“LOL” comeback by Anke Engelke: Is Bastian Pastewka your biggest competitor?

Who laughs, loses! The second season “LOL: Last One Laughing” starts on October 1st on Amazon Prime Video. In the comedy show by Michael Bully Herbig (53), comedy stars are put to the test: They have to make each other laugh without losing their composure themselves.

In addition to newcomers such as Klaas Heufer-Umlauf (38), Martina Hill (47) and Bastian Pastewka (49), three stars from the first season are also returning: Kurt Krömer (46), Max Giermann (45) and Anke Engelke (55) want know it again. In an interview with the news agency spot on news, Pastewka and Engelke talk about the show’s unique concept and the most dangerous opponents. In addition, the two stars, who stood in front of the camera for the first time 25 years ago, reveal what always makes them laugh and whether they miss old formats like the “weekly show”.

Ms. Engelke, you are part of “LOL: Last One Laughing” a second time. Why did you decide to take part again?

Anke Engelke: I’m not an ambitious person, but I’m afraid I wanted to win. I wasn’t upset that I got out early last time, but I wanted to know again. If I understood Max Giermann and Kurt Krömer correctly, they felt the same way. They believed: We would learn from the mistakes of the first season. We’re doing everything right now and then we win this thing! Is it an advantage to have been there before? I don’t know, but I promised myself a lot from it. And more will not be revealed.

Mr Pastewka, on the other hand, you are here for the first time. What made you decide to take part?

Bastian Pastewka: Anke Engelke. (laughs)

And apart from Anke Engelke?

Pastewka: It is actually only one factor among many, but a very decisive one. Anke had done the first season and told me under the seal of secrecy that she had experienced something really great. And then at some point I got a request from Bully Herbig and I saw the connection. Bully said before the first “LOL” season was released, a second season was planned.

Engelke: Which is also brave.

Pastewka: That’s right. And I also wanted to be one of those keepers of secrets who take part in a show without knowing how the audience would perceive it.

Would you say that the “returnees” had an advantage over you?

Pastewka: I’m not sure about that. I can only say for myself: The second Bully pressed the button for the first time and we knew that now it counts – the chemistry and psychology in the room changed. Suddenly a Larissa Rieß, whom I met for the first time in the “LOL” studio, was just as dangerous as Anke Engelke, whom I have known for 25 years.

Which participants became the greatest threat to you?

Engelke: Bastian is a great threat to me from a comedic point of view. I’ve known him for so long now and adore him very much, because of his work, but also because of his facial expressions, because of his little facial exercises. They’re so small, but they trigger me right away. So it was important for me to avoid him.

But: You yourself are a danger! If you enjoy what you are performing, then you are at least as dangerous yourself. When you’re having fun, you laugh at yourself too.

Would you dare another round of “LOL”?

Engelke: Always. I would always do it. Because it’s such an extraordinary experiment. You seldom experience anything in our crazy job that is so unpredictable.

Pastewka: In a positive sense.

Engelke: What I experienced the first and second time “LOL” could not be foreseen. None of that! That is a great condition.

Pastewka: There are colleagues who dare to throw themselves into it. I come from preparation, I love things that I know beforehand. I would like to learn texts by heart and rehearse with colleagues. That wasn’t possible here. With “LOL” you will be pushed from here to there like a pinball. That made things a lot harder for me than it was for my friend Anke Engelke, for example, who always picks up the thread and suddenly improvises something funny.

Since the beginning of the corona pandemic, shows in front of an audience have not been possible or have been barely possible. Formats like “LOL” take place without a viewer. Do you miss the old programs?

Pastewka: Something like “LOL” cannot take place in front of a live audience. Then the intimate atmosphere would be gone. I don’t mourn these ensemble shows like the “Wochenshow” from the 90s at all. But in fact, as a viewer, I sometimes miss seeing people play with each other and noticing the subsequent reaction of the audience.

What is it that always makes you laugh?

Engelke: Bastian makes me laugh. 50 percent of our time is very serious, but the other 50 percent is extremely funny. All it takes is a small gesture, a look, a wave – and I throw myself away. Otherwise, I’m really not a gullible person, but I am very amused by my own mishaps. I like it very much when I put myself in stupid situations.

Pastewka: Anke and I spend 50 percent of our lives making each other laugh. Of course, my colleagues also bring me to this, for example in the first season of “LOL” – Mirco Nontschew, Carolin Kebekus, I can’t name them all. And I often laugh when I’m angry with myself and then I realize that I’m just fluffing myself up again.