http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2006/may/23/germany.features11

It all comes down to language. And context.

I have been living here for almost eight years, find all sorts of things very funny, consider myself as someone with a dry humour and I am very fond of British comedians. The ones I enjoy are all very different from each other, among them: Bill Bailey, Stewart Lee, Russell Brand, Jo Brand and the Australian Tim Minchin. And not all of them really tell jokes in the traditional sense. Certainly not Lee. They also try to avoid perpetuating stereotypes and dissing other nationalities and don’t rely on cheap shots at Germans. I regard Bill Bailey’s Kraftwerk piss-take as a nice homage to the band.

In Germany we have different types of humour like the Brits, but the sophisticated political cabaret dominates more over here and has a long tradition. I grew up listening to old records by the Duesseldorfer Kommoedchen and people like Dieter Hildebrandt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieter_Hildebrandt). Harald Schmidt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harald_Schmidt) is a big name and in Germany and had his own late night show for years. He is funnier than say Jon Stewart, Jay Leno and the likes. The Misfits are a funny female duo that used to make me laugh out loud and I enjoy Dieter Nuhr’s satire (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieter_Nuhr). Loriot (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicco_von_B%C3%BClow) is still very popular (and sadly his wonderful partner Evelyn Hamann died a few years ago). His sketches are timeless classics. I also like Kaya Yanar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaya_Yanar  and http://www.kaya-yanar.de/html/deutsch/home/home.php ) who is more like your typical comedian. He takes the piss out of everyone no matter what nationality.

You can find also silly humour and “below-the-belt” humour in Germany. Especially at this time of year in the run-up to Carnival. Cologne is the bastion of Carnival and for five days in February you can either dress up and get pissed and maybe shag some strangers (if you really have to) and get into the spirit of things – or you hide in your flat and wait it out. Or if you’re lucky you go on a holiday until “Aschermittwoch” – Ash Wednesday” when the show is over and people are back at work with a massive hangover. At this time of year German Television consist of a variety of shows which are called “Prunksitzungen” and are extremely unfunny. “Faekalhumor” or dirty jokes dominate these shows. Carnival is a time of year when I certainly don’t miss Cologne. I never enjoyed Carnival as I prefer to determine myself when I want to have fun. Organised fun – like organised religion – is not for me.

I prefer dry, ironic humour with a bit of sarcasm thrown in. But I do find Harry Hill’s TV Burp hilarious.

When my father stayed with us over Christmas last year he was quite shocked about the amount of swearing on telly. My dad went to Oxford in the early 70ies and he used to watch Monty Python, Russell Brand is not quite his cup of tea, but he likes Father Ted and surprisingly took to Spaced (we often buy him comedy so he can catch up on things as he lives in Germany). God only knows what he would have made of Frankie Boyle, who makes us laugh, as he knows where to sprinkle the f-word to good humorous effect.

I have to admit swearing has increased in the last 20 years. Maybe it’s due to reality TV. Even I find it occasionally too much. I don’t mind a good old swearing and the use of the most versatile swearword fuck (I find feck funnier) has been very well illustrated here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6nPQsuRKsE .

I don’t think any other language can boast of having so much variety in swear words. It can be baffling for foreigners. In German we do swear a lot too, but it’s not having quite the same impact and variety and the German equivalent to the  f-word makes not much sense as my husband learned. When we lived in Kiel, he used to cycle to work. One day he got cut off by a driver and for want of the proper German swear word he shouted; “Sind Sie ficking blind” That was one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard – the driver must have thought –what a weirdo or simply couldn’t make it out.