"Dieter Hallervorden - Mit 70 hat man noch Träume!" (first directorial effort for Kornmayer, who is nowadays mostly busy with directing the Bavarian Film Awards and other shows linked to South Germany) is a German television special from 2005, so this has its 15th anniversary this year. The title means that you still have dreams at the age of 70 and this of course makes it obvious that here we have a show to honor German actor and comedian Didi Hallervorden. Well, now in 2020 he is 85 and luckily still seems to be in good shape. I mean it''s not to be taken for granted. Another 15 years and he would be 100. Unlikely to happen, but it would be nice if he gets to 90. He is a likable fella I suppose. The one thing I am not really used to and also did not really expect here is that Hallervorden is also at the center of it all in terms of the hosting. I remember Otto Waalkes' birthday show from years ago and he was basically just sitting comfy in in an armchair or something and got to watch others who entertained the masses and the comedy was always linked to Waalkes one way or the other, even if he was just watching the entire thing and got interviewed here and there. But Didi's approach is different. I mean Waalkes has always been a bit of a humble fella, Hallervorden has more self-confidence and is also the louder from the two and I am not saying one is better than the other really as I like them both. If I had to pick, I would probably go for Waalkes, but not let's focus on Hallervorden. This show here runs for under 1.5 hours and it was recorded at the Wühlmäuse comedy theater here in Berlin. I've been there a few times in the past as, unless there is a pandemic getting in the way, they have somebody on the stage almost every night and also frequently big names from German comedy and stand-up. Hallervorden is the boss there and he mostly coordinates now, does not perform himself, which is not a bad thing I would say, not because he could not fill the room with people (he easily could), but his comedy may be a bit dated now. His approach to comedy I mean. Anyway, one thing that can be added is that Hallervorden was also fairly present in the media during these last months as we got news how he and his house dealt with the closing forced by the pandemic. I think at one point everybody was just let go. Also he gave speeches on at least one occasion where he talked about the importance of cultural institutions, which I find pretty amazing because he is a big name and it's nice to see him step up on the occasion of all these institutions being closed now despite the owners and the people who run those having paid tons of money to make them available to the public in ways where you do not have to worry about getting infected. Be it by distance regulations or all other kinds of measures that got introduced. And nonetheless the city (and country) forced them to close although there is not a single known publication that elaborates with evidence on movie theaters, comedy locations, museums etc. being a corona hotspot. So much for now to give this review a bit of a contemporary statement too and I want to say I applaud Hallervorden for what he did there. I mean, aside from that, he has also been in Til Schweiger movies, which is nothing to be really proud of and in other pretty terrible films, especially in the 21st century, but he also appeared in "Sein letztes Rennen", which is one of my absolute favorite German films from the last 20 years.
But now finally let's talk a bit about this awards show. I think it was okay. Pretty close call beteen a positive and neggative recommendation for me. I personally would say that the weakness here were really the women. It was a pity the likes of Feddersen etc. were not there already, but at least they got a touching little in memoriam sequence. Instead we get Nina Hagen and Mirja Boes. Sigh. No comment on that. Both are not good at all with their musical numbers. Hagen early on sings a duet I do like quite a bit, but she almost destroyed it completely. Luckily, as for the music (and there was a lot here in these 85 minutes), there was still Helge Schneider and he was by far the biggest name on the guest list, especially if we are going by 2020 standards. Schneider is still able to fill big halls nowadays and I find it a bit of a pity that he never performed in the Wühlmäuse (cool name by the way). But here he does. Also, as I have been there already like I said, interesting to see this location on the screen here with the piano that is (almost) always there on the left. As for Schneider, his entry in a huge gift box was just as memorable as his cute little birthday song for Hallervorden. Schneider's star status also shows as he was basically the only one they got back on a second occasion to make an impact here. The other guys, some of them were okay, others not so much, are no big names or anything. I mean almost nobody knows Oschmann really today anymore. However, they were also not worse than the two females I just mentioned. But the one and only star (except Didi) was Helge here. I guess that is why they hired him. I do not really recall the two being together in shows or anything despite the long careers they are having. But here they are. By the way, this was showwn three days after the event took place on national television if the dates here are correct. Fairly quickly, but of course it makes sense. They cannot show it a month later as the 70th birthday is long gone then. So yeah, it does feel a bit awkward to see Hallervorden still at such good health (hopefully), but for example Westerwelle in the audience died years ago. Some big names in the audience there. Or Christian Wulff I spotted too I think, even if he did not have his biggest political positian at this point. As for a few others like Merkel, Schröder and Stoiber, they were not there, but ggot spoofed a bit. Was Hallervorden doing the voice parody there for those? I don't think so. Not important anyway, this was not the funniest part of the show by any means. This final sketch at the hotel with the guy who wants a little soap also shows you that Hallervorden's humor is not really too funny anymore by today's standards. If that is a good or bad thing, is up to you to decide. Some cringe there, but also some moments I found funnier than they probably were, so you can call it almost a bit of a guilty pleasure project here, like the Hugh/Huk joke or the lengthy joke about the woman who is coming. I wonder if they could get away with that in the agge of #metoo. Actually, a bit sad that you have to ask questions like these. Then aggain I should not be too harsh on Didi. His comedy is for example still ten times as funny as the likes of Böhmermann, Welke or Joko and Klaas. The latter are the very biggest hypocrites anyway. I mean look at their dare that involved touching a hostess a few years ago and today they pretend they fight in first line for female equality. It is sad that such an important suject is exploitet by leeches like J&K. Okay, anyway I am drifting a bit away again. Overall, this show here gets a thumbs-up from me. Go check it out. I think seein it once is enough though and maybe I am also a bit generous here because I am biased as this was recorded at the Wühlmäuse and because I like Helge a lot. Without him, I would have ggiven a thumbs-down I think, also because the clips felt pretty rushed and weren't edited too nicely honestly. In terms of the retrospective, they surely could have done considerably better this time. But at least it was nice to see Hallervorden bring some of his longtime companions on the stage here and that also includes his former wife and daughter (she is also in the final hotel sketch) and I liked that. So this is where I stop to end the review on a positive note. Oh yes, another thing, the very beginning as okay too when we see Didi spoof some Leone western classic or "Star Wars" as he showed up as Yoda haha. And even as Hitler once. Wow, that I did not expect! I know I mentioned all these politicians or politician parodies (even the Queen of Britain, okay she is not a politician and that segment also wasn't funny at all, like I said they really strugled with the females here) that were part of the show, but still Hallervorden is absolutely not a comedian who elaborates on politics in a sarcastic way the way many German comedians do today, so yes it did surprise. That is really all now though. Here's to the next 15, Didi! Pretty surreal to image that he was already 8 or so when World War II was going on. I guess with this background, there's nothing wrong with him mocking the Fuehrer.
But now finally let's talk a bit about this awards show. I think it was okay. Pretty close call beteen a positive and neggative recommendation for me. I personally would say that the weakness here were really the women. It was a pity the likes of Feddersen etc. were not there already, but at least they got a touching little in memoriam sequence. Instead we get Nina Hagen and Mirja Boes. Sigh. No comment on that. Both are not good at all with their musical numbers. Hagen early on sings a duet I do like quite a bit, but she almost destroyed it completely. Luckily, as for the music (and there was a lot here in these 85 minutes), there was still Helge Schneider and he was by far the biggest name on the guest list, especially if we are going by 2020 standards. Schneider is still able to fill big halls nowadays and I find it a bit of a pity that he never performed in the Wühlmäuse (cool name by the way). But here he does. Also, as I have been there already like I said, interesting to see this location on the screen here with the piano that is (almost) always there on the left. As for Schneider, his entry in a huge gift box was just as memorable as his cute little birthday song for Hallervorden. Schneider's star status also shows as he was basically the only one they got back on a second occasion to make an impact here. The other guys, some of them were okay, others not so much, are no big names or anything. I mean almost nobody knows Oschmann really today anymore. However, they were also not worse than the two females I just mentioned. But the one and only star (except Didi) was Helge here. I guess that is why they hired him. I do not really recall the two being together in shows or anything despite the long careers they are having. But here they are. By the way, this was showwn three days after the event took place on national television if the dates here are correct. Fairly quickly, but of course it makes sense. They cannot show it a month later as the 70th birthday is long gone then. So yeah, it does feel a bit awkward to see Hallervorden still at such good health (hopefully), but for example Westerwelle in the audience died years ago. Some big names in the audience there. Or Christian Wulff I spotted too I think, even if he did not have his biggest political positian at this point. As for a few others like Merkel, Schröder and Stoiber, they were not there, but ggot spoofed a bit. Was Hallervorden doing the voice parody there for those? I don't think so. Not important anyway, this was not the funniest part of the show by any means. This final sketch at the hotel with the guy who wants a little soap also shows you that Hallervorden's humor is not really too funny anymore by today's standards. If that is a good or bad thing, is up to you to decide. Some cringe there, but also some moments I found funnier than they probably were, so you can call it almost a bit of a guilty pleasure project here, like the Hugh/Huk joke or the lengthy joke about the woman who is coming. I wonder if they could get away with that in the agge of #metoo. Actually, a bit sad that you have to ask questions like these. Then aggain I should not be too harsh on Didi. His comedy is for example still ten times as funny as the likes of Böhmermann, Welke or Joko and Klaas. The latter are the very biggest hypocrites anyway. I mean look at their dare that involved touching a hostess a few years ago and today they pretend they fight in first line for female equality. It is sad that such an important suject is exploitet by leeches like J&K. Okay, anyway I am drifting a bit away again. Overall, this show here gets a thumbs-up from me. Go check it out. I think seein it once is enough though and maybe I am also a bit generous here because I am biased as this was recorded at the Wühlmäuse and because I like Helge a lot. Without him, I would have ggiven a thumbs-down I think, also because the clips felt pretty rushed and weren't edited too nicely honestly. In terms of the retrospective, they surely could have done considerably better this time. But at least it was nice to see Hallervorden bring some of his longtime companions on the stage here and that also includes his former wife and daughter (she is also in the final hotel sketch) and I liked that. So this is where I stop to end the review on a positive note. Oh yes, another thing, the very beginning as okay too when we see Didi spoof some Leone western classic or "Star Wars" as he showed up as Yoda haha. And even as Hitler once. Wow, that I did not expect! I know I mentioned all these politicians or politician parodies (even the Queen of Britain, okay she is not a politician and that segment also wasn't funny at all, like I said they really strugled with the females here) that were part of the show, but still Hallervorden is absolutely not a comedian who elaborates on politics in a sarcastic way the way many German comedians do today, so yes it did surprise. That is really all now though. Here's to the next 15, Didi! Pretty surreal to image that he was already 8 or so when World War II was going on. I guess with this background, there's nothing wrong with him mocking the Fuehrer.