"RTL Saturday Night" is about to make a unique comeback. The audience can expect not only a reunion with the stars of the cult show, but also the return of sketch classics such as "Two Chairs - One Opinion" or "News from Spocht". The reason for the revival was not very pleasant.
Fans of "RTL Saturday Night" can be happy. Because 24 years after the broadcast of the last issue to date, the 90s cult show is celebrating a resurrection. The trigger for the revival was actually tragic with the early death of former ensemble member Mirco Nontschew.
"The grief brought us together," explains comedian Esther Schweins in an interview that she gave to "Stern" magazine together with her colleague Wigald Boning, explaining the background to the comeback. The show, entitled “RTL Saturday Night – The Reunion”, is “our way of saying goodbye to Mirco”. Nonchev, who was a permanent member of the sketch show in the 1990s, died unexpectedly in December 2021 at the age of 52 in Berlin.
In the conversation, Boning also commented on the changed humor in the format: "When I watch reruns today, I often think: You wouldn't do it that way anymore." However, it was good to address uncomfortable topics such as the double standards of the Catholic Church.
"With 'Saturday Night' we broke a whole series of taboos," says Esther Schweins. At the time, she even annoyed her father with the sketches about the Catholic Church. She remembers a long phone call with him. "My dad didn't think it was that funny."
The once popular comedy show will be making its one-off comeback as a gala show - with many of the stars of the original ensemble. In addition to Schweins and Boning, these include Olli Dittrich, Stefan Jürgens, Tanja Schumann, Tommy Krappweis and Mark Weigel.
In the approximately three-hour show, the audience can expect parodies, music and new sketches in which the comedy veterans slip into their old roles. Sketch classics such as "Two Chairs - One Opinion", "News from Spocht" or "Die Doofen" are revived. The show is moderated by its former producer Hugo Egon Balder.
"RTL Saturday Night" originally ran between 1993 and 1998 on RTL. A total of 146 episodes were produced at the time.
