Jan Köppen has already done a few shows – and of course the eyes are particularly on him. In the jungle camp, it is not so important how the individual moderator appears, but rather how well the duo plays together. And this is where you notice: He and Sonja Zietlow aren’t really well-rehearsed yet. It’s not at all because of the jokes written to the two of them, but rather because of how they harmonize with each other.
Between Hartwich and Zietlow, it was particularly fascinating to see how they play their dialogue ping-pong with each other, how they take the other person’s escalation even more to the extreme. It’s not working that well at the moment. In some places Köppen sounds too posed “trimmed to be funny”as if he were reading the jokes rather than “playing” them. His eyes also wander past the camera strangely often, he noticeably often looks to the side. Especially since Zietlow feels very comfortable with the show and this type of moderation and performs at the usual level, Köppen’s slightly stiff broadcast management is clearly noticeable.
But the new moderator also brings own strengths with. The grimaces he likes to make while Zietlow speaks directly to the audience are sometimes hilarious. His individual style also brings a new facet to the show. When he speaks more calmly and grins, he has less of Hartwich’s mischievousness or Bach’s exuberant element, but makes an impact like a grinning schoolboy proud of his latest flash of inspiration. That has charm and can get really funny at some point as the writers throw more of the right balls to that part of his character.
So Köppen will probably need a little getting used to before he becomes a worthy successor to Dirk Bach and Daniel Hartwich. However, the first broadcasts leave no doubt that he may be able to do this in a few days.
