Otto Waalkes
The living German cultural heritage
Round birthday for Otto Waalkes.
© imago/Metodi Popov
For 75 years, Otto Waalkes has successfully refused to grow up. Watching him do it is still highly entertaining.
The fact that Otto Waalkes, who will be 75 today, and his 77-year-old friend Udo Lindenberg will rule the German music charts side by side in 2023 is only a coincidence at first glance. Both stormed the charts that had moved to Spotify and TikTok through collaborations with musicians who were around half a century younger and who had not knocked on the knock of the two entertainment dinosaurs before without good reason.
Because both Otto and Udo stand for a now largely extinct kind of fame, which is not only limited to a clearly defined audience segment, but extends across all social classes and across several generations. Waalkes and Lindenberg have consistently held themselves as an integral part of the collective consciousness for over 50 years.
Timeless German cultural asset
They didn’t succeed in doing this because they kept reinventing themselves and adapting to changing trends during this time. On the contrary – both still do basically the same thing artistically as they did at the beginning of their careers and – apart from a few wrinkles – still look the same. Apparently, the key to their success and their unbroken popularity to this day lies precisely in this continuity. Both have become timeless German cultural assets, alongside Grimms’ Fairy Tales, Birkenstock sandals and the Oktoberfest.
Otto includes all generations
The fact that Otto Waalkes has been recycling the same Holladihiti jokes from the 1970s in his always sold-out stage shows for decades is something even the most critical culture editor doesn’t want to seriously blame him for. Like every great artist, Otto also has his “greatest hits” in his repertoire, which he integrates into every new program and varies again and again. Last but not least, these gags (“court hearing”) and song parodies (“Danes don’t lie”), which his audience from children to the elderly know by heart, also serve as a link between the generations of his large fan base.
Mission in life: to become Otto
Otto’s sophisticated silliness was above things and above time from the start. His parodies are never designed to ridicule or polarize others. Rather, he sees it as his very own mission in life to publicly make himself Otto. In order to take everyone with him and be loved by everyone, he made a point of never making political statements or commenting on current affairs. He counters every attempt to tease a statement out of him by artfully turning his answer back into a laugh.
“When in doubt: The Beatles”
In this respect, too, he proved that no other German comedian can hold a candle to him Interview with the “Augsburger Allgemeine”, who seriously wanted to know whether he preferred Angela Merkel or Horst Seehofer. His timelessly brilliant answer: “Merkel or Seehofer? It’s like before: Beatles or Rolling Stones? Do you mean humanly or politically? Both? I get totally confused there. Well, I would say: Merhofer – no, Seekel … Yes, the two have a lot in common. Have you ever noticed that both have something watery in their names? Lake or sea? Oh, I just can’t decide. But in case of doubt: The Beatles.”