Improv comedy: Final “Discounter” season: The last party in Billstedt

Hardly anyone expected this success: three years ago, the streaming service Amazon Prime Video put the first season of the improv comedy “The Discounters” online – without advertising it too much. But the series developed by three young people from Hamburg quickly became a surprise hit. After four seasons and a German television award, it’s over (for now). The first six of ten final episodes will be available to stream on Wednesday – the rest will follow one day before Christmas Eve.

At first things are surprisingly going well at “Feinkost Kolinski” in the Billstedt district of Hamburg. Branch manager Thorsten (Marc Hosemann) is in the black, is customer-friendly and is about to get a promotion. His foster son Titus (Bruno Alexander) now works in another branch, but doesn’t feel comfortable there. Meanwhile, the remaining supermarket employees are causing a lot of chaos again. The otherwise rather simple-minded Peter (Ludger Bökelmann) discovers climate protection for himself – and simply sticks himself in front of the parking lot entrance.

The format, which is shot as a kind of fictional documentary series in the “Stromberg” style, is particularly impressive because of the improvised dialogues and casual looks directly into the camera. Hosemann and theater actor Merlin Sandmeyer, who brilliantly plays the insecure supermarket detective Jonas, stand out in particular. The secret star of the series even sings his own song at the end: “Party in Billstedt”.

The fictional goings-on in a normal discount store have now also made it into advertising. A large supermarket chain recently hired Hosemann as a store manager for its annual Christmas commercial, copying the style of the series.

Anke Engelke and Jan Böhmermann are among the newest Kolinski customers

The abundance of guest stars also shows how popular the series is even among celebrities. Footballer Mats Hummels, singer Peter Fox and the series producer Christian Ulmen, among others, have already purchased from Kolinski. The new episodes feature Anke Engelke, the actors Axel Milberg, Fahri Yardim and Jonas Nay, the podcast duo Jan Böhmermann and Olli Schulz, climate activist Luisa Neubauer and rapper Ski Aggu.

It is astonishing that the young twin brothers Emil and Oskar Belton and Bruno Alexander, who write, direct and edit, are ending the popular series after the fourth season. But the young series makers are very busy, thanks in part to the success of “Discounter” and have now developed several formats, including the Joyn-Impro “Intimate” and the ARD comedy “Players of Ibiza”. And they are not explicitly ruling out a comeback of the “discounters”. Then the supermarket party in Billstedt would continue for a while.