Many television viewers will have rubbed their eyes in amazement late Friday evening. Because anyone who switched on ZDF in anticipation of a new episode of Jan Böhmermann’s “ZDF Magazin Royale” surprisingly ended up with Dieter Nuhr.

The comedian is actually at home on ARD, but here he appeared on the competing station under the title “Nuhr im Zweite”. Some had to look several times to notice: That’s not the real Dieter Nuhr. It was Sebastian Rüger who imitated the well-known cabaret artist in a deceptively real way.

But it wasn’t just a Nuhr parody – the whole show was skewered in the following 30 minutes, in which, in addition to the host, other comedians and cabaret artists also had their say.

On “Nuhr im Zweit” they had different names that evening, but they were clearly recognizable. First, Falk MacAllister (played by “Soko” actor Phillip Lind) took the stage – easily recognizable as a parody of Luke Mockridge. He started with the word “sorry”, but then after an artistic pause he added: “… I would say if I had done something wrong.”

Mockridge temporarily withdrew in 2021 after allegations by his ex-girlfriend of sexualized violence. He needs time, rest and distance “to understand, to learn and to heal,” said the comedian at the time – but later made fun of it in a video.

A performance by Öztürk Özcan (portrayed by Younes Al-Amayra) followed. A parody of the German-Moroccan comedian Abdelkarim, who can occasionally be seen on “Nuhr im Erste” and caused a roaring silence in the audience with jokes about Germans. The Nuhr viewer, according to the insinuation expressed in this article, does not like such gags.

Next, Jochen Heppmann (played by Harald Burmeister) was announced, who told of his affair with a woman half his age and was supposed to play the real cabaret artist Andreas Rebers.

At the last appearance it was clear who the target should be: Even if the hair is dark instead of platinum blonde and the woman was announced as Milli Probst: With her outfit and above all her jokes about Jews and sexual minorities, it was clear that the role model had to be the cabaret artist Lisa Eckhart. The Austrian actress Sophie Berger congenially imitated her compatriot.

Anyone wondering where Jan Böhmermann was that evening: he was sitting in the audience and seemed to be having a great time. Once again he caused a lot to talk about. And that without having done anything for it. His team around head author Christoph Henning has done a great job.

You can watch the show again here