Was that it?

Finally?

Now, after 120 years of cabaret?

Not because of Putin now and a satire that seems strangely dull in the face of the war;

not because of Corona and because some cabaret stages may not survive the pandemic.

And the German cabaret prize, which has been awarded by the Mainz lower house since 1972, will of course still be available next year.

Christopher Schutte

Freelance author in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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But if it is true that the oldest award of its kind, which is now awarded in six categories and is still the most important, always provides information about the sensitivities of the genre, then after this fiftieth award, one can get scared and anxious.

Where are the greats of yore?

Tobias Mann, who represented the moderator Urban Priol, who was temporarily absent due to a positive corona test, on the stage of the Frankfurter Hof, was the least to blame.

In view of the four hours of preparation, he did extremely well.

But otherwise?

The cabaret's "Who's who" medley, recorded via video, mercilessly laid bare the height of the genre's fall.

Hanns Dieter Hüsch, Dieter Hildebrandt and Wolfgang Neuss, Georg Schramm, and Rainald Grebe or Gerhard Polt, Frank-Markus Barwasser and Volker Pispers - not many of the award winners of the past decades are still standing upright on the boards.

And the now 71-year-old Thomas Freitag, who was awarded the honorary prize of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, is possibly on tour with his last solo program these days.

There is no question that one can still have great fun over his Bonn round with parodies of Messrs. Brandt and Kohl and Strauss and Genscher.

But maybe you won't know them in the audience soon.

That was obviously also recognized in Mainz.

And - be it to reflect a trend, be it to appeal to a younger audience - in addition to the prizes for cabaret, cabaret and music, each endowed with 5000 euros, in addition to the honorary prize and the sponsorship prize awarded by the city of Mainz last year another award for stand-up, the meaning of which is not really revealed with the appearance of the award winner Till Reiners, who comes from the slammer scene.

Why a stand-up prize of your own?

Less because he doesn't know his craft when he philosophizes about the small print in the general terms and conditions of loan agreements.

But if from the cabaret bell for Carmela de Feo, who dedicated her prize to all women “who are always at the bottom”, to the young talent prize for Tino Bomelino to the music prize for Katie Freudenschuss, three awards go to artists who are closer to comedy than the classic cabaret, then you can save your own stand-up prize.

And so little is remembered of this quite memorable evening as the main prize for Josef Hader, who was awarded a good 30 years ago in the cabaret category.

After all, the cabaret artist, author, director and actor, who has just turned 60, stands for the great tradition of cabaret and for the future of an entire genre.

And then still: great cabaret

It may be that as an Austrian you have it a little easier.

After all, since Qualtinger's time, black humorous cabaret has stood for something other than the genre between Dresden and Düsseldorf, which is often derided as graying cabaret for teachers.

In “Hader on Ice”, of course, which is the title of his current program, he runs the literary narrative and the classic political board art in parallel.

And, "Oh, the Dalai Lama", together with a glass of "Co'-neutral Caribbean rum" in the figure of a contemporary who looks at the world in a way that is as cynical as it is melancholy.

Very funny.

And biliously bitter.

Great cabaret.

The television recording of the award ceremony will be broadcast on March 13 at 8:15 p.m. on 3sat.