Dinner for One

Dinner for One, also known as The 90th Birthday (German: Der 90. Geburtstag), is a television comedy sketch. The sketch was produced by German television. In several European countries, it is played at New Year's Eve. Even though it was produced for a German TV station, the sketch is in English. It stars British comedians Freddy Finton and Laurie Wylie, amongst others. The sketch was originally written by British author Lauri Wylie for the theatre. After featuring on the stage, the German TV broadcaster, Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR), recorded the sketch in 1963 as an 18-minute black-and-white videotape recording, performed in English by British comedians Freddie Frinton and May Warden. The sketch begins with an introduction in German, followed by the main act in English, and is available online.

Summary
The Sketch is about a birthday dinner of a lady (Warden). The lady is ninety years old, all her friends have died a long time ago. So she has her birthday party. The comedy comes from the fact that during the meal, she wants different alcoholic drinks. While she drinks, her butler (Frinton) also has to drink. Unlike her, he drinks for the four other people. So, he gets increasingly drunk.  Serving the meals becomes more and more of a problem.

Distribution
In many countries, it is usually shown at New Year's Eve. These countries include Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Estonia. In Norway it is broadcast on 23 December. As of 1995 it was the most frequently repeated television programme in Germany. Even though it was originally written for the stage, the TV version gained only limited recognition in the UK over 50 years after its recording. It was broadcast on New Year's Eve in Britain on Sky Arts from 2018 to 2020.

In other parts of the world, the sketch is broadcast in Australia and South Africa. Apart from a few satires, Dinner for One is not known in the United States, where the comic premise had already been made famous by Red Skelton and Lucille Ball.

In 2003, Danish TV producer Paul Anthony Sørensen directed and produced a documentary about the sketch that includes interviews with relatives of Freddie Frinton and May Warden. It was nominated for the Rose d'Or 2004.

 Catch phrase: "Same procedure as every year" 
The line "Same procedure as every year" (in the original English) has become a very popular catchphrase in Germany. The phrase has entered everyday vocabulary, and is used in newspaper headlines and advertisements. This is also the case in Norway, Denmark and Sweden.

 References 

 Other websites 

 Video 

 Dinner for One - Das Original on ARD Mediathek
 English transcript (NDR)

 Articles 

 The Mystery of Dinner for One
 British comedy lives on in German television
 Dinner for One: A sketch well-known to all but the British
 10 famous Britons you've probably never heard of: Freddie Frinton
 Dinner For One: How an obscure British skit became a New Year's Eve tradition

Category:Television