Cabaret artist Bruno Jonas: "I used to be the really, really bad guy"

Created: 11/25/2022 13:17

By: Rudolf Ogiermann

"Cabaret shouldn't commit itself to a specific community, it's a free-spirited affair," says Bruno Jonas, a former member of the ensemble of the Munich Laughing and Shooting Society and now one of the partners in the Schwabing "shop".

©Oliver Bodmer

Bruno Jonas is serious.

The cabaret artist, who became known to a larger audience through the Munich Laughing and Shooting Society, who read the riot act to politicians in the film "Scheibenwischer" and as Brother Barnabas on Munich's Nockherberg, wants to talk about German humor - in times when (too ) many do not find many things funny anymore.

He has been on stage as a cabaret artist for decades, making him a well-versed practitioner of satire.

But Bruno Jonas always liked to deal with the theory and, in view of the growing "outrage" in society, initiated the "Central Council of German Humor" in the spring.

On the occasion of an annual "Humor Symposium" (see below), he is supposed to examine humor scientifically.

A conversation with the native of Passau, who will be 70 on December 3rd, about his career and the question of when and what is still allowed to be laughed at.

How did you end up becoming a cabaret artist?

Did you want to raise your voice against the CSU, did you want to make the world a better place, or did you want to be on stage above all?

Bruno Jonas:

Originally more like the latter.

When I was still at school in the early 1970s, I sang in the choir of what was then known as the Prince Bishop's Opera House in Passau, and I've also taken on smaller roles in operettas and musicals.

The director there at the time encouraged me a lot because he saw me as a talented young actor.

A talented young actor is not yet a good cabaret artist.

Bruno Jonas:

That's true, but in addition to playing games, I also had the desire to think, to exaggerate, to write satirical texts early on.

And so, together with Sigi Zimmerschied, more or less on a whim, I put a program on stage in Passau (the “Himmelskonferenz”, ed.), which immediately resulted in a ban on performing.

But that spurred us on to keep going.

And then the path was set.

What did your parents say about that?

Bruno Jonas:

They wanted me to take over their business, I should learn to be a butcher.

You definitely didn't want that...

Bruno Jonas:

No, I'd rather go to Munich to study after community service, which they didn't like at all.

That's where I wrote my first solo program, "The Nation's Lamentation," which was relatively successful - at least that's how I got the impression.

And then Sammy Drechsel called me and asked if I'd like to join the Laugh and Shoot Society ensemble.

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From the provinces to Munich and then straight to an ensemble that the whole of Germany is looking at.

Bruno Jonas:

At the beginning I had major doubts about whether I should do it.

For me it was - at that time Helmut Schmidt was Chancellor - more of a government-accompanying cabaret.

I positioned myself further to the left and was in opposition within the ensemble, so to speak.

Played: Bruno Jonas (2nd from left) with Sibylle Nicolai, Rainer Basedow and Jochen Busse in the Laugh & Shoot Ensemble (1984).

© United Archives / kpa

But you stayed with us for four years.

Bruno Jonas:

Yes, and looking back I have to say that it was the right decision.

Through the many performances you get an incredible routine, also in interaction with the others in the ensemble, at some point you know exactly where the laughs are.

That was good training, also thanks to the long-standing author Klaus Peter Schreiner, from whose way of writing texts I benefited a lot.

Then came television - and with it probably editors who had concerns about one or the other number, right?

Bruno Jonas:

That was already there during the time in the laughing and shooting society.

The programs were still broadcast live back then.

It has happened before that formulations and texts were taken out because the editors said: "That's not possible!" When I was at Radio Bremen, there was not a single comment from the editors as far as the content was concerned On the contrary, I had the feeling that they wanted to say to me: "Bruno, that's all too harmless!" That was an important and very nice time because I learned there how cabaret works on television.

You were ready for the "windscreen wiper"...

Bruno Jonas:

Yes, Dieter Hildebrandt asked me if I would like to take part, and of course I said yes.

At the time it was a kind of national satirical conference, with a wide reach, so we discussed intensively what goes into this three-quarters of an hour - at times it was even only half an hour.

Cheered up: Bruno Jonas and Dieter Hildebrandt in the ARD program "window wipers", here in 2000. © Kalaene Jens

Your " windscreen

That was a conflict in which I was fortunately no longer involved.

But it's true that Dieter never concealed his sympathies for the SPD.

That's okay too.

The post-war cabarets, not

just the laughing and shooting society, but also the Berlin porcupines and the Düsseldorf Kom(m)ödchen, saw themselves as a continuation of SPD politics with satirical means.

You have to see that in the historical context.

These were artists who had still experienced National Socialism and the war.

the

were afraid that this young democracy would again be in danger.

We younger people, who started in the mid-1970s, had a different approach, our goal wasn't to bring a particular party into government.

My satirical approach was rather nihilistic.

(Laughs.)

If you missed the “windscreen wiper” in the past, then you were out of luck.

Today, programs or excerpts from them can be looked up and commented on at any time on social networks or YouTube.

What does it do to the artist when he knows that every sentence can be taken out of context and criticized and he himself can be insulted?

Bruno Jonas:

The cabaret artist could always be insulted, we experienced that too.

I believe that this polarization is also related to the fact that the range of cabaret and comedy has become ever larger.

There are more and more communities and artists who speak into their respective communities in order to get likes there.

And if you don't reach your own community, you won't get any likes.

Unfortunately, many cabaret artists only reach their own community.

There are, it seems, at least two factions that either can't or don't want to work together.

A Monika Gruber no longer goes to the "Anstalt", many "Anstalt" guests do not go to Dieter Nuhr.

Bruno Jonas:

That there is animosity in the scene is nothing new.

I've even heard colleagues say: "What he or she thinks or says doesn't work at all, we have to distance ourselves from that." I say: cabaret shouldn't commit itself to a specific community, it's a free-spirited affair, you can also don't divide it into categories like left and right.

It's far more interesting to ask what's right and what's wrong than to demonstrate any partisan or ideological allegiance.

Have cabaret artists become thinner?

Bruno Jonas:

I don't want to rule out that there are also thin-skinned cabaret artists (laughs).

At this point we have to distinguish between satire and humor.

I believe that pure satire can do without humor (laughs).

The more punitive, biting, caustic the satire is, the less humor it tolerates.

There is something forgiving about humor, it softens the impact when the satirist impales the abuse, picks it up and lets it fall again.

The more humorous a cabaret artist is, the more forgiving.

Where do you see yourself there?

Bruno Jonas:

I used to be the really, really bad, punishing one (laughs heartily).

I now consider myself more humorous.

But not always!

More and more groups in this country feel offended or offended as a group.

It starts with jokes about body shape and ends with saying "schizophrenic" should no longer be used because it trivializes mental illness.

What else can the cabaret artist do?

Bruno Jonas:

I've already spoken about the ever smaller group identity.

Not everyone can and must like everything.

I can only recommend humor again and again.

At the end, perhaps we should briefly talk about current politics.

A gift for every cabaret artist?

Bruno Jonas:

I find the rhetoric of our Chancellor very entertaining.

And also those of our green ministers.

This healthy double standard that is now spreading is impressive.

The humor symposium

will take place today, Friday, November 25, and tomorrow, Saturday, November 26, from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. in Munich's Ludwig-Maximilians-University (large auditorium and Audimax).

In addition to Bruno Jonas, the caricaturists

and

as well as cabaret artist

be there on Friday .

On Saturday on the podium among others cabaret artist

, satirist and European politician

and director

.

Information and tickets atzentralrat.lachundschiess.de.