dehumour1-8, Exercise 2: Commercial television and stand-up

Model answer (check the details):

Commercial television (from the mid-1980s): private channels such as RTL and Sat.1 joined the public broadcasters (ARD and ZDF), which led to more channels, more hours to fill and competition for audiences. This favoured quick, cheaper formats such as late-night talk shows, sketch shows, and comedy built on stars and catchphrases, and gave a market to performers who might not have fitted the public channels' tone.

Stand-up clubs (from the early 1990s): the Quatsch Comedy Club in Hamburg imported the English-language club format, with short sets by solo comedians who talk to the audience about their own lives. This created a new route to a career: touring the clubs, then television and larger venues. It also led to a larger, younger audience and to comedians from varied backgrounds.

Evidence to use:
- Programme schedules and audience figures from the broadcasters and the ratings agencies.
- Histories of television and of comedy, and interviews with producers and performers.
- Numbers of clubs, tours and ticket sales over time.
- A comparison of the content of shows before and after the change (topics, length, style).

Care: correlation is not cause, and other factors, such as technology, the end of the GDR and the growth of the internet, also changed comedy.