Comedy veteran Jürgen von der Lippe is honored in Korbach. In the interview he talks about modern television, gender and cannabis.
Korbach – Jürgen von der Lippe is sitting before his performance in the Korbacher Stadthalle relaxed in his dressing room. He’s wearing a black T-shirt, he’ll pull over the distinctive Hawaiian shirt later. In an hour he will take the stage. There is still time for an interview with WLZ editor Philipp Daum.
Herr von der Lippe, you have the Waldeckische Landeszeitung in front of you. Why?
Newspapers are very important to my work. I tear out articles and collect them. There are stacks of things on my desk that I said while reading, that’s interesting, there could be a story in there. When I’m quiet, I take matters into my own hands and let myself be inspired. For this I need these newspaper snippets, I’m a classic paint reader. Of course, I also have an e-book reader, but I only use it on vacation because I don’t want to lug around 20 books. I read crime novels and things that entertain me. The e-book reader is also ideal on night drives between the venues, because a stronger light in the car, which I need to read a real book, would disturb the driver. You can also mark places in the e-book reader, but that is far too cumbersome.
You are a big fan of literature and first brought your passion to the stage with “What are you reading?” and then with “Lippes Leselust”. The programs are viewed thousands of times on your YouTube channel. How did the idea of presenting less well-known literature with professional colleagues come about?
I always meant to. I can’t remember exactly when that started me. But it is obvious. With “Geld oder Liebe” I always favored the music acts that were not so well known to the audience. That’s why the show was the most sought-after for up-and-coming artists back then. Although it must also be said that this has cost us millions of viewers who have migrated to other channels. Later on, however, music was also seen as a sure killer of ratings in the other shows – fortunately that’s different now, especially thanks to the private broadcasters. I think formats like The Voice of Germany or Sing meine Song – Das Tauschkonzert are really great.
Is it only private broadcasters that have recognized that music is worth it again to make quotas with young viewers?
Rather so. On the other hand, how some public broadcasters deal with their viewers today is a scandal. Young people no longer watch television at all, but stream or frolic on YouTube. The loyal TV viewers are the over 60s who still watch regularly – but they are not treated well. Completely ignorant of the situation, the broadcasters pant after the youngsters who don’t get them anyway. Popular formats for older viewers are being discontinued – that started back when Karl Moik was retired, even though he was the average age of ZDF or ARD viewers and reached precisely this target group with his show.
Gender language “screws up” the language, is “simply wrong” and “counterproductive”
Whether in the newspaper or in books: understandable and clear language is important. You clearly spoke out against gendering, why?
I am grateful for the theme, which also plays a role in my stage programs. Here I find again and again that people are incredibly grateful that someone clearly says what nonsense this is. I also give examples. There was incorrect reporting when it was written: Alexander Zverev was the first German tennis professional to win the Olympics. That is not correct. The first German tennis pro to win the Olympics was Steffi Graf. Now if you forget the generic masculine, you can’t say that. Or: Annalena Baerbock was the first green candidate for chancellor. That is just as wrong, because it would mean that there was a male Green candidate for chancellor before, which is not the case. Annalena Baerbock was the first Green of all candidates for chancellor.
Do you have more examples?
The linguist Peter Eisenberg always comes up with the sentence: The winds and strings of the Berlin Philharmonic enjoy a worldwide reputation. Now let’s do it: the wind players and the strings. Or: The wind instruments and strings. Or: The blowing and stroking, which sometimes doesn’t work at all. Once you’ve learned the trombone and violin, you can be a wind player and a string player – but you can’t play a blower and a string player.
How does the audience react when you bring these examples and make it clear how much you dislike gendering.
It’s excited. But I also say to people: Please don’t get me wrong. Gendering is similar to political correctness – there are also a number of examples here. Fare dodgers, for example, no one should say anymore. Max Goldt once said: It becomes difficult when criticism of a grievance becomes more annoying than the grievance itself. When I say: I hope no one in this room is in any way in favor of racism, I am also emphasizing: You don’t change anything , when you come up with linguistically nonsensical things and piss people off with it. That’s counterproductive. And with gendering, it’s just that the language gets messed up because gendering is just plain wrong. Special characters, whether it is the colon, the gender asterisk or the underscore, are not covered by the spelling.
Jürgen von der Lippe used to want to be a journalist
- I read that you used to apply for traineeships to become a journalist.
- That’s not quite right. But my professional goal was actually a journalist. This is one of the reasons why I signed up for service in the German Armed Forces after leaving school. The site elder in Aachen had heard from my father beforehand that I wanted to become a journalist. At the time, he was a regular at the striptease bar where my father worked as a bartender. One day he took me aside and said: If you sign up for three years, you will definitely come to the broadcasting battalion in Andernach and receive journalism training there. I did that and was in the communications troop. But it never went to Andernach.
- Does that mean the site elder put you through a link to get someone to join the army?
- I’m assuming he had no idea. Apparently he didn’t know that they only take professional soldiers in Andernach.
- What excites you so much about journalism back then?
- Even as a schoolboy, I liked to write short articles for newspapers – about rabbit breeder exhibitions, for example. The affinity was just there, I wanted to be able to read from my earliest youth. When I was five years old, I could already read and write and, without knowing where it came from, I was already writing fairy tales.
- One topic that is currently being intensively discussed is cannabis legalization. There is a passage in your book “Sex is like Flour” where you humorously explain that drunk people are more dangerous than stoned ones. You ask: “How often do you read in the newspaper: Drunk man beats woman. Have you ever read: Stoned man beats up woman?” Are you in favor of legalizing cannabis?
- The state earns so much from alcohol and cigarettes and both are harmful to health. I believe the harms of cannabis are mild in comparison. Of course I know people who smoke pot their minds off. But these are peaceful people. A rampaging drunk is a thousand times worse than a kick-ass who’s just stoned. The few times I’ve smoked weed was like this: I sat with a mate, we listened to Bob Dylan music or we watched deadly serious black-and-white films starring Ruth Leuwerik and Rudolf Prack. We laughed our heads off. Well, the bodily functions were paralyzed. At some point I stopped smoking and also found that smoking weed wasn’t that interesting anymore either.
To person
Jurgen von der Lippe (75) is a German TV presenter, entertainer, actor, audiobook speaker, musician, comedian and author. He’s been on stage for 50 years. His first big hit was Donnerlippchen on WDR. This was followed by the equally successful show Geld oder Liebe on ARD. In his stage programs he skillfully and with a great deal of self-mockery pokes fun at the oddities and occurrences of everyday life. Von der Lippe lives in Berlin and has won the Bambi, the Grimme Prize and the Golden Camera, among others. His books “When stretching, I sing ballads”, “The King of the Animals”, “Noodle in the Wind” and “Sex is like flour” were on the bestseller list for weeks.
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