Gustav & Erich

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Gustav & Erich (sometimes Gustav and Erich ) were a popular Sketch - Duo of Herkuleskeule in Dresden . The duo consisted of Hans Glauche ("Gustav") and Friedrich "Fritz" Ehlert (1935–1984, "Erich"). Skits about Gustav & Erich were among the formative works of the Hercules Club during the GDR era and both were popular figures in GDR cabaret.

history

Hans Glauche came to the Dresdner Herkuleskeule in 1961: Here he performed both solo and in the duo "Gustav & Erich". His sketch partner Fritz Ehlert, in turn, was engaged at the Herkuleskeule in August 1967 after studying acting in Weimar and various theater engagements.

The sketches by Gustav & Erich poked fun at the everyday life of the little man in the socialism of the GDR, as well as poking fun at it. In their sketches, the two interlocutors usually met at a standing beer table, props were “a beer” (a hop blossom tea , as fat Erich often put it) and a cigarette. The small, skinny Gustav always greeted his tall, fat conversation partner with the words, "Mei Erich", to which Erich usually replied with "Mei Gustav". The origins of the sketch form lie with the beer table sketch Mei Otto un mei Richard of the Berlin mocking community , which, however, only "celebrated triumphs" in the version about Mei Erich and mei Gustav .

"Gustav & Erich", which can be formally assigned to the type " White clown (Erich) and stupid August (Gustav)", philosophized during their skits always on an equal footing about everyday occurrences. This was shown by the fact that the fat "Erich" always got the introductory sentence, which usually read: "Where only my friend Gustav stays today" ("Where only my friend Gustav stays again today") and thus an equal eye level both produced: Typical phrases of GDR socialism were subsequently projected onto the everyday life of the common man. It was always shown that the big, full-bodied phrases of the leadership of the GDR bypassed the life, problems and needs of the people. But this presentation was done in such a subtle way that the texts were regularly censored: As an example, the text by “Gustav”: “With us everyone can now become what they want. Whether he wants to or not. ”From the sketch“ Das Hausbuch ”. In the stage version, the artic pause inserted between the two sentences makes it clear that it was not about an SED phrase: the happenings between two people at a “beer table” canceled it out.

Gustav, the small, naive man with a tendency to stutter, always showed farmer cunning, Erich tried to counteract the “prescribed terms” in his texts: This resulted in a dialogue (at the beer table, which was always a prop). He always spoke in the Upper Saxon dialect, his partner tried to use High German accentuation without wanting to deny Upper Saxon. “Erich” (Fritz Ehlert) was in all the skits - contrary to the “white clown” type - a personable and (at that time) everyday figure. The fact that "Nu, mei Erich" was also an allusion to Erich Honecker was popularly used in the 1970s.

It was also special that Hans Glauche ("Gustav") often used the answer: "Nu dloahr" (in the broadest Upper Saxon). But this is a very specific metaphor that can mean both in Upper Saxon: It is really "everything is clear" (understandable, agreed, just "yes, clear") and / or at the same time that everything is completely "unclear" and you just calm down "The opposite" that he was right - from which many unexpected punchlines emerged, which remained hidden when reading a text (and consequently escaped censorship, and even today the published texts are extremely static, compared with available recordings). There was also little to complain about during the appearances: the GDR audience outside Dresden also understood this “ambiguity” (that is, there was more to be heard between the lines than to read in the actual text itself).

The duo Gustav & Erich also appeared outside of the Herkuleskeule "in a number of entertainment programs on the GDR radio, which otherwise practiced so strict abstinence from anything that somehow smelled of satire." Among other things, the duo was in the popular television program Ein Kessel Colorful things as well as in Reiner Süß ' There is music inside as a guest. Skits by the two have been released on several records, including on Lach mit (1976), Keulenspiegeleien (1978) and Unser Menschen sind nicht so (1985).

Jokes developed around Gustav and Erich, whose sketch style is also used to the present day during the carnival season for discussing current topics.

Discography

  • Have a laugh! - German records, Berlin 1976
  • Keulenspiegeleien - German records, Berlin 1978
  • Our people are not like that - German records, Berlin 1985
  • Humor kaleidoscope - German records, Berlin 1985
  • Typisch mier Sachsen, Episode 2 (The Best of Saxony) - BTM 1999 (CD)
  • 40 Years Hercules Club - Heileids - AMI, Dresden 2000 (CD)

literature

  • Hans Glauche: Gustav and Erich . In: Volker Kühn (Ed.): Kleinkunststücke. Volume 5: In this country. Cabaret in this period from 1970 . Quadriga, Weinheim and Berlin 1994, pp. 247–248 (in it: The sketch Das Hausbuch from the program Everything because of the people from 1972).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ehlert replaced the briefly acting Joachim Höfler. See Hanskarl Hoerning: The Leipzig pepper mill: stories and pictures from five decades . Lehmstedt, 2004, p. 83.
  2. ↑ Eberhard Heinze: Dresdener "Herkuleskeule" offered in the Landestheater Altenburger cabaret of the special class . In: Osterländer Volkszeitung , April 7, 2001, p. 17.
  3. ↑ Herkuleskeule shows cabaret film . In: Dresdner Latest News , July 9, 2009, p. 10.
  4. ↑ Rainer Kasselt: The old boy Hercules now belongs in Saxony. With the long-running hit "Mei Eeerich", the cabaret artist Hans Glauche became a Dresden legend. In: Sächsische Zeitung , April 20, 2011, p. 9.
  5. ↑ He was the legendary "Meeeiii Eeeerich" . In: Sächsische Zeitung , March 22, 2014, p. 22.
  6. ↑ Hanskarl Hoerning: Go where the pepper grows: three decades of Leipzig “mills” grinding . Henschelverlag, Berlin 1984, p. 56.
  7. ↑ Hans Glauche: Gustav and Erich . In: Volker Kühn (Ed.): Kleinkunststücke. Volume 5: In this country. Cabaret in this period from 1970 . Quadriga, Weinheim and Berlin 1994, p. 247.
  8. ↑ A similarly effective formula was the end of every broadcast of Frontal (TV broadcast) from 1994–1998 : “Still questions, Kienzle ?” - which opened a witty exchange of blows and also left open the “correct” answer.
  9. ^ Rainer Otto: Hans Glauche (1928–81) . In: Leipziger Volkszeitung , January 31, 2003, p. 3.
  10. ↑ Karin Großmann: No rest day and night [interview with Reiner Suess]. In: Sächsische Zeitung , January 27, 2010, p. 7.
  11. ↑ List u. a. with cabaret records on which Gustav and Erich are represented
  12. ^ Olaf Krenz: Young Carnival Association is growing out of its infancy. Castle jesters bring Gustav and Erich back to the stage . In: Bornaer Zeitung , January 27, 2000, p. 27.
  13. ^ Gisela Jäger: Carnival Bad Bibra. Women with guns and the madness without any cattle. Varied program at the BCC . In: Mitteldeutsche Zeitung , February 20, 2001.