Cherrypicker  An Ode to the Schwanzhund

Vicco von Bülow, also known as Loriot, would have turned 100 on 12 November 2023. To celebrate the great humourist and artist, the booklet “Wahre Liebe mit Loriot” (True Love with Loriot) has been published by Diogenes Verlag and we are collecting your favourite Loriot moments.
 

© Diogenes Verlag The day after last year’s Christmas party at the Goethe-Institut head office in Munich, colleagues, who were responsible for its organisation, meet to clean up. Tables and chairs have to be moved and the grand piano pushed back closer to the window. “Ein Klavier, ein Klavier!” I cry out. And my colleague Patrick interjects, “Mutter, wir danken Dir!” And voilà! The mind’s eye of many a reader sees Vicco von Bülow – better known as Loriot – and actress Evelyn Hamann in that brilliant sketch. A father is bent on filming the delivery of a piano given to him by his mother on video. In his zeal, the amateur director drives his family and the piano movers nearly mad.

Love and Loriot

A great many people in Germany grew up with Loriot; with his subtle wit and his wonderful drawings. In 2023, Loriot would have been 100 years old. And to celebrate, a new Loriot booklet has been published by Diogenes Verlag, the Swiss publishing house where Loriot published all his books: Wahre Liebe mit Loriot (True Love with Loriot).

The drawings in the booklet deal with different stages of love: flirtation, courtship, engagement, marriage, crisis. When did you last hear the word “courtship”? Probably quite a while ago! Loriot died in 2011. His drawings, films and sketches began appearing in the 1950s. His observations on love therefore refer to a time before dating apps, when courtship (in German “Brautschau”) used to be operated analogously. Yet, I guess, the basic principle has remained the same. There’s even a chapter about love in space with tips for astronauts who want to kiss in the weightlessness of space. When the time comes and space tourism starts, these tips could be useful.

Dogs and Loriot

The booklet is part of a series of volumes compiling Loriot’s drawings on specific themes. In addition to true love, books about driving with Loriot, travelling with Loriot, and a dog’s life with Loriot have already been published. Dogs play a leading role in Loriot’s work. Loriot invented the cartoon dog Wum. He personally favoured pugs, saying, “A life without a pug is possible, but pointless.” Which brings us to my favourite Loriot sketch. Like the piano sketch, it takes place in a living room, the living room of the Winkelmann family in Loriot’s 1987 film Oedipussi. In his fifties, Paul Winkelmann, played by Loriot, still lives with his mother. Guests have come for an afternoon playing Scrabble.

The players do not permit Aunt Mechthild to put down the word “Hundnase” (dog’s nose) because it is missing an E. In its place, she uses the (made-up) word “Schwanzhund” (tail dog) and demands 57 points for it. An argument ensues. And as with the piano sketch, watching it makes me laugh out loud for the hundredth time and a pleasant feeling sets in, as it does whenever I encounter Loriot and his wit, which has accompanied me, and so many people, for so long.

What is your favourite Loriot sketch? Write it down in the comments.

You can find the booklet Wahre Liebe and the other books by Loriot on the website of the Diogenes publishing house.
   

May 2023