User Reviews

"Back to Life" is another stage performance by German comedian Michael Mittermeier and this one is from three years after Zapped!. It is also known under the title M². The easiest way to purchase it is by buying the DVD, but if you are lucky enough, you can also catch it elsewhere. For example, it was aired on ProSieben at some point in a version that only ran for slightly over 1.5 hours. The one I watched ran for 2 hours and 15 minutes though and I would not rule out longer versions apart from the DVD including several hours of extra material even, so you sure get something in exchange for your money here, at least in terms of quantity. But also in terms of quality? I am not sure, but I'd rather say no. Yes Mittermeier's physicality is fairly impressive and there were a few funny moments in this one, but it would also be shocking if not with this duration. By the way, the directors here include Thomas Hermanns (QCC), which explains the proximity to Prosieben, and Gudrun Mittermeier, the performers wife who can also be heard singing. Her duet with Xavier Naidoo may actually be better than everything you hear from Michl in here. But the fact that a comedy stage performance has a theme song already tells you a lot about how famous and popular Mittermeier was back then, certainly the ceiling for stand-up comedians during that time. He sure disappeared almost completely since then and is not really a household name today anymore. Sadly, from what I saw in here he looks more like a slightly better version Mario Barth to me. Fittingly, his material is also a lot about male-female relationships and also pretty explicit at times with references about oral sex for example. He is also not scared of mocking religion and other controversial subjects. Mittermeier's boyish charm helps him to get away with it. By the way he also wrote the script for this one here. Overall, I wasn't too convinced. The victims of his routine were really easy targets to be honest, back then and today. And there is a great deal of mainstream in his program. The parts where he is getting political were maybe the biggest weaknesses, occasionally even cringeworthy with his final statement that may sound smart, but really was extremely simple and only the untrained eye will see it as profound. Overall, I give this stand-up routine from 2002 (15th anniversary this year and the age shows through the Schröder-Stoiber reference) a thumbs-down. I don't think it has aged particularly well and I suggest you skip it.