Jan Böhmermann and Olli Schulz Live from Malmö: Eurovision 2024 Commentary Preview

2024-05-03 09:41:32

On May 11, 2024, Olli Schulz and Jan Böhmermann will commentate live from Malmö. In this interview he tells you why music is his true passion, what he thinks of Kaleen and why Olli Schulz first had to warm up to Graz.

Von Lena Raffetseder and Alex Wagner

FM4: Last year you and Jan Böhmermann commented on the Eurovision Song Contest for FM4 for the first time. What’s the best anecdote you picked up from Liverpool?

Olli Schulz: So I really have to get a little personal here. As a music journalist, which I have been and feel like for a very long time, I was able to really use all of my knowledge and skills. It’s exactly the right format for me, I feel comfortable there. It’s a huge show and I can bring my passion for something beyond all this comedy stuff, and that’s music.

FM4: Jan Böhmermann was amazed at how well prepared you were last year. Did we as FM4 do everything right last year? How can we better support you in Malmö this year?

Olli Schulz: I have rarely had such good cooperation as with FM4. But it was never bad. I would really like to find a weak point in you now, but you are a stable station that I enjoy working with and that has already invited me as a small indie artist on FM4 and at festivals. I’m trying a little bit to become a diva in everyday life – I’ve turned 50 – and to make things a little harder for you now. My demands are getting higher. I think it’s going to get real soon!

FM4: Send us the rider with your requirements!

Olli Schulz: I’m sending you the rider. For example, I would like you to surprise me with a freshly squeezed kiwi juice without black seeds. Just really think about it!

FM4: We’re going to put something through the sieve! You in particular were almost too well prepared last year. Jan Böhmermann was impressed. You’re already in the middle of reading up on it. What are your preparations currently looking like?

Olli Schulz: Music is my life. I keep myself informed all year round, including about the history of the Eurovision Song Contest. This year I’m going to throw in some anecdotes that I’ve read that will make Jan look really pale. Over the years, Jan has become a very serious political clown who really messes with everyone. Here he really has the opportunity to show his human, passionate musical side again. I’m excited to see how he prepares. I think that’s more of the question this year. You don’t have to worry about me.

This year I’m going to throw in some anecdotes that I’ve read that will make Jan look really pale.

FM4: Do you have any favorites or acts that particularly caught your eye?

Olli Schulz: I noticed particularly bad acts, like the German version again (laughs), which is really so bloodless and boring. Although I have to be honest this year, I’m having a bit of trouble with the Austrian Euro-pop number. I don’t know how far the Austrians will get with this story. The wild Balkans, they always say, live in Vienna. That’s why I know there are a lot of people who love this music and are probably passionate about it. Is that enough for a top 10 place? I’m unsure about that.

FM4: You noticed it last year that after three, four, five hours of commenting you can get tired. How do you want to manage your energy better this year? What are the strategies?

Olli Schulz: Amphetamines! Now that we are old, Jan and I are really trying amphetamines (laughs). Sorry, I couldn’t think of a smarter answer to that. So honestly: sleep in beforehand, really relax and get as much sleep as possible. We’re already there the night before because we’re preparing well in Malmö. I would like to say again very explicitly here: I know, dear Austrians, Stermann and Grissemann have been doing this for years, they are your folk heroes. At least a little bit. But they are also getting old. I was recently in the studio with Jan Welcome Austria.

Talk with Jan Böhmermann and Olli Schulz

Dear friends of the evening laugh and charming conversation, it’s time again to ring the neighbors out of bed, because on Tuesday the best-known Austrian late-night duo Stermann and Grissemann will meet in the 606th Welcome Austria episode most famous German podcast duo Jan Böhmermann and Olli Schulz! As if those weren’t enough high-profile guests, linguist Oksana Havryliv also teaches the illustrious group of men how to swear correctly and Maschek puts new words into the mouths of the Austrian politicians. Chart-topper Anna-Sophie also wows the Marxpalast with her Amadeus-nominated closing number.

They never bothered to travel to the venue and host from there. What we can guarantee you is a piece of the liveliness that reigns in the hall. It’s a very special hall! Have you ever looked at it? It’s this sphere, a round thing, similar to the one that was just built in Las Vegas, and was previously the second largest sphere in a similar building structure. That alone is pretty spectacular, it’s going to be a really colorful evening and we’re trying to convey the atmosphere there a little bit on the microphone.

FM4: What do you expect from host Sweden on the show? ABBA Festival?

Olli Schulz: We won’t be able to get past ABBA. For me, ABBA is the original musical and the original ESC band. When I hear ABBA, I think of the ESC, although I think they only took part once and won back then. Nevertheless, in my ears, every song from them is a winning song at the ESC. If we had a band in Germany like ABBA, we would always be talking about ABBA if we won. We in Germany had Nicole with “A Little Peace” in 1982 and we hold on to that. And to Lena, of course, which was 14 years ago.

If we had a band in Germany like ABBA, we would always be talking about ABBA if we won.

I was a bit surprised that the Swedes were very obvious about this last year pleasigen number won. It was all a bit too staged for me. Of course they will put on a big show, the Swedes can do that. I’m looking forward to it. I’ve never been to Malmö.

FM4: As ORF colleagues, we can now talk openly. You represented Austria last year at the European level. How difficult was it to slip into the role of the Austrian?

Olli Schulz: I would never slip into the role of the Austrian. I won’t even start with the Viennese dialect. I can’t do any of this. Over the many years I have visited Austria, I have noticed that people find it unpleasant when a German tries to imitate the dialect. I also know few Austrians who try to imitate German dialects.

We in Germany had Nicole with “A Little Peace” in 1982 and we are holding on to that.

To be honest, I arrive there as a young man from Hamburg and try to please people with my certain honesty. I have managed to do this relatively well as a musician over the last 20 years, I really have to say that. When I play in Austria, whether in Innsbruck or Vienna, I had a good time everywhere, even in Graz, where the first three concerts were really hard. I found Graz to be a scary city. The people are so dark, so gray, as if they were painting themselves with ashes in the morning. It was a really strange city, Graz. I first had to discover it for myself. Now too top place to be.

No, to be honest, don’t even start with something like that, don’t even arrive with the apple strudel in the corner of your mouth or say: Yes, Wiener Schnitzel. Leave out all these stupid stereotypes. I think that is my recipe for success in Austria.

Leave out all these stupid stereotypes. I think that is my recipe for success in Austria.

In my opinion there is also a connection between Austria and Hamburg. I used to stay at this Hotel Fürstenhof near the Westbahnhof. This was a very legendary artist hotel that was unfortunately already closed. There were pictures of Rocko Schamoni, Tocotronic, so many Hamburg bands hanging everywhere, but never of me. And at some point I went there, didn’t even spend the night, and wanted to see if they had hung mine up because I slept there so often and the shop was closed. Rest in peace. I wanted to remind you again of the Fürstenhof at the Westbahnhof.

FM4: We will put a photo of you on Heroes’ Square, if that’s okay too.

Olli Schulz: That would be nice.

FM4: Have the Germans now forgiven you for simply switching sides?

Olli Schulz: In these difficult times in which we are currently living and so many debates are taking place, this is not really noticeable. People have other problems right now. So there are a few who say, how stupid is NDR actually? We waved both arms for a long time to offer ourselves for this event. A lot of people don’t notice, and I think you can now say that after we’ve done it one time: we really love music. We do this with a mixture of humor, but also with fun and passion for the respective acts and can also be enthusiastic. It’s not like we’re there making cynical jokes about it, but rather we really have an enthusiastic way of moderating it, I think at least, an infectious one.