“Böhmi sizzles” with “maiLab” on ZDF: Jan Böhmermann doesn't cook, he just heats up

Seldom has one wished so much that someone would finally do what they did best again. Because in the case of Jan Böhmermann it is not a cooking show. The TV review.

The most important question in advance: Why should anyone be interested in filling a summer slump that is already so full this year as it is seldom? Jan Böhmermann answers this question, even if it comes across as “why actually a cooking show?”, Casually on ZDF with: “Why not?” And so the Böhmi is sizzling now.

But isn’t that a little short? Chancellor candidates embarrass each other non-stop, Laschet laughs in the disaster area, Baerbock sends her people to Saarland to use the no-man crowbar in front of the federal electoral committee in a monumental (and perhaps even decisive) way ) to embarrass. Meanwhile, Olaf is proud of his way through the country and, as paradoxical as that may sound, wins approval day after day with his colorless sobriety.

Forests are burning all around Europe, people are being evacuated from their villages and, just like the flood victims in this country, are losing their belongings to the climate catastrophe. And then there are the howling corona deniers, who consider it their private matter whether they get vaccinated and then smell the great conspiracy because they cannot be allowed in everywhere, so completely unvaccinated as a ticking time bomb for the health of others.

Jan Böhmermann cooks in “Böhmi brutzelt” on the relevant topics of society

Meanwhile, a certain mustache from Dresden paralyzes half the country and forces people into overcrowded trains during a further rampant pandemic, because his clientele likes to get out of the tight budget of those who cannot afford their own car (or for good reasons), would have a corona bonus. In so doing, he is taking hostage above all those who can only dream of a train driver’s salary and who are dependent on mobility in order to get to work that is often far too poorly paid.

And Jan Böhmermann? He’s cooking. And chatter a little. It borders on hedonistic extravagance that he simply ignores the pressing issues of the just-not-summer slump in his summer slump filling program. Just someone like him, who classifies in such times with a sharp mind and a pointed tongue, is needed now. Instead: Meatballs with canned carrots and peas. He calls it “soul food”. He wants to bring those who love cooking shows and also those who hate them to white heat.

But what about those who don’t give a damn about this inconsequential simmering? Who are more interested in socially relevant topics than in the creations of a fruit juice sommelier? Not even today’s dusty show is available as a replacement and you catch yourself rummaging around in the media library for old episodes of the mostly excellent ZDF Magazin Royale and pulling in the dusty goods – if necessary, the devil will eat canned food.

“Böhmi brutzelt”: Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim, Jan Böhmermann and the “Hate against Germans”

If it weren’t for the chance for Jan Böhmermann to at least broach the issues in a conversation with the brilliantly clever Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim, known for her maiLab format and her fantastically to-the-point classification of the false claims and the whining of the “lateral thinkers” that were already on the platter before the recordings? I have two answers: Yes, it would be. And: missed the chance.

The entire half-hour episode of “Böhmi sizzles” is about nice stuff that doesn’t hurt anyone. We learn that in Asian restaurants there are cards “for Germans” and for insiders. Böhmermann scoffs at whether this is the “racism against Germans” that everyone romps about, thus satirically touching a hot iron that he drops again in seconds. You could have talked at least briefly with – an established expert – about supposed vaccination obligations (less blatant than the regaining of basic rights by means of social behavior via vaccination), vaccination myths and the effect of mutations on an impending lockdown in autumn.

Instead: Just one hand in the hack! Because the other one has to stay free for the phone, says Böhmermann. And a bit of disgust up to an annoyed frown arises when he washes the pencils beforehand for hand-stopped two-point seven seconds – after he wanted to force them on Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim as a greeting. Your at least astonished reaction: “No, I’m not ready yet. Are you already shaking hands? “Böhmermann:” I already shook hands, I already shook hands with this program because I thought: When this program is broadcast, Corona may already be so far over that you will find yourself again shaking hands. “

Jan Böhmermann offers Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim his hand during the pandemic – and does not wash it properly

Uff. Böhmermann thus manages to live ahead of the future by pre-recording. You have to imitate it first. And even if we already had this “good summer that you always hear about” (Mai Thi): The observer trained in hygiene measures may find it a little strange. Role model and such.

And so another extremely shallow episode of “Böhme sizzles” continues to babble and Jan Böhmermann actually manages to involuntarily put this hustle and bustle into words, even if he (at least consciously) speaks of peas and carrots from the can: “ Don’t boil, just heat it up. “

For a very short time it seems to be almost interesting with the beginning of the last third of this hypnotic wellness event. Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim asks the roaring host if she should briefly explain what is happening to the starch in his sauce, which is too big a portion for him. But then the scientist simply unpacks the next rather appropriate description of what is happening on the screen: “Starch contains very long-chain molecules”, she begins and catches a moderately interested “aha” from the “pale, thin boy” .

“Böhmi sizzles” with Jan Böhmermann and Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim: Like a ball of strength

Undeterred by this, she continues: “And when you heat them up, each of them is then in a ball-like manner and when you heat it up, it first untangles, but then you have a lot of long threads and they get tangled up again and then bind a kind of network and that’s why it gets thick ”. Böhmermann: “While you are talking to me from the sidelines, I can imagine why footballers are mad at sports reporters after a defeat”. OK.

Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim then knocks out a few small swipes at the “lateral thinking” people and their alleged closeness to stereotypical lines of thought: “They then say the Chinese woman wants dictatorship of opinion” and: “They don’t say that this is a threat to them Freedom of opinion is not that deep, but they then say: Don’t you think it’s a shame for the diversity of opinion that two plus two is always four “.

Then Jan Böhmermann, suddenly interested: “And with arguments like this one comes closer, I believe, to the question of why such great civilizations as the Greeks, the Egyptians, the Romans, why suddenly they simply no longer existed and then why there For centuries such a Middle Ages came over Europe. “He answers himself:” Because I believe that at some point these people would have gained the upper hand and started … “Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim:” And all without the Internet . “

“Böhmi sizzles”: Jan Böhmermann doesn’t belong in the kitchen, and Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim doesn’t help either

It doesn’t get much more exciting. Because Jan Böhmermann cooks up the emerging interesting conversation like his meatballs swimming in sauce: “A quick glance at your recipe …” At this moment one may well ask whether “Böhmi” simply doesn’t feel like talking about relevant topics, so in his chill-out zone of the overcooked summer break. And one longs for him to return to his desk on the set of the Magazin Royale, wringing his hands.

“Why not”, asked Böhmermann. Why he shouldn’t do a cooking show. He has now answered this question himself in four episodes from beef roulade to kale with pee and spaghetti bolognese to his meatballs. “If you can’t stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen,” he quotes a common saying himself. If it gets too hot for you, then you have no business in the kitchen.

He has made sure that there are no hot topics in his kitchen. In spite of this, he still has no business in the kitchen, or at least in the TV kitchen. “Böhmi sizzles”, that’s lumpy starch, it’s just heating, not boiling. And it is a complete waste of his talent and what his guests have to say – or rather: should have said. And so Jan Böhmermann doesn’t make sure to plug the summer slump. But for the fact that it feels like a hole in the first place. Fortunately, the summer break of his ZDF Magazin Royale will soon be over. (Mirko Schmid)