Silly Little Country

Crossing Cultures and consequent Bafflement - Dinner for One

As part of its farewell, and more accurately in observation of the New Year, German TV will be broadcasting a sketch called 'Dinner for One' as the clock heads for the Central European midnight tonight. It is a long tradition in Germany to run this show as a key component of the New Year celebration. (I have not experienced it when in Austria for New Year's but that may have been simply not staying up late enough.)
It is about a 20-minute sketch in which a 90-year-old lady has a birthday party, and is helped by some sort of butler; none of the guests actually show up (it seems they have all died), and the pair drink away merrily as the evening proceeds, the butler standing in for each guest in turn as toasts are made; finally they retire, with both apparently somewhat sloshed.
I have seen this a couple of times and am told it is quite funny. To me it is a classic example of something that can cause helpless laughter in millions of people, and leave me dead cold.
The characters in the sketch are British, and the version shown each year was filmed in Hamburg by NDR in the '60s, with a British cast. It is NOT shown in the UK.
I am steeling myself for one last attempt to try to find it all amusing.
You can learn some more about it here.

posted by Alan Adamson @ 4:18 PM