Münchner Kneipenchor meet Linner & Trescher

Last Friday, two groups I’d been meaning to catch for ages convened. The Münchner Kneipenchor and improv duo Linner & Trescher performed together at Einstein Kultur.

I love the idea of a pub choir. Founded by Lisa Reuter and Mona Walch in December 2013, the group heads to the Favorit Bar once a week to practice. It’s a chance to drink a beer, catch up with friends and sing the week’s stress away. Anyone can join (though there is a waiting list, it’s become hugely popular), and the choir’s performed in some pretty cool locations, including Oktoberfest, at the Stattpark Olga, and at a burlesque show.

This time they shared the stage with Linner & Trescher, arguably Bavaria’s best improv pair.

The Münchner Kneipenchor would belt out a tune, and Linner & Trescher would come up with a sketch or two based on the song. The opener Alperer, a traditional yodel. Based on this, Linner & Trescher came up with a topical, political, very amusing sketch about June’s G7/G8 Summit, in Mittenwald.

Then, the choir changed pace, performing Mercy Mercy Mercy, a 1967 song by The Paragons. The sketches that followed were heartwarming, off-the-wall and very, very funny.

After the break, the choir returned in school uniforms (choir mistress Ruth looked particularly alluring), and sang Pink Floyd’s Another Brick in the Wall. “We don’t need no education” invariably led to a parents’ evening sketch, and so it continued.

By far my favourite sketch of the evening was on immigrants crossing European borders, performed in the poetic style of Friedrich Schiller. Both Linner and Trescher managed to rhyme on the spot with panache, fully deserving the hearty round of applause that followed.

Who knew comedy and choirs could work so well together? From Alpen yodels to Pharrell’s Happy and a whole lot more in between, the music was upbeat, warm and lively.

Keep track of the Münchner Kneipenchor’s upcoming shows via Facebook, and head to Linner & Trescher’s next improv show – for those of you who are single – next week – just in time for Valentine’s Day.