Hazel Brugger freezes in front of Angela Merkel: Where has the queen of repartee gone?

Former Chancellor Angela Merkel answers questions from Hazel Brugger. And then what hardly anyone expected happens: the comedian is robbed of her repartee from the first second.

«Hazel Brugger lives fast. She has just turned 30 and is already a mother of two, homeowner, company boss, successful podcaster and regular guest on major shows. But above all she is one thing: still awake. The new solo show of the undisputed queen of repartee.”

This is the description of Brugger’s stage program “Still awake”, which the 30-year-old comedian is currently performing in front of almost always sold-out halls.

Despite a packed agenda, Brugger found an hour for Angela Merkel. The Swiss-born German-elect was allowed to interview Merkel. Who wouldn’t say yes to that? It’s just stupid that the comedian was robbed of her repartee from the first second.

The comedian freezes in front of the former chancellor

But let’s start from the beginning: The former Chancellor has published her memoirs. 736 pages long. Because “you can’t just leave the interpretation of your own history to others,” says Angela Merkel.

During the conversation with comedian Hazel Brugger, the memory of the Chancellor immediately comes back like a “Merkel feeling”. You actually know her, after 16 years as chancellor.

At the same time, from the first second of the interview it is noticeable how the comedian freezes in front of the former Chancellor. It takes a sheer eternity for Brugger to wake up from this state of shock and find her way back to her lovable cheekiness.

What you need to know is that the video is a production by the publisher Kiepenheuer & Witsch, the publisher of Merkel’s memoirs. It’s advertising.

“I find the Merkel-Brugger interview unpleasant”

A user named Lene commented on

The “Tages-Anzeiger” even writes about a fiasco. And further: “In fact, the Swiss woman seems almost transformed in the Merkel conversation: you have never seen the 30-year-old exceptional comedian so serious and at the same time insecure when it comes to punch lines.”

People who know her better say that Angela Merkel is funny and very entertaining in her private life. However, this rarely appeared in her public role. Even during the conversation with Hazel Brugger there is hardly anything to laugh about.

Heavens, where has the undisputed queen of repartee gone?

The brilliant Brugger is having a hard time with Merkel

The former Chancellor had expressly wanted the comedian to be an interviewer. The brilliant Brugger is clearly having a hard time dealing with the brittle Merkel. It almost seems as if her woodenness has infected her.

And that despite the fact that Hazel Brugger has not held back on X in the past with comments about Angela Merkel:

Some people find the interview between the two women all the more terrible:

“Anyone who is upset about Miosga and Habeck has not yet seen the interview with Merkel and Hazel Brugger. Has a bit of Putin and Tucker Carlson,” writes user Sozlib on X.

But it is also a fact that there is no more criticism to be found in the media or on the Internet. The vast majority don’t want to know anything about Merkel’s disenchantment with Brugger.

Anyone who reads Hazel Brugger’s Instagram account will find almost exclusively enthusiastic comments:

«Can you two please start a weekly talk format? I love it!”

«In every respect, Joe Rogan is the exact opposite of Donald Trump. (For those who are unsure: That’s praise.)»

“Omg Mama1 meets Mama2”

The word “mom” did Merkel more good than harm

Well, Angela Merkel has been stuck with the mocking M word for years. In reality, however, the former Chancellor benefited from it. The word “mom” did more good than harm for the CDU politician.

Because the aspects of the mom metaphor cover up her weaknesses. Or as the “SüddeutscheZeitung Magazin” writes:

“Merkel has let the actually derogatory “mom” label work for her, just as she has turned many of her apparent weaknesses into strengths – her awkward rhetoric into authenticity, the strange colors of her pants suits into a distinguishing feature, the diamond shape of her physical lack of relaxation into one Trademark.”

And further: “Merkel has managed to ensure that even a short GIF of her disturbed, uninvolved facial expression at a carnival session invites positive identification.”

Mom or not: Angela Merkel is an ambitious and power-hungry person. Otherwise the woman would never have made it this far and would never have been Chancellor for 16 years.

Or as chief interviewer Decca Aitkenhead of “The Sunday Times” describes it:

“And then suddenly the doors just open and there’s this kind of very small figure there… There was no strutting or big fuss. It was an extremely measured appearance. The door just opened, her entrance had poise and her body language is so reserved – and yet I’ve never seen anyone exude a sense of power the way she did.”

Why do Brugger’s synapses switch so quickly?

Angela Merkel, for her part, is too brittle to go on a stupid level, the “Tages-Anzeiger” now claims in its criticism of the conversation between Angela Merkel and Hazel Brugger.

And this only proves that he completely misjudges comedian Hazel Brugger’s life’s achievements. The “once baddest woman in Switzerland” has never “goofed off”, so definitely not on stage. She is much more the queen of repartee.

Being able to improvise something on demand that is not only funny but also has depth – that is a great art. Hazel Brugger has it super cool.

Why do the comedian’s synapses switch so quickly and sometimes drift into such wonderfully remote anarcho regions? I’ve often asked myself that.

But I also asked myself why Hazel Brugger is now here Meet & Greet acted like an overwhelmed fan with Angela Merkel: Jesus Christ, where has the undisputed queen of repartee gone?

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