Pastewka

Pastewka is a German sitcom being on air since 2005 and broadcasted by German TV channel Sat.1. The series is currently in its seventh season and stars actor and comedian Bastian Pastewka as the main character, who embodies a fictional version of himself struggling to manage everyday life. Pastewka, which was directed by Joseph Orr, Peter Welz, Jan Markus Linhof, Tobi Baumann and Erik Haffner, was, furthermore, awarded the Rose d’Or and the Deutscher Fernsehpreis among other minor awards.

Situation/plot

Pastewka is set in Cologne and the sitcom’s pivotal element is Bastian Pastewka himself, who has some apparent difficulties to cope with everyday life, fellow human beings, and new offers for a role (either in series in the planning or commercials) coming in. All these elements are features of Pastewka re-occurring regularly. Interpersonal conflicts, for instance, do play a big role in the series’ plot. In fact, it seems to be impossible to get along with the odd and diva-like actor since there occur plenty of conflicts between Bastian and all sorts of people. He more often than not gets into conflicts with his girlfriend Anne due to his passionate love for TV series, movies, technical devices related to television and television in general. Further controversial subjects in Bastian’s and Anne’s relationship are things like jealousy, devotion and dedication with regard to their partnership, Bastian’s habit of receiving tickets for speeding as well as Bastian’s unorganised and in fact unhealthy lifestyle, for instance. Bastian’s arch enemy appears to be his neighbour Ms Bruck, who later flirts with Hagen and becomes Bastian’s brother’s girlfriend. Svenja Bruck and Bastian are at a neighbourly war constantly fighting over negligible trifles. Bastian, furthermore, has the bad manner to speak badly of his colleagues and to take their names in vain. His assumed friend Michael Kessler, for instance, is regularly branded as an arrogant, narcissistic “limelight hog” by Bastian and he, furthermore, refers (with merry contempt) to Hugo Egon Balder as an old ladies’ man and passionate consumer of alcohol. Unluckily for Bastian all these stories and lies he spreads generally come to light and find their way to the persons concerned. These situations leave Bastian isolated from his fellows at the end of most episodes.

Characters

Bastian Pastewka as Bastian Pastewka

A German actor and comedian, who is more often than not recognised as one of Bastian Pastewka’s fictional character from Die Wochenshow “Brisko Schneider” or other famous actors such as Michael “Bully” Herbig.

Sonsee Neu as Annemarie “Anne” Leyfert

Being known from small roles in the US series Emergency Room and Hollywood blockbuster Titanic Sonsee Neu incarnates Bastian’s girlfriend Anne. Despite the fact that Anne and Bastian are often in conflict, Anne seems to be the only one standing by Bastian after all his antics. She works as a nurse and studies medicine.

Matthias Matschke as Hagen Pastewka

Hagen Pastewka is Bastian’s uncertain and low-earning (half-)brother, who later on engages into a relationship with Bastian’s unloved neighbour Svenja Bruck.

Bettina Lamprecht as Svenja Bruck

Bastian Pastewka’s neighbour, who does not like him. Bettina Lamprecht is also known from German television productions such as Switch, Ladykracher and the German satire-show “heute-show”.

Cristina do Rego as Kimberly-Jolante “Kim” Pastewka

Kim is Hagen’s only daughter and, thus, Bastian’s niece. However, the relationship between uncle and niece gets soured over the course of the sitcom due to venoms on the part of Bastian with regard to Kim’s consumption of marijuana and her skills as a car driver, for example.

Sabine Vitua as Regine Holl

Regine Holl is Bastian’s manager and apparently the worst manager one can have. She simply does not acknowledge recent trends or the zeitgeist in general. Instead she is indulged in expensive liquor and counteracts to Bastian’s will when it comes to job offers and new roles.

Dietrich Hollinderbäumer as Volker Pastewka

Bastian’s and Volker’s father, who likes his son Bastian second-best.

Guest actors

Among others most frequent appeared:

Michael Kessler as himself

Anke Engelke as herself

Hugo Egon Balder as himself

Annette Frier as herself

Christoph Maria Herbst as himself

Specialties

In Pastewka there is a lot of mockery going on regarding persons from real life. Hence, there is a lot of banter between Michael Kessler and Bastian, who teases Michael constantly, because of his big nose. Michael in return indicates Bastian’s double chin regularly. Hugo Egon Balder, who is a drummer indeed, is depicted as a charmer, who needs to play the drums after having had sex with a woman, for instance. And Christoph Maria Herbst is represented as a man who became one with his ultimate character “Bernd Stromberg”. However, one cannot only indicate references to persons from real life in Pastewka. One can also recognise a whole lot of references to (current) pop-culture, when Bastian watches the Star Trek movies with his cleaning lady and buys the so-called “Tricorder” in order to record the 24 marathon as well as two other series that are broadcasted simultaneously. All the references to Bastian Pastewka as a fanatic of all sorts of movies and TV series are not mere fiction. Indeed, they are rather accurate, since Bastian Pastewka in truth is a fan of numberless movies, TV series, stage plays and audio as well as radio dramas.

Easter Eggs

- The ringtone of Bastian’s mobile is inspired by the US-series 24

- Bastian keeps a midget Enterprise 1701 D on his car’s dashboard

- The “Tricorder” Bastian craves is a reading device from the Star Trek universe

External links/Sources

http://www.sat1.de/tv/pastewka

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0479842/

Pastewka. Staffel 1-6. XXL-Box. Dir. Joseph Orr et. al. Perf. Bastian Pastewka, Sonsee Neu. Brainpool 2013. Series.