Vicco von Bülow (born Bernhard-Viktor Christoph-Carl von Bülow) – aka “Loriot” – was voted Germany’s greatest comedian a few years before he died in 2011, but this accolade barely did him justice.
During the height of his popularity, from the 1970s to the early 1990s, his sharp wit and dry sense of humour set him apart from his peers, and many of the phrases he coined entered common parlance.
“I am interested most in people who lack communication skills,” he said, and Loriot, his first foray into TV, proved that he wasn’t just perceptive, but was also skilled at satirising society.
Born in 1923 to an aristocratic family, von Bülow served on the Eastern Front in the Second World War before studying graphic design and becoming a cartoonist. He adopted “Loriot” (the French word for “oriole”, the bird on his family’s coat of arms) as his pen – and later stage – name.
Other influence from his privileged upbringing was present in his humorous portrayals of Germany’s postwar middle class, which drew on the formal interactions and repressed behaviour he witnessed in upper-class families growing up.
This six-episode series consisted of skits – such as Der Lottogewinner (“The lottery winner”), Jodeldiplom (“yodelling diploma”) and Englische Ansage (“English announcement”) – and cartoons based on everyday situations presented by Loriot and, in the last two episodes, Evelyn Hamann.
Almost twenty years younger than von Bülow, the grumpy-looking German actress became a fixture as the wife, employee, or relative of Loriot.
They both appeared in other TV shows and two hugely successful movies –Ödipussi (1988) and Pappa ante Portas (1991) – over the fifteen years that followed.
Vicco von Bülow
Evelyn Hamann
Heinz Meier
Bruno W. Pannek
Hanni Nitsch
Ingeborg Heydorn
Edgar Hoppe
Erwin Wirschaz
Heiner Schmidt
Claus Dieter Clausnitzer
Bernd Wiegmann
Erika Rumsfeld
Hans Kircher
Rudolf Kowalski
Ulrich von Bock
Ingrid Andersen
Kurt Ackermann
During the height of his popularity, from the 1970s to the early 1990s, his sharp wit and dry sense of humour set him apart from his peers, and many of the phrases he coined entered common parlance.
This six-episode series consisted of skits – such as Der Lottogewinner (“The lottery winner”), Jodeldiplom (“yodelling diploma”) and Englische Ansage (“English announcement”) – and cartoons based on everyday situations presented by Loriot and, in the last two episodes, Evelyn Hamann.
