Today show special for the federal election: Köster and van der Horst torment Laschet, Scholz and Baerbock

The Today Show is back from the summer break. A week before Oliver Welke cheats again, Lutz van der Horst and Fabian Köster present themselves as the future of the format.

Cologne / Frankfurt – The Today Show is back. How, back? Was she gone? Anyone who catches themselves at this point not having noticed that Oliver Welkes, a little dusty ZDF warhorse, has let his soul dangle for a few weeks, can breathe a sigh of relief. Nobody is alone with this.

In the midst of Jan Böhmermann and his ZDF magazine Royale and also Tommi Schmitt’s studio, the once pioneering format now often looks old-fashioned. Here a pun, there a deliberately foolish play on words. And in the middle of it all, an Oli Welke, who is not getting any younger. Sure, the Today Show is somehow part of it.

Because the value system is right. Forces that despise democracy, who, let’s say, swear something about political changes in the politics of memory or cynically relativize the millions of innocent sufferings, are treated much less charmingly than those for whom something like respect for others means a little more than intellectual masturbation on as many mentions as possible in the media, which one pretends to despise oh so much in front of a dull, howling fan crowd.

Today show on ZDF: Van der Horst and Köster as feather duster and “Schmand Weg”

The Today show has become one of the last bonfires in the linear television landscape, in front of which a large part of society can gather. Well, it’s usually not that funny anymore. But still good for a smile here and there. There are more relevant, more astute, better satire. But probably not such a connectable one. Nevertheless, every now and then you want a feather duster, a microfiber cloth or just a vat of “Schmand Weg” to scrub the almost physically noticeable, centimeter-thick film of stubbornness from the surface of the Today Show.

Simply in order to bring out the potential of the format, which is often criminally fallow, behind the stove of complacency, behind which Welke and team are now far too often comfortable. How good that there are Lutz van der Horst and Fabian Köster. The feather duster and the vat “Schmand Weg” of the Today Show, if you will.

Since its first appearance, van der Horst gave the Today Show a twist that was prefabricated from the template, polished and harmless punch lines. Fabian Köster, the more recent model in the series, looks like an update with an even more elegant user interface. Van der Horst knows that and plays with it. He calls to Annalena Baerbock: “Why did you talk to him? It’s just a cheap copy of me! ”But both are still really good, as can be seen in this entertaining special one week before the end of the summer break at every moment, especially together.

Van der Horst and Köster torment Laschet, Scholz and Baerbock in the special of the Today Show on ZDF

There isn’t much to say about the plot. Köster and van der Horst drive through Germany and harass Olaf Scholz (confident and honest as usual), Annalena Baerbock (in a good mood and shimmering as usual) and Armin Laschet (erratic and awkward as usual) one after the other a few weeks before the 2021 federal election. To loosen up, they chat with election strategists and the SPD General Secretary Lars Klingbeil, who flips around between “hip” formats (best moment: “If the others had taken Söder, it would of course have been more difficult, but they decided in favor of Laschet”).

But the real gag is themselves. Köster and van der Horst are in top form when they play small, mean balls in each other’s barrel. Example? Interviewing an SPD sympathizer. Köster: “Saskia Esken has just spoken. Was that the first mistake in this otherwise so successful election campaign? ”SPD sympathizer:“ Oh, you can’t say that. ”Köster:“ Yes. ”Van der Horst:“ Yes, we put it that way. Exactly like that. “Köster:” You could say that. “SPD sympathizer:” I’m having a bit of a difficult time there. “Van der Horst:” We don’t have any difficulties there. “Köster:” We just say it. ” Van der Horst: “We’ll knock it out. That’s how we are. ”Short pause. “We just knock it out.”

On top of that. The SPD supporter tries to save himself with a soccer comparison. He had already been more defensive on the ball. Köster picks up the pill and juggles: “Saskia Esken is more for own goals, doesn’t it?” Penalty for the other team. ”Also Köster:“ She’s offside. ”Strong.

Today show special with van der Horst and Köster: As tough as Werner

And so it continues. Olaf Scholz before his appearance. Van der Horst: “Like a tiger in a cage that wants to get out.” Short pause. “A tired tiger.” Köster: “Just a tiger from Hamburg. A north German tiger. A sloppy tiger. ”Van der Horst:“ Yes, a sloppy tiger. ”The way they stand there on a balcony and comment on Scholz while they are doing nothing, one feels pleasantly reminiscent of the legendary football game on some market square on the coast with which each other Werner “Beinhart” Wernersen (“I’ll look into the bottle again, what time it is”) as a commentator milled into the long-term memory of an entire generation.

Both still have the best moments in their interviews with normal people on the street. And also in choosing the best answers. There is this bearded, long-haired man who is a little reminiscent of an older and more relaxed version of Anton Hofreiter and who says wonderfully authentically on the sidelines of an election campaign: “I can no longer deal with this meaningless fuss at the moment, from this election campaign pull. ”He tried to look at the party programs, he says, but they are simply too shallow for him. Totally indirect.

Good point. When talking to people from the street, in direct contrast to the practiced platitudes of Scholz, Baerbock and Laschet, it is particularly noticeable (and especially in the ear) that they speak a different language. They talk: normally. They don’t weigh longer than they tell themselves.

Köster and van der Horst reveal a brutal discrepancy between political speech and real language

You are approachable, human, real. In these moments, it is difficult not to wish back to a time when the Fischers, Roths, Kubickis, Gysis and Schröders took it upon themselves to speak freely, as everyone does, who does not just think about it every second are careful not to say anything wrong – and instead, if in doubt, prefer to say nothing extravagantly.

A little breaks out of this template, and that’s the surprise of this special, a politician who (you’ll never guess it) CDU: Joe Chialo is his name, a former Green, manager of the Kelly family, and now also part of Laschets “Future team”. He’s the only politician who actually talks the way people just talk. He seems open-minded, interactive and not even artificial when he says things like: “No, that’s really true. Safe.”

And from whom one believes that he simply does not want to persuade a young man who is committed to the animal protection party to prefer to vote for the CDU. And that with “Okay, all right, Respect!” Approves. And at van der Horst’s admission “Yes, nothing here, ‘Respect’. What does ‘respect’ mean here? You have to convince him! “Simply replies:” No, because he has poise. I think you really have to respect the other person’s opinion. And the Animal Welfare Party is at least creative. ”Anyone who doesn’t think“ yeah, he’s eligible ”at this point, has no heart, according to Winston Churchill. But if you forget that you get Laschet if you choose Chialo, then, according to Churchill, you have no sense either.

Today show on ZDF: The future belongs to Van der Horst and Köster, Welke is dozing in the present

The little road trip by feather duster van der Horst and “Schmand Weg” Köster ends on Oli Welke’s couch. He seems very, very old at this moment. And grant the two wisps exactly this picture with his dozing pose. Because Welke, and you have to give him that, is a master of self-irony. It just so happened that the camera ended up capturing a few of the many television awards that Welke won with its Today show.

In the future, van der Horst and Köster will put these trophies on the mantelpiece. The generation change has heralded. From Oliver Welke himself. But he is still allowed to do a bit. And like to return to the old form at his little campfire today show. Best of all next week. (Mirko Schmid)