BRITAIN’S very own ‘German Comedy Ambassador to the UK’, Henning Wehn, brought his latest stand-up show Westphalia is not an Option to the Lowry in Salford on Saturday night (October 22). Quays News entertainment reporter Emily Murray went to check it out…
When Henning Wehn moved to Britain in 2002 from Germany, to work in marketing, he had no idea that years later he would be making audiences laugh as a stand-up comedian.
In fact Wehn‘s decision to try his hand at comedy was rather spontaneous after enjoying an open mic night at his local pub.
It is rather remarkable then that in 2016 Wehn is now touring across the country with his sold-out show Westphalia is not an Option.
On Saturday night he brought his show to The Lowry in Salford which, as he told the audience, is the biggest venue he has ever performed stand-up in.
The stakes were particularly high then but thankfully Wehn’s witty humour made the audience laugh all night and were kept wanting more.
@henningwehn fantastic show last night at the Lowry – you had us laughing all night!
— Laura Lodge (@lauralodge208) October 23, 2016
Wehn superbly takes advantage of the fact that he is a foreigner in a strange country and provides the audience with a completely different style of observational comedy than what we are used to.
He light-heartedly makes jokes about strange things Brits find normal and helps us realise just how ramshackle and ridiculous our country actually is.
Why do we have the cables and wires on the exterior sides of the walls on the Underground rather than them being neatly tucked away inside?
Surely that just isn’t safe!
It really is no wonder that the rest of Europe just laughs at us sometimes.
"The citizenship test is just a very high stakes pub quiz" Wonderful @henningwehn @The_Lowry tonight
— Ian Pryce CBE (@ipryce) October 22, 2016
In this show Wehn wanted to tackle the tricky topic of immigration, not exactly a theme that you would think would be perfect for a stand-up show.
His risk paid off as he tackles these very weighty issues with intelligence, wit and a whole lot of common sense.
He reflects on everything from Britain’s attitude towards immigration to the class system in the UK, issues many comedians would normally shy away from but Wehn deals with brilliantly and is even able to make jokes out of.
He does give some serious messages during his show, all of which are applauded by the crowd, and so it is no wonder that he says many audience members come up to him after and tell him how thought-provoking they found it.
It is unusual to get such an interesting blend of witty comedy and a deep analysis of serious issues with a stand-up show and so it is rather refreshing.
Wehn still makes the usual war and football jokes that are to be expected, but thankfully the show is much more than that.
By Emily Murray
@EmilyVMurray
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