2 posts tagged “comedy central”
Compared to a lot (or more accurately - most) of german comedians and late night hosts, Stephen Colbert is a really funny guy. Over at Comedy Central they have a good bunch of video clips on demand. For free. No IP-mapping. One of the newest is embedded below. Favourite quote from that episode ("Hail to the cheese - Home State"):
"... on the "Plus" side, my body will stop to produce bright orange waste." - Stephen Colbert
Alright, I got super-excited when I heard that Comedy Central Germany was replacing the annoying german music tv station VIVA Plus. I was like "Hey they finally get it" thinking they would start to air successful US tv shows in Germany. In English. With subtitles.
I headed over to their german site - it says they will start to air January 15th. At this point the site features a bunch of previews and shows that will be shown. They´ll have "Trailer Park Boys" (check out the site for some footage) and "Arrested Development" amongst others - shows I have been watching on my travels in the US and that I´ve really liked ever since. A couple of years ago I mentioned "Trailer Park Boys" to a friend that works for VIVA and told her that since VIVA and MTV started airing less music-related shows, they could be interested in licensing it. I am not acutally sure if she still works there and if she´s responsible for this decision but I was thrilled when I saw they will have those shows too.
Well turns out that I´m disappointed again. All their previews are in German. They have german comedy formats as well which I think is a good thing to offer local comedians a platform, but please come on: Don´t air US shows that have specifically been designed and produced for a anglophile audience in german. I mentioned the fact earlier on this blog about translating the Borat movie into german. It sucked. And so will the shows on Comedy Central Germany in case they´re translated.
"Trailer Park Boys" is a fictional reality show from Canada about two dudes who just got out of prison and come back to their trailer park to start a "new" life. It is so funny not only because of the typical canadian accent but also this whole thing about living in a trailer park. I really can´t imagine how that will sound in German but as always, it´ll suck. I´m pretty much sure about this. By the way, "Bubbles" of "The Trailer Park Boys" is just awesome (it´s the guy in the middle of the picture, with his thick glasses). You can check out some videos here.
There is no bad thing about showing US shows in English with subtitles. Holland and Flandria are doing it since ages. And it works. Go talk to them in English and you´ll see what I mean. They´re having a constant bath in the English language without losing their national one. They´re just improving their English every day. And now go to Bavaria and you´ll see the difference. Such things frustrate me.
For one second, imagine "The Daily Show" in German. Get it?
Phhht!
