Dudenhöffer: Audiences no longer dare to laugh

dpa Dudenhöffer: Audiences no longer dare to laugh Article by dpa • 9 hours • 3 minutes reading time The cabaret artist Gerd Dudenhöffer is turning 75: People "ask themselves with every sentence: are we even allowed to laugh about that anymore?" Laughing freely at all kinds of jokes in a cabaret: According to the experience of the Saarland cabaret artist Gerd Dudenhöffer, that no longer works with audiences like it used to. "People are no longer relaxed. They are very unsettled. They ask themselves with every sentence: are we even allowed to laugh about that anymore?", Dudenhöffer told the German Press Agency. Dudenhöffer has been known as Heinz Becker for decades. He notices this clearly during his appearances as Heinz Becker on stage. Since 1985, Dudenhöffer has played this role as a nagging pensioner with suspenders and a "Batschkapp" who rants about society, politics and culture. About the government, about the citizens' allowance, about refugees. "People are trapped within themselves," said Dudenhöffer. But this is cabaret. "We do satire. People don't accept it gratefully and say: At least there you can still laugh about it." But they look at their neighbor to see if he is laughing, because they think: "Now everyone is blaming me when I laugh," he said. Dudenhöffer is still going strong at 75 Dudenhöffer will be 75 years old on October 13th. He still enjoys being on stage: "I do it because I enjoy it." He has around 80 performances a year: He is currently touring Germany with his show "Mo so Mo so" (Sometimes like this, sometimes like that). In it, he not only appears for the first time in the role of Heinz Becker, but also plays his wife Hilde Becker. Many performances, each with hundreds of seats, are sold out. He does not yet know when he will stop. "I think that the decision may come relatively quickly," he said. For 2025, he is planning a new edition of his program under the Saarland title "DOD" (dead), in which Heinz Becker has to cope with the loss of his wife Hilde. He was unable to perform the program as planned in 2020 due to the corona pandemic. "DOD" (Life is the end) normally runs for two years. After that, he could imagine that "it will be over." Unless he comes up with a new idea that appeals to him. He has written 20 programs and also played the role in the television series "Familie Heinz Becker" from 1992 to 2004. Heinz Becker happens to be from Saarland How does he explain Heinz Becker's success? "I don't think I've ever changed Heinz in a way that people could understand," said Dudenhöffer. For them, it's still the same Heinz, even though he's become "more composed, calmer and more political" over time. "I'm just lucky that viewers still like Heinz so much." Heinz Becker has no idea, but he talks about everything. And always has an opinion. For almost 40 years, he's taken viewers into his small, stuffy world. The fact that he plays a Saarlander who speaks Saarpfalz dialect is more of a coincidence, said Dudenhöffer about his alter ego. The character could have come from somewhere else. "It works just as well in Fulda, Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Berlin." The trained commercial artist recently rediscovered drawing for himself. That came as a surprise to him, he said. He has now set up a small workspace at home in Bexbach, Saarland - with a drawing board and pens. "And when I feel like it, I sit down and then have some peace and quiet."