German humour is dead

“Thanks for the laughter.” With that farewell,the German tabloid Bildlaments the passing at the age of 87 of “the Goethe of laughter,” comedian Vicco von Bülow, known by his stage name Loriot. The actor who in his sketches, comedy shows and feature films never stopped making fun of the foibles of the Germans as they lived and loved and muddled their way through their lives was one of the “greatest” of them all, the newspaper writes. His last wish, Bildwrites, quoting his wife, was for “an ice-cold beer.”

“Thank you, Loriot”,leads Die Welt, thanking the humorist for having shown, with “universal tenderness”, the weaknesses of people and especially that German strain, “at times meticulous and often stubborn.... Today there are clowns and comedians everywhere, but no humorist... The Germans’ appreciation of Vicco von Bülow and his work will be passed down to future generations – and why not his own words, which ring even more true today: ‘Please, don’t say a thing!’”