Hazel Brugger freezes in front of Angela Merkel Where has the queen of repartee gone?
Former Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel answers questions from Hazel Brugger. And then something happens that hardly anyone expected: The comedian is robbed of her quick wit from the very first second.
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- Hazel Brugger was allowed to talk to former German Chancellor Angela Merkel for an hour about her memoirs.
- Who wouldn't say yes to a request like that? The only problem was that the comedian was robbed of her quick wit from the very first second.
- During the interview, the clever Brugger visibly struggles with Merkel. It almost seems as if she has been infected by her woodenness.
- Despite this, there is hardly any criticism of the interview in the media or online. And the vast majority certainly don't want to know that Merkel has disenchanted Brugger.
"Hazel Brugger lives fast. She has only just turned 30 and is already a mother of two, homeowner, company boss, successful podcaster and regular guest on big shows. But above all she is one thing: still awake. The new solo show from the undisputed queen of repartee."
This is the description of Brugger's stage program "Immer noch wach", which the 30-year-old comedian is currently performing to almost always sold-out audiences.
Despite a packed agenda, Brugger found an hour for Angela Merkel. The Swiss-German by choice was allowed to interview Merkel. Who wouldn't say yes to that? It's just a shame that the comedian was robbed of her quick wit from the very first second.
The comedian freezes in front of the former chancellor
But let's start from the beginning: The former German Chancellor has published her memoirs, 736 pages long. After all, "she can't just leave the interpretation of her own story to others", says Angela Merkel.
During the conversation with comedian Hazel Brugger, the memory of the Chancellor immediately comes back like a "Merkel feeling". After 16 years as Chancellor, you really do know her.
At the same time, from the very first second of the interview, you can feel how the comedian freezes in front of the former chancellor. It takes a sheer eternity for Brugger to wake up from this state of shock and find her way back to her endearing cheekiness.
You need to know this: The video is a production of the publishing house Kiepenheuer & Witsch, i.e. the publisher of Merkel's memoirs. It is advertising.
"Find the Merkel-Brugger interview unpleasant"
A user called Lene comments on X: "I find the Merkel-Brugger interview incredibly unpleasant, did any of you watch it and if so, what did you think?"
The "Tages-Anzeiger" even writes of a fiasco. And continues: "In fact, the Swiss woman seems almost transformed in the Merkel interview: You've never seen the 30-year-old exceptional comedian so serious and at the same time insecure when it comes to punchlines."
People who know Angela Merkel better say that she is funny and very entertaining in private. In her public role, however, this rarely came across. Even during the interview with Hazel Brugger, there is hardly anything to laugh about.
Heavens, where has the undisputed queen of repartee gone?
The lightning-quick Brugger has a hard time with Merkel
Yet the former Chancellor had expressly requested the comedian as an interviewer. The clever Brugger is visibly struggling with the brittle Merkel. It almost seems as if she has been infected by her woodenness.
And this despite the fact that Hazel Brugger has not held back with comments about Angela Merkel on X in the past:
Some people now find the interview between the two women all the more appalling:
"Anyone who is upset about Miosga and Habeck hasn't seen the interview with Merkel and Hazel Brugger. It's a bit like Putin and Tucker Carlson," writes user Sozlib on X.
But it is also a fact that there is no more criticism to be found in the media or online. The vast majority don't even want to know that Merkel has disenchanted Brugger.
Anyone reading Hazel Brugger's Instagram account will also find almost exclusively enthusiastic comments:
"Can you two please start a weekly talk format? I love it!"
"In every way the exact opposite of Donald Trump on Joe Rogan. (For those who are unsure, that's praise.)"
"Omg mommy1 meets mommy2"
The word "Mutti" has done Merkel more good than harm
Well then, Angela Merkel has been stuck with the derisively intended M-word for years. In reality, however, the former chancellor benefited from it. The word "Mutti" has done the CDU politician more good than harm.
Because the aspects of the Mutti metaphor conceal her weaknesses. Or as the "SüddeutscheZeitung Magazin" puts it:
"Merkel has made the actually derogatory 'Mutti' label work for her, just as she has turned many of her apparent weaknesses into strengths - her awkward rhetoric into authenticity, the strange colors of her pantsuits into a distinguishing feature, the rhombus of her physical lack of relaxation into a trademark."
And further: "Merkel has managed to turn even a short GIF of her disturbed, uninvolved facial expression at a carnival meeting into an invitation to positive identification."
Mummy or not: Angela Merkel is an ambitious and power-hungry person. Otherwise, the woman would never have made it this far up the ladder, would never have been Chancellor for 16 years.
Or as the chief interviewer Decca Aitkenhead of "The Sunday Times" describes it:
"And then suddenly the doors just open, and there's this somehow very small figure there ... There was no strutting or grandstanding. It was an extremely measured entrance. The door just opened, her appearance had poise and her body language is so restrained - and yet I've never seen anyone exude a sense of power in the way she did."
Why do Brugger's synapses switch so quickly?
Angela Merkel, for her part, is too brittle to stoop to the level of stupidity, claims the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper in its review of the conversation between Angela Merkel and Hazel Brugger.
And thus only proves that it completely misjudges comedian Hazel Brugger's lifetime achievements. The "once most evil woman in Switzerland" has never been a "joker", and certainly not on stage. She is much more the queen of quick-wittedness.
Being able to improvise something on cue that is not only funny, but also has depth - that is a great art. Hazel Brugger is super cool at it.
Why does the comedian's synapses switch so quickly and sometimes drift into such wonderfully offbeat anarchic regions? I've often asked myself that.
But I've also wondered why Hazel Brugger acted like an overwhelmed fan at the Meet & Greet with Angela Merkel: Heavens again, where has the undisputed queen of repartee gone?
