And now he's doing shows again

Stefan Raab is the winner of the evening. This is already decided before he appears live on Saturday evening RTL Finally, finally, finally, Halmich appears, no, appears, in the Düsseldorf PSD Bank Dome for the fight against former boxing world champion Regina, on an incredibly long show staircase that will go down in the history of show staircases. He sings: “Couple on the mouth”.

Before that, the interested audience must be treated to a storm of superlatives, lots of advertising and even more RTL-A, B, C personnel including bachelors and bachelorettes. Already in the first 30 minutes before the first of many commercial breaks, a boredom takes over, which even the madness of the presenting trio cannot overcome. Raab's former “show intern” Elton, Laura Wontorra and the also RTL The inevitable Frank Buschmann asks if Raab is even there and what he looks like. If Raab wasn't there, you think, that would really be a sensational idea: the mega comeback is canceled! In the past, people would have believed Raab was capable of that.

A never-ending video-snippet review

After the commercial break, it continues as it did before the commercial break: with tell-me-about-the-good-old-days. Celebrities talk about the day before yesterday, reminiscing about the day before yesterday. How they met Raab. How great they thought he was (“Stefan made my life more fun,” Campino). Why he “revolutionized” television (“Stefan Raab is a real genius,” Markus Lanz). There is a never-ending video-snippet review of his entire work, which goes deep into the nineties: retro meets the ultimate adulation – from Thomas Gottschalk to Markus Lanz again and again (why, actually?) to Udo Lindenberg, who takes off his sunglasses for Raab. It would only be more of an honor if he had tipped his hat.

An early climax of embarrassment is reliably provided by “Buschi” Buschmann, who asks: “How do young people react?” and then shouts into the microphone: “Let’s have more courage on TV!” It’s hard to imagine that the TV slide show, which mainly features older men who have become whiter, is associated with courage.

Almost ten years ago, cult presenter and producer Stefan Raab ended his career in front of the cameras. At the age of 49. He was shown great respect for his retirement. It seemed as if, for once, people had understood that one should not overdo it. Raab had seemed very listless recently. He also appeared as a TV icon – and managed the feat of remaining in the public eye.

Close

Saturday evening drags on and on and on without Regina Halmich being mentioned in any significant way because of all the Raab drunkenness. An hour after the broadcast began, Laura Wontorra asks whether Raab is even coming, only to say straight away that she is happy about his comeback. Elton says: “We are waiting for a sign.” Despair spreads through the audience in the hall, they hope that HE will come.

One constantly asks oneself: seriously?

If this were public television, they would hire the best lawyers to get their broadcasting fee refunded, retroactively for the past decade. If you haven't fallen asleep, you'll see the boxing ring floating down from the ceiling of the multi-purpose hall at 9:41 p.m.

One constantly asks oneself: seriously? It is the year 2024 and a boxing match “man against woman” is still an event? At the premiere in 2001 (!), when Raab entered the ring for the first of now three fights against the former boxing world champion Halmich, it certainly had its appeal.

Close

The heyday of (men's) boxing in Germany with Axel Schulz and Henry Maske is not long ago. And the prospect that TV provocateur and evil-grinning Raab (“The Killerplauze”) could get a good beating electrified part of the television nation. The other part found everything Raab did incredibly funny anyway. In short: a brilliant concept. Back then.

Today, a radio station is rightly asking its young listeners what relevance Raab has for them. Better questions would be: Do you even know this Raab? And: Don't you think his brutal joke is out of date?

The whole boxing spectacle is pretty outdated

The whole show is pretty outdated, as if you had been thrown back 20 or 30 years. It is so outdated that Verna Mae Bentley-Krause belts out “I love Germany” (the older ones will remember) like it was 2001. Raab, in any case, to answer this “Buschi” question, looks incredibly fit for his 57 years.

Raab's comeback had been so popular on social media for months that the reunion of the eternally feuding Gallagher brothers from Oasis quickly faded into insignificance. At least for those who stick with him and are probably reminded of their best times. There were so many of them that the 13,000-seat Düsseldorf “Dome” was sold out in no time (RTL) War. One can only be amazed at the hype that followed, which gripped the most serious media. It would not have been any bigger if the Nagelsmann team had won the European Championship. Raab's famous, broad grin must have put constant strain on his facial muscles in the past few weeks.

Raab is panting and gasping and is holding up well

On Saturday evening, Raab was huffing and puffing from the first round. In the second round he was counted out. In the fourth round he was hanging on the ropes. In the fifth round he let his arms hang and started acting. After the sixth round it was over. He clearly lost on points, but the (self-)PR value of the spectacle was actually mega. Raab said: “I've decided: I'm going to do shows again.” It was the sentence that everyone had been waiting for.

Thomas Gottschalk had perfected the art of exaggeration on “Wetten, dass..?”, Stefan Raab took the audience to new (pain) limits. By rolling out a show idea, no matter how good it was, like pizza dough, which at some point becomes so thin that you can see through it. On top of that came product information. There were accusations of surreptitious advertising on “Wetten, dass..?”, but Raab's “Wok World Cup” was declared a “continuous advertising program” after a corresponding court ruling and more truthfully.

Close

A feast for advertisers (“Supported by product placement” is displayed at the beginning) and an abyss of boredom is also this “mega boxing fight” on Saturday evening (Picture), which is not called a boxing match, but rather, in capital letters, “THE CLARK FINAL FIGHT”. Obviously, RTL the need for explanation and explains on his website that the explanation is “as simple as it is simple”: It is a digital insurance broker who was able to “secure the title partnership”. But was it really the third and last fight against Halmich? Let's hope so.

This is how Raab's new primetime show on RTL+ will be

And what about Raab's comeback? Let's hope for the best. It starts next week. He will explain everything at a press conference afterwards. In it, Raab says that he is on the streaming channel RTL+ will present a weekly 90-minute show from Wednesday evening, RTL came to him. The show included everything he could do – and there was also a million euros to be won. The title: “You won't win the million here with Stefan Raab.” There will also be other events.

In a press release sent out at the same time, the broadcaster writes of the “beginning of a collaboration that will last at least five years.” And explains the announced first show: Raab “moderates and asks the quiz questions. He competes in a duel against his challenger. Changing guest presenters keep an eye on the game rounds. The audience favorite Elton starts things off.” Sounds pretty old-fashioned too.