Horst_In_Translation Review of Michael Mittermeier: Zapped!

Michael Mittermeier: Zapped! (1999 Video)

I certainly wanted to like it, but I only did early on

[4/10 · 28 June 2017]

"Michael Mittermeier: Zapped!" is a 110-minute comedy performance from 1999, so only two more years until this one has its 20th anniversary. Mittermeier, in his early 30s back then, was one of Germany's biggest comedy stars and the name is also still well-known today, even if he was not exactly relevant in German media recently, actually for years. I see most recently he was performing at the United States. Anyway, the good thing I want to say first is that comedy shows often last for under 1 hour and that's really too short in my opinion. Feature film length should be the way to go for. So the runtime is a big thumbs-up here. Another thumbs-up would be all the references about modern culture back then that seemed oh so relevant, but aren't today. This refers for example to talk about films like Godzilla or Titanic, but also to people like Rudolph Moshammer, who is now dead already for over a decade. So yeah, if you lived back then in the 1990s already, you will find quite a handful of interesting anecdotes. As for Mittermeier, I do believe he is pretty talented when it comes to comedy delivery. Unfortunately, there are some moments here when he really gives in to weak unfunny comedy instead of really delivering with his talent. This refers for example to Peep and Verona Feldbusch or Dolly Buster too, the unfunnier parts of the show for sure. Like I wrote in the title, the longer the show went, the more it went south as well in terms of quality. This is what it is and I do believe Mittermeier has the talent for this to be considerably better. I don't think it went too long for its own good, they just made some weak choices about the material. So it is a bit of a shame. Oh yeah, of course he is also a writer of his jokes here and his director here is Thomas Hermanns, very much known for the Quatsch Comedy Club. As a whole, i would say if you like MM watch it, maybe have seen and liked his other famous program Back to Life already, then go for it. otherwise you can skip it as the material here does not equal the comedian's talent on too many occasions. Pity.