German comedians fight racism with laughter

Kaya Yanar, whose family is Turkish, is the first comedian with foreign roots to make a breakthrough on national TV with his one-man comedy show "Was guckst Du?" (Whaddaya lookin' at?) Both shrewd and charming, Yanar spoofs foreigners of all stripes.

Bülent Ceylan is another highly popular comedian with Turkish roots. Ceylan hails from the city of Mannheim. The 39-yea-old with a German mother and a Turkish father speaks German, the local Hesse dialect, English, and Russian - but no Turkish. Like Yanar, Bülent zooms in on clichés. "It's all in the mix," he says. "I can impersonate Hitler without people being miffed, but I can also say 'wog.'"

Senay Duzcu, a trained architect, was the first female stand-up comedian with a Turkish background to make a name for herself in Germany. More than once, Duzcu was accused of dishonoring her family. "Thank goodness, laughter doesn't need an interpreter," she says and adds in the wake of the Paris attack, "I dream of a country that is eternally peaceful."

The German-Moroccan comedian cleverly plays on deep-seated German fears that every bearded Arab might just be a potential terrorist. In the wake of the Paris attack, Abdelkarim commented that not liking the Mohammed caricatures doesn't automatically make every Muslim evil.

Amani likes to say she's from Persia. That sounds like a soft carpet, she says, unlike Iran, which might make one think of bomb attacks. The newcomer to the comedy scene may act the bimbo on stage, but she quotes French philosopher Voltaire in response to the Paris attacks: "I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend - to the death - your right to say it."

In 2006, the jury for the coveted Prix Pantheon comedy award commented that Cevikkollu clearly sees integration as "a matter for comedians." After the attack on the offices of "Charlie Hebdo," the comedian with Turkish roots posted a cartoon and says he is proud to participate in the anti-PEGIDA protest in his native Cologne: "This is how we do it in my hometown."

Turkish-born Serdar Somuncu insults everybody: "Every minority has the right to be discriminated against," he says. The comedian posted a video on Facebook that takes on each and every religion and person who kills in the name of God: "Faith, greed and megalomania."

Jung may not be a Muslim, but the son of a German and an African-American GI is well acquainted with prejudice. Scoffing that ridding the German language of words like "negro" is a form of fundamentalism, he promptly produced a "Handbook for Friends of Negros." Laughter fights racism - that's Jung's motto. He, too, posted "Je suis Charlie" in the wake of the Paris attacks.

Dave Davis, who goes on stage as cloakroom attendant Motombo Umbokko, can also tell people a thing or two about prejudice. His parents are Ugandan. Shocked by recent developments, Davis on Facebook posted a link to an article with the following quote: "I don't have to act like a Christian toward people who allegedly defend Christian traditions but preach hatred and exclusion."

Paris-born Emmanuel Peterfalvi moved to Hamburg in 1991, and ever since then he's been the proverbial Frenchman on the German comedy stage. Armed with a huge microphone, he accosts people and asks them absurd questions about their well-being and political opinions. Heart-stricken by the attacks, Peterfalvi traveled to Paris for the unity march on Sunday.