Overview

• In a dpa interview published August 31, the actor said current talk shows function mainly as platforms to promote books, films, or party programs.
• He said he once watched many talk formats but now finds them unbearable and misses exchanges that made the air "crackle."
• Hallervorden pointed to past figures such as Herbert Wehner, Franz Josef Strauß, Willy Brandt, and Helmut Kohl as examples of guests who produced heated debates.
• He argued that guests today often lack any relationship with one another, so genuine conversation and on-air tension do not develop.
• The 1935-born performer runs Berlin's Schlosspark Theater and cabaret Die Wühlmäuse and opened the Mitteldeutsche Theater in Dessau in 2022, with his 90th birthday on September 5.