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German Sesame Street Parody – Bernie und Ert
I’m not sure what I was looking for when I came across this one. Must have been something Sesame Street related. But wow. This just blew my mind.
For a moment I thought that this was the German version of Sesame Street. There are many international versions of the show, so I thought this could be the real thing. It’s not. The whole cyclops thing should have been my first clue, but I was tired.
So what is it?
According to the invaluable Muppet Wiki, “Bernie und Ert” was a sketch that appeared on “Freitag Nacht News”, a German sketch comedy show. (“Now is the time on Sprockets vhen ve dance!“) It is described as an “obscene parody of Sesamstrasse“, which is the German version of Sesame Street.
Here’s a couple of video clips. They’re in German, and since I don’t speak German, I have no idea if what they are saying is obscene or not. If you work somewhere where people speak German, this may be Not Safe For Work (NSFW). If not, well, who knows. To me, one-eyed muppet knock-offs speaking in German is creepy enough.
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6 Comments
Stacey commented on Aug 02 09 at 4:03 amNo, not obscene. Just kind of stupid! The first one is called “Pinch Me”. “Bernie” is looking at nudie pics by hanging them on his headband so that his hands will be free for other uses. “Ert” says I can’t believe this, I must be dreaming, someone pinch me, etc., then Ert beats him up. As I said, pretty dumb. Second one even stupider. Remember that old beer commercial, “Germans don’t do comedy–they do beer”? Very much true. I’ve lived in Germany for almost 9 years now, and believe me their sit coms are intolerable! But we get lots of American shows, thank god!
jeannesager commented on Aug 03 09 at 10:21 amStacey – it’s funny you say that. One of my friends is German, and she took one of those Facebook “all about me” quizzes the other day – her list of favorite TV shows was completely American! Apparently even people who are native born find their shows intolerable!
Brett Singer commented on Aug 03 09 at 10:53 amAre you saying there’s not a great tradition of German comedy?
Stacey commented on Aug 03 09 at 5:18 pmJeanne, that doesn’t surprise me! My husband is German as well, and he doesn’t watch a single German-made TV show (besides documentaries and sports). Brett, there’s a tradition of great satire from German writers, but actual sit coms the way we Americans know and love them, not really. Or were you being cute?
Brett Singer commented on Aug 03 09 at 5:24 pm@Stacey, I was just being dopey. A (slightly) better joke might have been “Does *Hogan’s Heroes* count as German comedy?”
Rob W. commented on Aug 20 10 at 1:16 amI’ve seen a couple of their videos on http://www.youtube.com, and I thought they were actually quite funny — and, yes, also creepy at the same time. The one they did about drugs was like Sesame Street meets Cheech & Chong.
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