Wehn talks to the Germans in the audience, in German. He talks about the Germans as a punctual people, organised and hard working. He denies the holocaust. Cringe. Even as a joke that doesn’t sound okay. He drifts between a played up German and a (genuine?) British accent. He jokes about all Australians moving to London to work in a pub. Yep, we seem to like that.
Probably because Australian schools don’t encourage the study of other languages and in Britain at least we know what you’re ordering. In my opinion, this show is all about audience, something Wehn himself admits. He admits he’d be stuffed if jokes about German stereotypes and football become redundant. A German who’s moved to the land of the Queen (Britain for those who are unsure), Wehn knows who his jokes work on, and it isn’t those who don’t follow football and know more about Germany then we would all been speaking the language if it had gone the other way in World War Two.
At least he’s honest. And I know he’s smart; he’s tailored his show for Australian audiences, but is it enough? I’m not convinced. His best joke (self-confessed) of the night? One member of the audience got. When a stand-up comedian has to explain his joke you know something’s not right. But hey, maybe I’m just a little too politically correct to laugh along to Wehn’s personal style of stand-up. You, on the other hand, might love it.
