Klaus Birk

1,000 scenes on the radio. 250 on television. Writer for *Mäulesmühle* for 14 years. Cabaret artist for 27 years. Birk gives it his all. Enriched with topical twists, Birk presents scenes from his stage, radio, and TV shows. Political, everyday, and fantastical. And he talks nonstop—while standing, running, sitting, and walking. There are political chuckles about Stuttgart, the Minister-President, and his “dream team”; about tunnel waste underground; the health of the reforms; about globally farting cows on the Ganges; and there’s snarky banter about the fine dust of environmental stickers. Birk is taken by surprise by the oil price, the Indian filling up his tank, and the steel-hungry Chinese dam builder; he monitors himself via satellite and always knows where he’s eating. A true “Talk to Smile” event, in other words. He talks, and they practice public laughter. And Birk also tells stories about elephants on the highway, laughing cormorants on Lake Constance, and talking monkeys in Italy; he reports on bananas on mountains, camels in the desert, and sand in the Himalayas. He talks about dream women, stapled-shut laptops, and the plastic flies’ uprising. Birk takes his time—your time—holds up a mirror to himself, hoping his belly still fits in the frame, and mocks sports: doped, run, and fired. Yes, he also mocks women and mourns men. Interpersonal entanglements are muddled, and those involved are disposed of separately. And he notes right here: We can do anything—except what’s required.

www.klausbirk.de