There are no taboos for René Sydow. At least not in cabaret terms. He wraps anything that strikes him as important, entertaining or thematically challenging into witty, articulate comedy. Individual fools or parties, however, are deliberately left out of the frame. The AfD, for example. "I simply can't think of anything to say about them," Sydow observes. About Germany's current educational malaise, on the other hand, he has plenty to say. In his new programme, "Die Bürde des weisen Mannes", which he will take on tour from March 2018, he explores the question of what makes us human: education? The right to vote? Or just free Wi-Fi? Heartbreakingly sad and shockingly funny. Dark and hopeful. Political cabaret thoroughly of its time. "I read all the time, collecting words, terms and sentences. I have so much material about this madness that I absolutely had to turn it into a programme." While he is still writing and polishing it, the successful cabaret artist continues to tour with his current programme, "Warnung vor dem Munde!" — a brilliant reckoning with the lunacy of politics and television. Sharply analysed and skilfully dissected. René Sydow is a perfectionist. Every nuance of his programme, every emphasis and movement, is carefully considered and rehearsed so precisely that he can guide the audience through the evening with such playful ease that you might think the odd punchline had only just occurred to him. For the trained actor, stand-up comedy is an art form he bows to with reverence, yet does not trust himself to attempt. "I tried it, but I just can't do it. For me it has to go in a literary direction; I want to make wordplay. Spontaneity doesn't work for me." But jokes always work. By now, even the silliest joke gets checked for its usability. What goes down well in a small circle might just be the next big laugh on stage. "It's a shame, really, because I used to be able to talk nonsense for hours; now I immediately check whether the nonsense is stage-worthy too," the cabaret artist notes with a wink. René Sydow loves his profession just as he lives it: with all his senses and complete devotion. And yet he never set out to become a successful cabaret artist, even though, alongside filmmaking and writing books, he was already a celebrated poetry slammer — to be precise, runner-up champion in poetry slam for the German-speaking region. Even so, it never occurred to René Sydow himself that what he did on stage in short form could also delight audiences at greater length. It was his wife who nudged him to enter a cabaret competition. Said and done — and won: gold and the audience prize for René Sydow! A bullseye. From then on, the little prize creatures came leaping into his cabaret garden: 14 titles in three years. Let someone else try to match that. The two greatest trophies for German-language cabaret, however, still elude him: the Salzburger Stier and the Deutscher Kleinkunstpreis. Perhaps he will win those with his new programme. But the collection of little creatures is not René Sydow's sole motivation. Above all, he wants to get better from one programme to the next. And if he can make a living from it too, he is the happiest cabaret artist Germany knows!
Clever, Funny, Wonderfully Articulate
