DOKU-Donnerstag: Was haben wir gelacht (DF, Openair-Kino)

GER 2026, 103 min, Director/Artist: Eva Müller, Isabel Schneider

Who got to laugh—and who was the joke? With a sharp eye on the ’90s and 2000s, this documentary tells the story of women in German television who fought to carve out a space for themselves.

Today, Hella von Sinnen, Maren Kroymann, Bettina Böttinger, Esther Schweins, and Gaby Köster are long-established stars of television entertainment. But when they started out, they were fighting a losing battle on their own: In the ’90s, television was still dominated by male talk show hosts like Thomas Gottschalk and Harald Schmidt.

They dictated what was funny and entertaining—and that was often misogynistic. If a woman wanted to hold her own, it usually meant going along with the jokes and continuing to smile sweetly at the camera (while being as sexy as possible).

Together with the five women, the film lets us revisit selected moments from the entertainment television of that era, with commentary from them.
A reunion with many old acquaintances that suddenly isn’t so funny anymore: endless lewd remarks, unrestrained groping in front of an audience of millions—all under the premise: “Don’t be so uptight; a little fun is necessary.”

An entertaining, political piece of media history that makes the laughter (almost) stick in your throat.