Actor and comedian Hape Kerkeling on Germans: "Terrible right-wingers"
Hape Kerkeling plays the chairman of a tennis club in the social satire "Extrawurst" (archive photo).
Image: dpa
The celebrity cast also includes Fahri Yardim (from left to right), Gaby Dohm, Hape Kerkeling, Christoph Maria Herbst, Anja Knauer and Friedrich Mücke (archive photo).
Image: dpa
In the social satire "Extrawurst", a fierce debate breaks out over a new barbecue (symbolic image).
Image: dpa
Hape Kerkeling plays the chairman of a tennis club in the social satire "Extrawurst" (archive photo).
Image: dpa
The celebrity cast also includes Fahri Yardim (from left to right), Gaby Dohm, Hape Kerkeling, Christoph Maria Herbst, Anja Knauer and Friedrich Mücke (archive photo).
Image: dpa
In the social satire "Extrawurst", a fierce debate breaks out over a new barbecue (symbolic image).
Image: dpa
Why Hape Kerkeling thinks Germans are "terrible right-wingers" - and how he looks at them with humor and self-irony in the film "Extrawurst".
11.01.2026, 21:05
12.01.2026, 06:55
dpa
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- Hape Kerkeling humorously describes Germans as "terrible right-wingers" and sees this as a fundamental social problem that he also recognizes in himself.
- In the satire "Extrawurst", he plays an old tennis club chairman whose supposed harmony is shattered by prejudices, power games and arguments. The film opens in cinemas on January 15.
Hape Kerkeling has identified a special characteristic in Germans: "We all always want to be right, that's the basic problem. And now we live in a time when everyone wants to be even more right than they already were, but everyone has to give up a bit," the actor and entertainer told the German Press Agency in an interview on the occasion of the cinema release of the social satire "Extrawurst".
Eating wisdom with spoons
Even in neighboring countries, Germans are considered to be "terribly opinionated". "We should perhaps take this impression seriously, we always know what the others are doing wrong," says Kerkeling. "Eating this wisdom with spoons is very German."
Incidentally, he does not exclude himself from this weakness. It also happens to him "sometimes". "I don't always notice it straight away, then it takes a day or two. It can happen that I have to apologize sometimes."
Easily corrupt and colluding
The 61-year-old can live out this idiosyncrasy to the full in the movie "Extrawurst" directed by Marcus H. Rosenmüller (cinema release: January 15 in blue Cinemas).
Kerkeling plays Heribert Bräsemann, who has been chairman of the Lengenheide tennis club since time immemorial. When a new barbecue is to be purchased for the club, this is debated at a club meeting - a discussion that gets completely out of hand. Prejudices, racism, jealousies and power games cause a huge row.
Kerkeling loved playing Bräsemann, who wants to preserve harmony by any means necessary, as long as everything goes on as usual. ("As long as you can still laugh together, it's not too late"). "I found it interesting that I was offered this role of the slightly corrupt, Rhenish, always pandering, self-absorbed chairman of the tennis club, who is actually a poor sausage, as you find out in the course of the movie," says the actor.
On the wrong track with hate
His insight after the film: "That we have to treat our surroundings and ourselves gently and carefully and anyone who leaves this path and thinks they can spray hate wherever they are is on the absolute wrong track and will reap what they sow." And if you do get into a debate? "Basically, you should avoid escalation in such discussions if you can. And if you can't do that, you should know what your opinion is and defend it firmly but without aggression."
"You're never wrong with sausage"
In addition to wise words, Kerkeling also has tangible tips in store. For example, on the question of what absolutely belongs at a barbecue.
"You can never go wrong with sausage, Germans always like to eat it and a German barbecue should include a bratwurst, I mean a Söder bratwurst," he jokes, alluding to Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder's (CSU) culinary preference for hearty food. "I also like to eat vegan food," admits Kerkeling, "but I also like to eat a bratwurst."
And what does he bring to such an invitation? "Always my pasta salad, it's amazing, with lots of mayonnaise, pickles and fresh onions. I also have to add sausage. But it's also vegan, of course."
