"Survey on the integration test" Famous "Angelo Merte" video turns 15 years old - this is what he has become
"Angelo Merte" made Teddy Teclebrhan famous overnight. 15 years later, the viral YouTube sketch has become a piece of German pop culture.
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- Tedros "Teddy" Teclebrhan became instantly famous in 2011 with his "Angelo Merte" video as the fictional character Antoine Burtz.
- The sketch hit the heart of the integration debate at the time and was initially thought by many to be real.
- Today, Teddy is a successful comedian with an audience of millions.
15 years ago, Tedros "Teddy" Teclebrhan posted a video on YouTube that initially irritated people and then exploded in terms of clicks.
The title: "Survey on the integration test (which was not broadcast)".
In it, Teclebrhan played the fictional character Antoine Burtz: blond moustache, lower body, big mouth and a very unique idea of Germany.
When asked about the German Chancellor, Antoine replied something like: "Angelo Merte." The clip was released on May 8, 2011 and now has around 47.7 million views.
Many people actually thought the video was real at the time. The YouTube comment column still bears witness to this today. The reactions range from "execution" to "Oscar nomination". The sketch polarized and struck a nerve. At the time, Germany was discussing "Leitkultur", and the CDU even included the term in its party manifesto.
Teclebrhan knew from his own experience what it was like to grow up with racist prejudices. His mother fled to Germany alone with him and his two brothers from Eritrea in 1985. When Teclebrhan was not quite 30 years old, he turned it into a sketch - and tried his luck on YouTube, which was still an up-and-coming platform at the time.
It was his breakthrough. With Antoine Burtz, Teclebrhan suddenly became famous. Appearances on "TV total" followed, and a year later he got his own program on ZDFneo with "Teddy's Show". Teddy then moved on to the stage, performing in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Today he reaches an audience of millions on Tiktok.
The phenomenon has also been the subject of scientific research. In a paper published by the University of Freiburg, Teddy's success was categorized as an example of "ethno-comedy".
Two linguists analyzed the "integration test" video and the reactions of young people. They came to the conclusion that, with Antoine, Teclebrhan was picking up on the "hypertype" of the uneducated, proletarian migrant.
Precisely because the video was not clearly recognizable as a sketch at the beginning, many viewers wavered between real and fake. That was part of its effect. Antoine Burtz made stereotypes visible and was able to undermine them. For some viewers, however, he was also able to confirm them.