WAS HABEN WIR GELACHT tells the story of German entertainment television in the 1990s and 2000s from a woman’s perspective for the first time – and asks: Who was allowed to be funny, who was laughed at, and what does this have to do with power and equality?

WAS HABEN WIR GELACHT tells the story of entertainment television in the 1990s and early 2000s from a woman’s perspective for the first time. Maren Kroymann, Hella von Sinnen, Bettina Böttinger, Gaby Köster and Esther Schweins look back on their work and a time when women on television were primarily seen as window dressing, used as punchlines, and when female humour was regarded as a ratings killer. An entire generation was thus socialised primarily by male entertainers – through “Wetten, dass…?”, the “Harald Schmidt Show” and later “TV total”. How did this era shape us? And what do humour, wit and entertainment have to do with power and equality? This film is a journey back in time to the laughs of the 90s and 00s. ‘How we used to laugh’ – or perhaps not after all?