Skewered: Everybody's Darling

"I think I'm good!" If you can say that about yourself without batting an eyelid, you don't need friends, luck or consideration. And no power button. Our media pioneer Dr. Roger Schawinski proudly tells Annabelle that he fell off his chair because of Hannelore Elsner and would have been the dream man of campaign dyke Alice Schwarzer. On self-congratulatory Radio 1, he spins that his first wife Priscilla from Puerto Rico was already integrated in Switzerland when she couldn't speak a word of German. All without the slightest sign of insecurity. Reminiscent of Pippi Longstocking: "I make the world widdewidde, as I like it."

The guest doesn't matter

Someone like Schawi can start his career on Swiss television, then spend years railing against SRG and finally return to SF1 with his own talk show - without anyone talking about spinelessness. Our Roscheee can do that, that's how we love him. The first guest on "Schawinski", as his show is naturally called, on Monday was Dr. Konrad Hummler, the best-known Swiss private banker with an otherwise sharp pen and tongue. Not much of that was noticeable. But the guest didn't matter either: "The viewer should not only be interested in the guest, but also in the interviewer," Schawi made clear in advance. The whole truth is: the viewer should only be interested in the interviewer. So on day 1 after "Schawinski", the media world does not talk about provocative theses, moving content or new insights. No, they talk about Schawi, who played the banker against the wall like any other interviewee. What was the show about? About money, money? Nope. About Schawinski, Schawinski. "Good questions, strange answers, mission accomplished," was the verdict of former SF editor-in-chief Peter Studer. I see. What was the assignment?

Wonderfully impossible

Who is this Schawinski, that he can be so outrageously embarrassing, unobjective and often unfair, and yet enjoy so much respect? Someone who seasoned media people don't want to sit across from in an interview because he would mercilessly tear them apart? And not because he is so eloquent. I, too, give in and listen and watch again and again: not because of the boyish charm of his gap in his teeth, not because of his openly celebrated chauvinism, not because of his unjournalistic brilliance, not because of his inhibition to listen and not because of his old-fashioned appearance when he arrives at Radio 1 in the morning with his bike, helmet and brown Tschope. Schawinski has something that most Swiss people lack completely: self-confidence. And to a grotesque degree. This fascinates with unbroken entertainment value.