Interview with comedy star Harry G: "Harry the honour!"
Interview: Andreas Haslauer
Bavarian comedian Markus Stoll (45), alias Harry G, gets even with everyone: SUV drivers, management consultants, the chic crowd. But above all, he takes the mickey out of cyclists. In this interview, Harry G talks about his socio-cultural connection to wild boars, abstruse inventions in the bike industry and why he thinks many e-bikers are "lazy dogs". He wants to be a role model for his children by always using the cycle path when there is one. He also does something pretty crazy in traffic: he shows empathy and says thank you and please.
BIKE: Fares Gabriel Hadid, former director of the hipster trade fair Berliner Fahrradschau, says: "A bike is more than just a piece of sports equipment, it is a socio-cultural link, a design object and a status symbol. Do you see it the same way?
HARRY GNo.
No?
In the end, that's what it is: a bike. Look, in winter I cycle out of Munich almost every morning at six o'clock. An hour on my road bike towards the foothills of the Alps. There are no hipsters, Instagrammers or Youtubers to greet me. The only socio-cultural connection I have is to the wild boar, to the foxes. It's no different in the evening at 6 pm on the Plöcken Pass in Italy. Socially, nothing happens there. There's just one person there - and that's me.
Very few people cycle alone these days.
It's true that there are more and more women's rides, business bikers and whatnot, especially in urban areas. Joking aside, it brings people together. I think that's great. But in the meantime, these community rides have become so outdated that it's all too late. The "Ciao Ciao Club" is now on the road with the "Mau Mau Club" on Tuesday evenings, while the "Ciao Amore Cycling" ride runs on Wednesdays. On Thursdays, the "Banking Bikers" are on the road with the "Cycling Lawyers". Really now? Don't! Yours! Seriously! We didn't need all that rubbish in Innsbruck before. Not at all.
What was there?
We crazy people met up on the Nordkette and rode our hardcore mountain bikes over everything in our path. There was a lot of adrenaline and testosterone involved. At the time when I was studying in Innsbruck, we really thought about a lot of things: How high can you jump over the obstacle? Who is the fastest on the trail? It was a lot of fun - without the cool community names. We were the community. And it was good.
In your videos, you take the piss out of all bikers. You grumble about road cyclists, gravelers and mountain bikers. That's surprising because you're a mountain biker and road cyclist yourself. How do people react when they meet you on your bike?
I always do it with a twinkle in my eye - and I think people realise that. My jokes are never nasty, never hurtful, never below the belt. The only people I don't spare are the e-bikers. But not the ones who ride e-bikes for health reasons, but the lazy dogs who switch on the "turbo" and then plough up the mountains and think they are the super athletes. If someone is healthy but doesn't have the strength, desire or stamina to pedal up a two-thousand metre peak, they have no business being up there.
We guys in the midlife crisis have wrinkled skin and are as doughy as a yeast plait.
You have a very mixed relationship with gravel bikes.
Because it's purely an invention of the industry. "How can we persuade people that we can still sell them a bike for the winter?" is their idea. The bottom line is that nobody needs such a bike. A gravel bike is neither fish nor fowl. Too slow on the road, pointless on the mountain. Look, I've got a decent road bike and a decent mountain bike. If that's enough for me, it should be enough for everyone else.
You insult the owners of cargo bikes as "esoteric mums" ...
...which is about as bad as talking about the latte macchiato mums in Prenzlberg. Come on! If my children were smaller, I'd probably have one of those mobile detached houses with the garden shed on the front. I'm least worried about that. I'm more worried about e-bike Rambos. That's the guy from Bottrop or Wuppertal who rides up the Streif in Kitzbühel once a year and then rides back down on his 30-kilo electric battery-powered crosser without any riding skills whatsoever. That scares me, very much so.
When you are on the mountain yourself, do you intervene? Do you warn him?
Counter question: How am I supposed to save all the kamikaze drivers in the Alps from their misfortune at the same time? That's an impossibility. However, if it gets too extreme or I think that I might be able to prevent an accident, then I will intervene. Otherwise, everyone should use their common sense. That means: if I'm thundering down a gravel road in the Alps where hikers are also travelling, then I have to be careful. So that I can always brake. Mei, it's not all that difficult.
Unfortunately, people tick differently.
Yes, often. Unfortunately. But I also want to be a role model for my two children when it comes to cycling.
Do you have an example? If there's a cycle path, I'll cycle on it. I know that it will take a maximum of 30 seconds before the first cyclist shows me the windscreen wiper if I'm riding on the road but there's a cycle path next door. Sometimes it's really helpful to just say thank you and please. Another crazy thing is to show empathy. If I'm pedalling up to Sylvensteinspeicher on my road bike at what feels like 5 km/h, but the granny behind me in her A-Class doesn't dare to overtake, then I simply signal to her that I can, that she can just pass. It doesn't cost anything. She feels safe when overtaking - and I no longer have anyone tailgating me with my car 30 centimetres behind.
How do people respond to your Grantler videos?
Both offline and online, there are always people who think they have to share their opinions. I often don't even get round to shooting my videos. Even when I think: We'll have that in the can quickly. When I go to the Oktoberfest as Harry G, for example, it attracts people who want to take photos and talk. It feels like one selfie turns into thousands. What I'm trying to say is that the response is positive almost across the board.
Which sentence do people say to you most often?
"Harry, what you said in the video the other day is like that. It's exactly like that!"
Even the racing cyclists whose shaved knuckles you make fun of?
I come from freeriding, which means skiing in winter and mountain biking in summer. Not one of them has shaved legs. I still don't understand why best agers think they have to shave their legs. And hey, let's be honest: we guys in midlife crisis have wrinkled skin, are white like Ed Sheeran on the motor yacht in Saint-Tropez, have crooked legs like a national league footballer and are also doughy like a yeast plait - before it's put in the oven. Not Bayern, they don't actually look like that - only the Preißn (grins).
Who are they anyway, the Preißn?
They represent a kind of attitude to life. If I had to assign a city to a Preißn, it would be Hanover. True to the Forrest Gump motto: "A Preiß is who does Preißisch." A Bavarian would never scramble up a mountain or take a cable car and then say: "Wow, that looks fantastic." Never.
I collect my material in the beer garden, on the mountain, while skiing. I just have to prick up my ears.
Where do you collect your material for your stage programme?
In the beer garden, on the mountain, skiing. Pure content gold is waiting there, I just have to prick up my ears and write it down. I make notes all year round. I'll know whether it's funny or not when I present it to my wife. She is my biggest supporter and critic. If she laughs, I know it's good.
Is part of your success due to the fact that you don't insult people with disabilities like Luke Mockridge, for example?
That's the question that has been asked ever since comedians have been around. What is humour allowed to do? I have a relatively simple answer: humour can do anything! But he or she mustn't complain if he or she gets a real slap in the face from the community. That's why I only make jokes about people who can defend themselves, like management consultants or SUV drivers. What I enjoy most is making videos about cyclists.
Why?
Because cycling is my absolute passion.
And what do you do when you don't feel like cycling?
Because I don't like earplugs, I've screwed a JBL speaker onto my racing bike. When I need mental support, I switch it on, listen to Italo disco, hip-hop and then just metal, metal, metal. It often doesn't take long - and I'm fully motivated again.
Who is Harry G?
Markus Stoll (45) grew up in Schliersee. He is a comedian, cabaret artist and actor. Stoll invented the fictional character Harry G. In this role, he makes fun of all "Preißn", i.e. everyone who behaves stupidly. His YouTube clips enjoy cult status. Here are three examples.
