The Swiss have a reputation for being rather humourless – a stereotype many say is unfounded. How much is comedy linked to culture, politics and language that perhaps isn’t understood by outsiders?
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Julie worked as a radio reporter for BBC and independent radio all over the UK before joining swissinfo.ch's predecessor, Swiss Radio International, as a producer. After attending film school, Julie worked as an independent filmmaker before coming to swissinfo.ch in 2001.
“Witzerland”, an exhibition at the Swiss National Museum in the central canton of Schwyz, runs until the end of January 2021 and sheds light on what tickles Swiss ribs. (“Witz” means “joke” in German.)
It features TV clips, artwork and cartoons from humorists such as Patrick Chappette, a cartoonist for the International Herald Tribune and the New York Times for 20 years, and performances from stage giants such as the clown Grock, at one time the highest-paid music hall and variety star.
Historical jokes and puns about Swiss society and neutrality feature alongside blonde gags and cracks about the foibles of wives and husbands, as can be found in any culture.
Curator Pia Schubiger says that if some people find them offensive, it’s a chance to talk about where the boundaries of humour lie.
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Naked hikers turn the other cheek
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Simon Enzler, a clothed cabaret artist from eastern Switzerland who uses the topic in his act, talks to swissinfo about what the average Appenzeller makes of it all and wonders where the nudist police are going to stick the SFr200 ($175) fines. In a world first, on April 26 the traditional open-air assembly in Appenzell,…
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If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
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Have you heard the one about Swiss humour?
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The Swiss National Museum has uncovered what has made the reserved country roar with laughter over the years. It reveals that many burning issues were just as relevant for past generations as they are now. The exhibition’s title, Witzerland, is itself a pun – Witz meaning joke in German. Most of the material is in…
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Born in 1880, Grock was a multi-talented entertainer who became a household name throughout the world and who made even Hitler laugh. The exhibition, in Zurich’s city hall until April 17, features costumes, circus posters and photographs spanning Grock’s six decades as a mime artiste, acrobat, musician and composer. It also features a miniature violin…
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In Swiss Watching, Diccon Bewes offers a “light-hearted but informative” guide to Switzerland, his home for the past five years, and its inhabitants. The 42-year-old former travel writer, now manager of the Stauffacher English Bookshop in Bern, tells swissinfo.ch how he got the idea for the book. “I’d love to say that I’d been planning…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.