately, he would have recognized the problem bear Corona and given the order to shoot.
(Laughs.)
Beckstein would probably have made many moral appeals to the population, Seehofer would have issued a new ordinance after each meeting, like Jens Spahn in Berlin.
(Laughs.)
As a lawyer, Markus Söder at least knows what the legal framework is like.
But I've also heard people say: "I won't get vaccinated, even if it's only because Söder says so."
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“I can tap things as he”: Krebs as Edmund Stoiber.
© Photo: Arndt Pröhl
Which role do you enjoy most?
Cancer:
I still enjoy the Stoiber a lot because it is no longer the focus.
And because, as he, I can tap things and the audience knows exactly what I'm talking about.
Incidentally, I recently had a performance where Edmund Stoiber was in the audience.
After the performance he came to me and said (imitating Stoiber): "Mr. Krebs, you see, these are sounds that people in Bavaria want to hear again."
They drag the politicians through the cocoa, but in such a way that they end up being more personable ...
Cancer:
I notice that I get angry when I speak plain text.
The characters slow me down.
If I get upset about something, it sounds sharper when I say it than when I let one of my other selves say it.
The parody makes everything easier for the audience to tolerate.
By changing the wigs, I can have different perspectives.
And therein lies an opportunity.
We will not get any further if we constantly blow our own truths on our ears, we have to approach one another.
They are currently looking for a new Söder on the Nockherberg, Stephan Zinner is giving up. Does that appeal to you?
Cancer: In
2014, when I left Horst Seehofer, I snubbed a few people and made a decision that in retrospect I would no longer make.
I'm sorry about that today.
So I don't know whether they have me on the slip.
The Söder on the Nockherberg definitely needs an active, well-trained actor who can sing and dance.
I am very curious to see who it will be.
Zinner has already done this very well; every successor will be judged by him.
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The politician and his double: Krebs (left) with Horst Seehofer at the strong beer tap on Munich's Nockherberg in 2012.
© Photo: Tobias Hase / dpa
Would you dare to do it?
Cancer:
You have to accept challenges when they come your way.
