Bullyparade is a German late night comedy sketch show which aired from 1997 to 2002 on German channel ProSieben. Michael Herbig, Rick Kavanian and Christian Tramitz were the main cast of the show. Herbig also directed, produced and mainly developed the show, while all three comedians wrote the sketches and characters.
The weekly show featured both taped and live performed sketches, nearly every sketch was part of a series of sketches featuring special characters and settings. The show had a high rate of running gags, and depictions of daily news, international pop culture parodies as well as European and German public figures. While Michael Herbig acted as host, director and producer, all three comedians wrote the sketches, developed the characters and acted in a wide variety roles. With rising success the show was aired with a studio band in front of a live audience.
In Germany, Bullyparade gained strong cult followings even long time after it had been canceled, its status can be compared to Monty Python's Flying Circus in the UK. One thing it had in common with the Flying Circus is the frequent use of drag by the main cast.
Due to its regional origin and the background of its creators, Bullyparade is strongly associated with Southern German humor. The dialects and accents used on the show are depicting cultural peculiarities from many different regions all over Germany, Austria, South Tyrol, and Switzerland.
Cast
Michael Herbig, (born 29 April 1968) is a German comedian, actor and filmmaker. His nickname "Bully" (in German commonly associated with the VW Bully, rather than the English term) became part of his stage name as a comedian. He directed, produced and co-wrote all sketches. His Characters and parodies on Bullyparade include Bully, Franz Beckenbauer, Winnetou (based on Winnetou), Sissi, Mr.Spuck (based on Spock), Jesus, Mrs. Schnürrlein, and Heidi.
Rick Kavanian (Richard Horatio Kavanian), born 26 January 1971, in Munich, is a German actor, comedian, author and voice actor of Armenian descent. Wearing his glasses for all roles regardless of historical periods or circumstances became his signature look on the show. Some of his characters include the Yeti, a variety of minor Star Trek characters, Jürgen Klinsmann, Greek TV presenter and bandit Dimitri, Jens Maul (based on Darth Vader), Batman, many female characters and due to his language skills, some English-speaking characters.
Movie adaptations
The movie Der Schuh des Manitu, also directed by Herbig and written by the trio, a parody on western movies, Italo Western in general, and the successful 1960s and 1970s movie adaptations of the Winnetou books by Karl May, was released in 2002. It's based on the show's successful Winnetou-Sketches, featuring all three comedians in various characters. The movie became one of Germany's highest grossing films of all time.
In 2004, Michael Herbig produced a second film, (T)Raumschiff Surprise - Periode 1, which was also based on sketches parodying sci-fi shows like Star Trek and also had great success. Some characters and sides from the first movie are revisited, or shown from a different perspective. The movie also depicts elements from Star Wars, time travel movies, German Soap "Das Traumschiff" and many other franchises.
A third movie titled Lissi und der wilde Kaiser (2007) was based on the Bullyparade sketch series "Wechseljahre einer Kaiserin" (Menopause of an Empress) was released in 2007. It's based on the 1955 Austrian "Sissi"-Franchise starring Romy Schneider, depicting a cheesy version of the in real life tragic life story of Sissi. While Herbig and Tramitz dressed up as the imperial couple for the sketches, they are just voicing animated characters in the movie.
In 2017, on the occasion of the show's 20th anniversary, the fourth movie Bullyparade - The Movie was released, featuring different shorelines following the most popular characters from the show and the previous movies. It also shows a variety of new characters never shown before, such as Dr. Schmitz, based on Christoph Waltz' character Dr. King Schultz from Django Unchained.
While Herbig, Tramitz and Kavanian play the many different main characters in the movies, the cast is expanded by other actors playing similar/recurring roles over the course of all four movies. These are mainly Sky du Mont playing villains (Western bandit leader "Santa Maria", US Army General Motors, Duke William the Last), Til Schweiger (Rock Finished-Over, a Space Taxidriver turned Knight), Irshad Panjatan playing apparent villains turned out to be harmless, comedian Anke Engelke angry female relatives to the main cast and famous German Actresses Anja Kling and Marie Bäumer as strong and independent female leads.
Recurring characters and sketches (selection)
Unser (T)Raumschiff (Our Dream/Spaceship)
based on start treck Star Trek (with Tramitz as "Kork" (sounds like "Cock" in the characters' dialect); Herbig as "Mr. Spuck" ("Spit") and Kavanian as Bones, "Schrotty" ("Junk") and "Solo"), the depiction of the characters is stereotypically gay. The sketches also depict aspects of Star Wars and German soap Das Traumschiff.
Winnetou MXXXIV
parodying the German Winnetou movie franchise based on the novels by Karl May (with Tramitz as Old Shatterhand and Herbig as Winnetou), depicting stereotypical aspects of Italo western, all characters speaking in strong south Bavarian dialects.
Sissi - Wechseljahre einer Kaiserin (Sissi - Menopause of an Empress)
Soap opera where three guys live next to each other in compartments of a public restroom
Yeti am Mittag (Yeti at noon)
Talkshow hosted by the Yeti (Kavanian), featuring different guests, mostly Reinhold Messner (Herbig).
Ronny, Lutz und Löffler
are three alternative permanent students
Christian und Daniel – Piloten aus Leidenschaft (Passionate Pilots)
Tramitz and Herbig depicting the glamorous cockpit lives of two boeing 747 Piloten.
Heidi
Based on Swiss children's novel character Heidi (Herbig), an orphaned girl living with her grandfather (Tramitz) and showing interest in everyday life questions and Ziegenpeter (Kavanian)
Kasirske Brothers
Featuring presentations by DDR-nostalgic brothers Jens and Jörg Kasirske from Dresden
Karl Friedrich May was a German author. He is best known for his novels of travels and adventures, set in the American Old West, the Orient, the Middle East, Latin America, China and Germany. He also wrote poetry, a play, and composed music. He was a proficient player of several musical instruments. Many of his works were adapted for film, theatre, audio dramas and comics. Later in his career, May turned to philosophical and spiritual genres. He is one of the best-selling German writers of all time, with about 200,000,000 copies sold worldwide.
Alexander Crichlow Barker Jr., known as Lex Barker, was an American actor. He was known for playing Tarzan for RKO Pictures between 1949 and 1953, and portraying leading characters from Karl May's novels, notably as Old Shatterhand in a film series by the West German studio Constantin Film. At the height of his fame, he was one of the most popular actors in German-speaking cinema, and received Bambi Award and Bravo Otto nominations for the honor.
Winnetou is a fictional Native American hero of several novels written in German by Karl May (1842–1912), one of the best-selling German writers of all time with about 200 million copies worldwide, including the Winnetou trilogy. The character made his debut in the novel Old Firehand (1875).
Old Shatterhand is a fictional character in Western novels by German writer Karl May (1842–1912). He is the German friend and blood brother of Winnetou, the fictional chief of the Mescalero tribe of the Apache. He is the main character in the Eurowestern by the same name from 1964, starring Lex Barker, as well as in six more films of the Winnetou film series.
Michael Herbig is a German comedian and actor. His nickname "Bully" became part of his stage name as a comedian.
Pierre-Louis Le Bris, known as Pierre Brice, was a French actor, best known as portraying fictional Apache-chief Winnetou in German films based on Karl May novels.
Karl May film adaptations are films based on stories and characters by German author Karl May (1842–1912). The characters Old Shatterhand, Winnetou, and Kara Ben Nemsi are very famous in Central Europe.
The film Old Shatterhand is a successful Eurowestern based on the character Old Shatterhand, written by German novelist Karl May and part of the Winnetou series. It is a West German CCC Film production co-produced with French, Italian, and Yugoslav companies and filmed in 70mm. Financed with roughly DM 5,000,000, the film was the most expensive Karl May western. Composer Riz Ortolani used a chorus for his film score.
Der Schuh des Manitu is a 2001 German Western parody film. Directed by Michael Herbig, it is a film adaptation of the Winnetou sketches from his ProSieben television show Bullyparade. With earnings of about 65 million Euro and 11.7 million visitors in cinemas, it is one of the most successful German movies after the Second World War.
Germany has a long tradition of television comedy stretching as far back as the 1950s, and with its origins in cabaret and radio.
Siegfried Rauch was a German film and television actor. In a career spanning over 60 years, he appeared in several international film productions and had leading roles in numerous German television productions.
Christoph Maria Herbst is a German actor and comedian.
(T)Raumschiff Surprise – Periode 1 is a 2004 German comedy film by Michael "Bully" Herbig. It is a spoof of the 1960s American television series Star Trek and parodies several science fiction films.
Last of the Renegades is a 1964 German-Italian Western film directed by Harald Reinl and starring Pierre Brice, Lex Barker, and Anthony Steel. It is based on a Karl May novel, and was part of a series of adaptations produced by Rialto Film. The film is a sequel to Apache Gold.
Christian Tramitz is a German actor and comedian.
Richard "Rick" Horatio Kavanian is a German actor, comedian, author and voice actor and dubber. He is famous for his cooperation with Michael Herbig, which led to many popular movie comedies and parodies, e.g. Manitou's Shoe.
The Deutscher Comedypreis is awarded by Brainpool TV. Because Brainpool's in-house productions have received extensive awards, the designation as the German Comedy Award is controversial. The awards ceremony takes place annually in Cologne.
The Treasure of the Silver Lake is a 1962 Western film directed by Harald Reinl, loosely based on German author Karl May's 1891 novel of the same name. It was the first in a highly-successful series of films based on May's works by the West German studios Rialto and Constantin Film, starring American actor Lex Barker as the frontiersman Old Shatterhand and French actor Pierre Brice as the Apache warrior Winnetou.
Bullyparade: The Movie is a 2017 German parody movie. Directed by Michael Herbig, it is a film adaptation of his ProSieben television show Bullyparade and features parodies of popular films and television series such as Star Trek, Star Wars, Barbarella, Sissi, Winnetou, Django Unchained, and The Wolf of Wall Street.
Diana Herold is a German photomodel and actress. She became known for her dance interludes and mostly silent appearances in the comedy programme Bullyparade on ProSieben. She also appeared in several films by the comedian Michael "Bully" Herbig.
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