dehumour1-9, Exercise 3: Limits of comedy in Germany and Britain

Model answer (check the details):

Law:
- Germany: Article 5 of the Basic Law protects expression and art, but the Criminal Code has offences of insult (section 185), incitement to hatred including Holocaust denial (section 130), banned symbols (section 86a, with exceptions) and, until 2018, insulting a foreign head of state (section 103).
- Britain: no general law of insult in the German sense; offences of stirring up hatred, communications offences, and broadcasting regulation by Ofcom. No equivalent of Germany's laws on the Nazi period.

Practice:
- In both countries editors, broadcasters, venues and audiences set most limits through complaints, cancellations and commissioning decisions.
- Germany is particularly careful with the Nazi past; Britain jokes about the war more freely but with its own arguments.

Debates:
- Both countries argue about religion, race, gender and "punching up or down". Examples: Böhmermann (Germany); Jerry Springer: The Opera and Little Britain (Britain).

What it suggests about the stereotype:
- A country that argues this much about what a joke may do takes comedy seriously, which is hard to square with a lack of humour.
- The differences are about history and law, not about whether people find things funny.

Limits: a few cases cannot represent a whole culture, and legal summaries need checking.