‘Who do you think you are kidding…?’ German comedy from the tenth to the nineteenth centuries

Abstract

‘With a smart joke, I have let you see an easy game.’ Reuchlin in SergiuThe Germans have no sense of humour, have contributed nothing to the history of comedy and are arrogant compared to the English [sic!]. This article tests the veracity of such myths and statements and presents a history of German comedy from the tenth century through to the development of comic forms and characters in the eighteenth century. The Roman playwright Terence had a lasting influence on German comedy, from the adaptations of Hrotsvitha to the fifteenth-century playwrights when the complexity of his plots and clear moralising chimed with the ideals of the Reformation. From the sixteenth century, performative modes were established, such as the epic poetry of the minnesingers who performed at court, the more public Schwanke’s comic anecdotes that gave way to the farcical Fastnachtspiel and the Nachtspiel. Recurrent comic figures were used to draw the audience in and comment on proceedings: but the popular clown Pickelhäring was supplanted by the commedia-influenced Harlekin, who was replaced by the homegrown rustic Hanswurst, who in turn was superseded by the more domestic comic servant. The clown figure was eventually excised from eighteenth-century bourgeois theatre, signalling the end of German ‘rough theatre.’ This article argues against the crude stereotyping of Germans and their ‘lack of humour’ to present a map of neglected comic history.