Netflix brings various TV specials of numerous standup comedians like Ellen DeGeneres, Hannah Gadsby, Hasan Minhaj etc. and they all, from time-to-time, bring us either light comedy or a standup with a strong message that leaves an impact on us for days. But Felix Lobrecht is a different talent altogether.
Netflix decided to bring a person who is famous for the most controversial style of comedy. Felix Lobrecht is a German standup comedian who is famous for his dark comedy. He is also an author and used to be a slam poet in his early days. Born in 1988, he is 31 years old now, which he also mentions a lot in his performance.
The genre of comedy that he performs is liked by very few people and sometimes, even those people squint their eyes or look down when they are faced with some dark jokes that gets too much for them to handle. Dark humour/black humour/dark comedy usually considers those topics as subjects that are too serious, painful or difficult to discuss and hence become severely controversial.
Felix starts his piece by using differently-abled people as his subjects and if you are not used to dark comedy, you will not be able to survive even the first fifteen minutes. You will be shocked to see that the things that you might feel are hard to listen to, are received by loud applause and laughs by his audience.
Also, handicapped people are not the only subjects that Felix talks about. He also talks about babies and adult life in a way that no one expected. And this is what makes his standups unique and worth watching. Even in those moments where you feel that it is getting too hard to take you are unable to hate him.
It would be wrong if we say that it is the content that makes his standup so impressive. It is majorly the way he uses voice modulation and body language that makes it astounding. When you notice the amount of hard work it takes to pull that off, you would realize the extraordinary talent that Felix is portraying while making you laugh.
You should know that the show is in German and no other audio is available so you will have to rely on the subtitles. Although it seems inconvenient at first, it is the right decision because it doesn’t let you lose the wonderful experience of his performance that is affected a lot by his voice. In the end, Felix gets a little bit more like himself when he confesses his dilemma; whether to be happy to get successful or to worry about the day he will lose it all.
Overall: Felix Lobrecht: Hype
It is an amazing one-hour entertainment package if you can handle dark humour but if not, then at least the first twenty minutes will be a torture for you. I recommend that if you are interested in standup comedies then you should definitely check out the talent of the brilliant German comedian Felix Lobrecht.
Felix Lobrecht: Hype is streaming on Netflix.
Read our other reviews here.