(

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

: "News from the (Mental) Institute") is a political cabaret program on German television station

ZDF ZDF (), short for (; ), is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Launched on 1 April 1963, it is run as an independent nonprofit institution, and was founded by all federal states of Germany ( ...

, hosted by Urban Priol and

Frank-Markus Barwasser Frank-Markus Barwasser (born 16 February 1960 in Würzburg) is a German political satirist and journalist. On stage, he almost always acts as the character of Erwin Pelzig, wearing a corduroy hat. Barwasser grew up in Würzburg, Lower Franconia ...

, who replaced

Georg Schramm Georg Schramm (born 11 March 1949) is a German Kabarett artist. He was a host of the Kabarett shows ''Scheibenwischer'' and '' Neues aus der Anstalt''. Biography Schramm was born in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe. His father was a member of the Soc ...

. Broadcast monthly from 2007 to 2013, it usually featured three guest cabaret artists in addition to the hosts. After the program's surprise cancellation in 2013, it was resurrected in 2014 under the title ''Die Anstalt'', replacing hosts Urban Priol and Frank-Markus Barwasser with and Claus von Wagner.

History

ZDF had not broadcast a political cabaret program since the cancellation of ''

Notizen aus der Provinz ''Notizen aus der Provinz'' (German for "News From the Province") is a political cabaret program that was hosted by Dieter Hildebrandt and broadcast by ZDF from 1973 to 1979. After its cancellation, it would be the last such program on the chan ...

'' with

Dieter Hildebrandt Dieter Hildebrandt (23 May 1927 – 20 November 2013) was a German Kabarett artist. Biography Hildebrandt was born in Bunzlau, Lower Silesia, Weimar Germany (now Boleslawiec, Poland) where he attended school. In World War II he became a Fla ...

in 1979, who, as a result, switched to the other German public broadcasting channel,

Das Erste Das Erste (; "The First") is the flagship national television channel of the ARD (broadcaster), ARD association of public broadcasting corporations in Germany. ''Das Erste'' is jointly operated by the ARD (broadcaster)#Institutions and member org ...

, where he created the ''

Scheibenwischer (German language, German for ''windshield wipers'') was the name of a long-running Germany, German Kabarett show. It was founded in 1980 by Dieter Hildebrandt and produced by Bayerischer Rundfunk, BR / Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg, RBB to be broa ...

''. ''Neues aus der Anstalt'' was first broadcast on 24 January 2007, when it aired just after ''

heute journal ''heute-journal'' (roughly ''Today's Journal'') is a German television news program broadcast on ZDF. History The programme premiered on 2 January 1978 as a late weekday evening 20 minute program. Originally, it was broadcast at 9 p.m. Monday ...

''.

About the show

The show was broadcast live from

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, one Tuesday evening a month. Its theme was a fictional

psychiatric clinic A psychiatric hospital, also known as a mental health hospital, a behavioral health hospital, or an asylum is a specialized medical facility that focuses on the treatment of severe mental disorders. These institutions cater to patients with ...

where Priol acted as the head of medicine, while Schramm portrayed some of his characters as patients. Schramm's pensioner Lothar Dombrowski acted as the patients' spokesperson. He also appeared as the old Hessian

social democrat Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

August and the ''

Bundeswehr The (, ''Federal Defence'') are the armed forces of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. The is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part consists of the four armed forces: Germ ...

'' officer ''

Oberstleutnant () (English: Lieutenant Colonel) is a senior field officer rank in several German-speaking and Scandinavian countries, equivalent to lieutenant colonel. It is currently used by both the ground and air forces of Austria, Germany, Switzerland, ...

'' Sanftleben ("Softlife"). Up to three guest artists portrayed other characters, either fellow patients or outside visitors, as well. Frank-Markus Barwasser in his alter ego Erwin Pelzig replaced Schramm as the co-host of the show in 2010. Similar to , strove to limit its content to political cabaret and did not feature other kinds of humor, such as stand-up or situational comedy. The German word ("institute") is used for both mental institutions (, ) and public broadcasting institutions ().

Reception

The show surpassed 's ratings by over a million viewers in its first episode. However the second episode was less successful. Ratings fell to the level of , although the show attracted a larger number of younger viewers, compared to the usual demographic of ZDF viewers. Although the ratings were lower than the first episode, they remained good, capturing a 13% market share (2.73 million per show) in its first year and stayed at that level.

References

External links

''Neues aus der Anstalt'' official website
* {{IMDb title, 0956324, Neues aus der Anstalt German satirical television shows German political satire ZDF original programming 2007 German television series debuts 2013 German television series endings German-language television shows