Series

"Stromberg" creator Arne Feldhusen takes his (and our) understanding of comedy to the next level. "Das Manko," which quite rightly won the Best Director Award at the prestigious Seriesmania Festival, truly leaves you speechless—often simply because it uses the almost pantomimic techniques of circus clowning to reduce the madness of the modern workplace in general, and German bureaucracy in particular, to absurdity. This works so well because the collective of writers behind it also acts in front of the camera—as (legendarily incompetent) employees of a government agency who are unfortunately subjected to an audit and subsequently, by chance, get to travel in an autonomous bus to nowhere. In the process, each of the four episodes develops a kind of independent physical narrative and unity—and allows the individual to become part of the dysfunctional whole. Cogs in a well-oiled slapstick machine, through which a whiff of “Severance” (and Peter Sellers) is allowed to waft.

If you enjoyed “The Institute” “Severance” and “The Party Crasher”.