Minnesota Fringe Festival 2024: "An Honest* History of Bullshit"

Day: 2

Show: 4

Title: An Honest* History of Bullshit

Category: Comedy / Solo Show / Historical content / Political content / Religious content

By: Paco Erhard | German Comedy International

Created by: Paco Erhard | German Comedy International

Location: HUGE Improv Theater

Summary: German comedian Paco Erhard returns to MN Fringe with a new show about, well, bullshit.

Highlights: Paco's 2013 show 5-Step Guide to Being German was one of the top-selling shows, and one of my favorites of the festival. His new show An Honest* History of Bullshit probably won't make my favorites list, but it was still very entertaining. The concept feels much looser than last year's, he only occasionally returns to the idea of bullshit (which he defines as people wanting to believe the stories in their own heads rather than the truth), using it as a very loose framework to tell a bunch of stories, some funnier than others. Like in his last show, he brings an interesting cultural perspective as someone who grew up in Germany, has traveled and lived all over the world, and now resides in LA. He makes jokes about Americans, Germans, and Canadians, talks about how there are certain jokes that work better in Europe than America, or vice versa, and the idea of stereotypes in general. It's a fun standup comedy show with a global perspective.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2023: "5-Step Guide to Being German"

Day: 7

Show: 27

Title: 5-Step Guide to Being German

Category: COMEDY / SOLO SHOW / HISTORICAL CONTENT / POLITICAL CONTENT

By: Paco Erhard

Created by: Paco Erhard

Location: Rarig Thrust

Summary: German comedian Paco Erhard talks about what it's like to be German in today's world.

Highlights: I grew up believing that my ancestry was 7/8 German and 1/8 Polish, but after an Ancestry DNA test I learned that it was a little more complicated than that. Current results indicate I'm 32% "Germanic Europe" and 45% "England and Northwestern Europe," but that's close enough (and my obsession with these precise numbers probably indicates just how German I am). So I found this show to be very funny and relatable, as I recognize the characteristics of Germanness in myself and my family. Paco (if you're thinking that's not a very German name, you're correct, it's a nickname he picked up while living in Spain) joked that he thought Minnesota was the Scandinavian part of America, but instead found it to be more like the German part of Canada. He doesn't actually give us five steps to being German, but tells stories and jokes about growing up in Germany and being German out in the world (he's lived abroad much of his life). His usual 80-minute show was cut down to 60 minutes (so much for American freedom), and he makes fun of Germans, Americans, and others throughout his show. He debunks some stereotypes of Germans, and confirms some too - stern, obsessed with order, unfunny. That last one is proven untrue, as Paco is very funny and personable as he makes us laugh about what it is to be German, and what it is to be humans living on this planet together.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.