Germans do Christmas the best. Don't even try to argue, they just do. Christmas trees? German. Gingerbread? German. Stollen? So much better than Christmas cake. They even get two visits from 'Santa'. So who better to get you into the Christmas spirit than Germany's comedy ambassador to the UK, Henning Wehn?
This is a mix of Wehn's No Surrender stand-up show, some festive banter and German Christmas carols, played with assistance from 'European Technocrat Gustav Braun' (the excellent comedian Gus Brown). Stille Nacht should be easy to sing along to (you get the words on a hymnsheet as you walk in) since it's basically just Silent Night, and it turns out that Oh Tannenbaum is more familiar to UK residents as the tune of The Red Flag. Weird. But not quite as weird as Klingglöckchenklingelingeling (insert gag about German compound words here).
Wehn's comedy is rooted in mocking national stereotypes. You might think that's a bit lazy, but he knows that's what British audiences want him to do. He's clearly got an aptitude for political satire (we're still chuckling over the Pope joke and it's 48 hours later) and maybe one day we'll allow him to do more, but for the moment he's the best person around for holding up a mirror to stereotypes and our opinions of ourselves.
There are a handful of tickets left for the next two Sunday afternoon shows. Why not stop by the Southbank Christmas market beforehand and pick up some lebkuchen to snack on?
Henning Wehn's German Christmas Do is on at the Leicester Square Theatre, 6 Leicester Place, Sunday 11th and 18th December at 3.30pm. Tickets cost £15.50 / £13.50.
