Timber-cutting. Michael Schweizer’s fans laugh at the mere mention of the word. It was on 12 January 2021 that Schweizer recounted, in a podcast, his experiences at the timber-cutting counter of a DIY store. It was a long story, full of punchlines and above all a brilliant ending. A story that could take its place among the best Swiss comedy routines of all time.
The comedian told the story on the podcast «Quotenmänner» («Quota Men»), which he has hosted since November 2019 alongside TV all-rounder Stefan Büsser and comedy writer Aron Herz. Today the podcast is called «Comedymänner – hosted by SRF», but the format is the same: three men who week after week trade gags while commenting on the news. A fascinating mix of crude one-liners, finely tuned wordplay and, at times, deep, philosophical conversation.
It doesn’t always run smoothly; there are highs and lows in every episode, but that is also what makes it surprising. Around every corner lurks a cheap pun or a probing analysis. And it lands: the show is one of Switzerland’s most successful podcasts and also airs every Thursday evening on SRF zwei.
Which of the three men is the funniest is something the fan community argues over with relish in the comment sections. MEN has a clear opinion: Michael Schweizer is the secret star, the best lines come from him. Which of course we would never tell the other two comedians. But it is reason enough to meet Michael Schweizer in his adopted home town of Lucerne. The conversation, however, turns more thoughtful than expected.
«Aaah, the timber-cutting», Schweizer recalls. «People still bring it up with me all the time.» Then he insists, with an earnest look: «It was a true story, it really happened like that.» But one first has to realise that real life can be so funny. «You have to recognise when something is funny. At the cutting counter I could just as easily have got annoyed. That, I think, is the key: stand-up comedians often spend their day observing their surroundings and turning those observations into humorous stories.»
And indeed, throughout our conversation in the bar of the Hotel Anker, Michael Schweizer observes ceaselessly. His eyes constantly roam from left to right, no detail escapes him, no new guest goes unscrutinised. The man keeps his antennae permanently trained on life and the stories it throws up.
Is that enough? Can comedy be learned with a bit of observational skill? Schweizer relaxes for the first time, leans back and thinks. «Comedy is hard to put into words. But there are definitely some techniques that can help. One of them is creating incongruity – moments in which an unexpected twist or exaggeration produces the humour. If, say, a woman who is 1.55 metres tall interviews a basketball team, the stark contrast in height already creates a visual incongruity. That can be quite funny.»
Schweizer knows about incongruity, but he hasn’t always judged it right. Like in 2020, when a joke about the tennis player Novak Djokovic turned Switzerland’s Serbian community against him. Would he make the gag again? Schweizer thinks for a long time. «No. Yes … Well … The punchline should punch up, exaggerate. I only wanted to criticise Djokovic’s behaviour. But I still wouldn’t do it again. Because you can’t expect everyone to share your humour, and it stirred up too many negative feelings in too many listeners.»
The three «Comedymänner» have often come in for criticism over their podcast. A Tages-Anzeiger journalist wrote «Why I don’t find Stefan Büsser and his Quota Men funny», and the three comedians are regularly pilloried for sexist remarks or for their clear stance in favour of vaccination during the pandemic. Michael Schweizer is utterly unfazed. «I don’t have to please everyone, and no one has to listen to us. Humour is very subjective, and what makes one person laugh may not be funny at all to another. You can’t generalise.»
But that doesn’t mean every joke is permissible. For Michael Schweizer, humour is a sensitive subject he thinks about a great deal. «It’s important to be respectful of other people’s sensitivities while at the same time preserving creative freedom. The question of how far humour may go has no definitive answer. Everyone feels it differently.»
What is unequivocal, by contrast, are the sometimes negative reactions he and his two fellow hosts get on social media. Schweizer is a media pro and can put the hype in perspective. «I always say: in the old days every village had its village idiot. But in the next village along, no one knew him any more. Today, thanks to the internet, even very small groups are connected and can kick up an enormous racket. But at the end of the day it’s only a few; the majority of people think otherwise.»
But even though he is an internet pro, the community there keeps surprising him. In one episode, jokes were made about his feet, and the idea arose of selling photos of them for 50 francs. «It actually worked, before I put a stop to it», he laughs. Or the fact that thousands of people watch him eat a nut croissant on Instagram. «I still don’t understand that to this day», he admits frankly.
For now, Michael Schweizer remains an insider tip. But that could change from this coming February, when he appears alongside Stefan Büsser in the new show «Late Night Switzerland» on SRF 1.
Does fame frighten him? After all, his private life is strictly off limits. Michael Schweizer smiles. «I know what can happen. A lot of it has to do with how you behave. If you accept every interview, spread your life across the media and tell everyone everything, then sooner or later you end up on the cover of the Coop newspaper, in ‹Faces and Stories› and in Glückspost among the 100 most beautiful Swiss people. But if you don’t do that, you can steer it to a certain degree.» Then he furrows his brow, smiles and insists: «At least that’s what I tell myself.» Whether it will be that simple? We shall see.
A Swiss Life
Schweizer is a typical Swiss. Just funnier. Having grown up in the Limmat valley, Michael Schweizer – after poor school grades («no one told me I had to get a 5») – completed a tenth school year and then an apprenticeship as a sporting-goods salesman («there are no academics in our family»). After stints in the marketing department of Ikea Spreitenbach, as a producer at Radio 24 and as a car dealer in the family firm, Schweizer founded a podcast and video agency. Alongside this he discovered his talent as a comedy writer. In 2019 the all-rounder launched the podcast «Quotenmänner» with Stefan Büsser and Aron Herz on Radio SRF 3. In 2021 the trio started their own podcast «Comedymänner», with which they also tour successfully. From February 2024, Schweizer appears alongside Stefan Büsser in the new show «Late Night Switzerland» on Swiss German-language radio and television (SRF). He is also seen and heard in other formats such as «Podcast am Pistenrand» with former ski pros Tina Weirather and Marc Berthod, or as a nut-croissant tester on Instagram. Oh, and: until October 2023 Michael Schweizer was, for twenty years, the lead singer of the cover band «Rock Load». He describes himself as basically a lazy person – and prefers to spend his holidays in a camper van on Lake Maggiore.
This article appeared in MEN issue 2/23 (November 2023).
