Berlin – Forget about Sponebob Squarepants, Sesame Street and the initial fashion of the mother mass: a depressed German bar called Bernd Das Brot is celebrating its 25th anniversary as the reluctant star of a Children’s television program That accidentally became equally popular among adults.
A cult classic in GermanyBernd Das Brot (Bernd The Breed) is a puppet famous for his deep and gloomy voice, his perpetual pessimism and his signing expression, “Mist!” (Think “garbage!” In English).
Toca and with the voice of the puppeteer Jörg Teichgraber, Bernd is a television presenter who wants to have anything to do with television and cannot wait to go home to watch the wallpaper.
This year, his friends, a sheep and a bush of flowers, urge him to become a bread influencer.
Born as a sketch on the back of a napkin in a pizzeria, the creator Tommy Krappweis drew the infamous grimace of Bernd after the face of the cooker Norman Cöster when they were asked to produce pets for Kika, a public television channel of German children.
The comic artist Georg Graf Von Westphalen designed Bernd as a Pullman bread, white bread typically sliced for sandwiches, with short arms and permanent frown. Bernd channels the German stereotypes with their grumpy disposition, inclination to complain and the sense of dry humor and irony.
Bernd’s first episode was broadcast in Kika in 2000 along with his most optimistic friends, Chili The Sheep and Briegel The Bush.
Because Kika is a children’s channel, there was usually dead air of 9 pm to 6 am from January 1, 2003, the network put the short episodes of Bernd in the night loop for the first time.
The measure brought an adult audience, often those sitting at home and smoking marijuana, or returning after a long night of party, to the world of Bernd, consolidating its popularity as a German cult classic.
In 2004, Bernd won the Adolf Grimme Award – The German television equivalent of an Emmy – because the jury said it represents “the right to be in a bad mood.”
“Bernd shows you that you are less vulnerable with humor and self -syrup. And perhaps the most important point is: it is totally well if sometimes you don’t feel good. That is completely good, “Krappweis, creator of Bernd, He said in a kika qANDA on Bernd’s anniversary.
Bernd is depressed by a multitude of reasons, including his failed attempt to be the pet of an advertising campaign of a bakery (this is how he ended up as a television presenter, as a last resort).
But it is in episode 85 that we finally learn about Bernd’s broken heart.
“A long time ago, I fell in love with a beautiful and thin baguette. She was so incredibly charming and fun, ”Bernd tells Chili and Briegel. “But unfortunately it was in vain.
“She only had eyes for this multigrano bread that runs with her 10 types of grain. It was so depressing. “
Despite Bernd’s best efforts, one of his phrases is “I would like to leave this program”, the episodes have never become obsolete. He sings, dances, has been in space. It is the star of merchandise, a video game and headlines like “give us our Bernd Daily.”
It was even kidnapped! In 2009, his statue 2 meters high (6.56 feet) was stolen from his traditional place on the outskirts of the City Council in Erfurt, where Kika is located.
A claim of responsibility arose on YouTube, for supporters of a group of protesters who protested by a company that had produced cremation ovens for the Nazi Auschwitz extermination camp. The protesters, however, denied the participation in the kidnapping of Bernd and the video was eliminated from the Internet.
Bernd was held hostage for almost two weeks before being discovered unharmed in an abandoned barracks.
Kika is honoring Bernd’s 25th anniversary, despite her complaints, with new episodes, an update of her successful song and online activities for children and adults equally. The celebrations begin now, since Bernd’s birthday is February 29.
The last series will premiere in September when Bernd, Chili and Briegel will launch the social media channel “Better With Bernd” in their efforts to turn it into a bread influencer.
The trio will present inventions to facilitate school and life, easier for spectators, but naturally their counterproductive concoctions. Instead, Bernd becomes a defluence, and an involuntary stendsetter.
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AP Kirsten Grieshaber journalist in Berlin contributed to this report.
