German queer TV comedian Hans Peter 'Hape' Kerkeling tells about his youth, in hindsight the root of his particular humor. His peasant parents were poor, so the family lived alternatively on the two farms of his grandparents. He was more mischievous then his older brother and drawn very young to pageantry and elements of show since he saw his first carnival parade. Fate cruelly knocked the family with repeated relatives' deaths, so humor became his weapon for self-preservation while he practiced at home how to entertain, years before he was discovered.—KGF Vissers