Ethno-comedy is thriving on TikTok and Instagram. Characters like “Polish Papa” or the overly sensitive Polish mother are going viral. How are clichés of the Polish diaspora being shown and laughed about on TikTok — and what potential does this laughter hold for shaping identity?
Since the 1980s, comedians and cabaret artists with migration backgrounds have been a visible presence on cabaret and stand-up stages across the German-speaking world. Through their performances, they cast a critical eye on how migration has shaped German-speaking societies, while satirically exaggerating aspects of migrant life.1 Over time, these so-called “ethno-comedians” have made their way from small stages to mainstream media platforms. Some, like Kaya Yanar or Bülent Ceylan, went on to host their own television shows — an important step that allowed them to reach ever larger audiences, both on-screen and beyond.
The “TikTok effect” in the comedy scene
When small stages and theatres were forced to close during the Covid-19 lockdowns in 2020 — and, at the same time, television practices in Germany began to shift due to the growing dominance of streaming platforms2 — this also had an impact on stand-up and
ethno-comedy
Ethno-Comedy
The term ‘ethno-comedy’ refers to comedy formats (mostly in the field of stand-up) that are developed and performed by comedians with a migrant background. The main theme of these comedy programs is the clash between migrant lifestyles and non-migrant cultures in the regions where the program is performed. It is primarily used in German-speaking countries and is sometimes rejected by the comedians themselves.
. Video-based social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram gave both emerging and established stand-up comedians a major boost3 through their “reels” format. They proved especially fertile ground for a new generation of ethno-comedians4 who used these channels for more than just promoting their stage shows.By producing short Skit-Clips, they were able to harness the dynamics of social media to “go viral” and gain visibility for material that had yet to find a foothold in the offline world. It became clear that the market for ethno-comedy — a genre that had been declared saturated a decade earlier5 — in fact held unexpected new potential. This was due in no small part to the distinctive nature of TikTok and Instagram – their capacity to foster communities and the inherently fleeting, low-stakes interactions they enable.6
Polish Papa, Eastern-Bloc Dad and others
As part of this broader trend, a number of comedians have developed online formats tailored specifically to the context of the Polish diaspora. TikToker @stach_mat7, for example, parodies parenting styles in German-Polish families through his character “Polenpapa” (“Polish Papa”), while Richard Ćwiertnia (@richardcwiertnia)8 does something similar with his “Ostblockvater” (“Eastern-Bloc Dad”) — a hybrid figure combining traits of , , and fathers.
Poland
deu. Polen, eng. Republic of Poland, pol. Polska, lit. Lenkijos Respublika, bel. Polʹŝa, bel. Polʹšča, bel. Польшча, . Pòlskô, yid. republyq pyn pojln, yid. republyk pyn pojln, yid. rʿpublyq pyn pojln, yid. pojln, yid. רעפובליק פון פוילן, yid. polin, yid. פוילן
Poland is located on the Baltic Sea and is the largest state (population in 2023: 37,636,508, area: 313,964 km²) in East Central Europe. The name of the state is derived from the West Slavic Polans, who brought more and more territories under their rule from the 9th century onwards, which were known as Duchy of Poland in the 10th century. Under Mieszko (ca. 960-992), the extent of the country reached approximately its current borders. He was at times subject to tribute to the German Emperor, at least for parts of his land. Poland probably adopted Christianity in 966 and from 1025 it was a kingdom. Between 1138 and 1295, the country was fragmented as a result of inheritance disputes. The extinction of the ruling Piast dynasty led to a Polish-Hungarian personal union in 1370, which was replaced by a Polish-Lithuanian dual monarchy as early as 1386 due to pressure from the Polish nobility. The growing role of the nobility resulted in an elective monarchy in 1572. However, the disunity of the nobility led to the three partitions of Poland (1772-1795) between Prussia, Russia and the Habsburg Monarchy. Poland only became independent after the end of the First World War in 1918 and lost its independence in 1939 after the German attack from the west at the beginning of the Second World War and the Russian invasion from the east. From 1945-1989 it was a satellite state of the Soviet Union. Poland has been a member of the European Union since 2004.
Russia
deu. Russland, rus. Rossijskaja Federazija, eng. Russian Federation, rus. Российская Федерация, rus. Rossija, rus. Россия, deu. Russländische Föderation, deu. Russische Föderation
The Russian Federation is the largest territorial state in the world and is inhabited by about 145 million people. The capital and largest city is Moscow, with about 11.5 million inhabitants, followed by St. Petersburg with more than 5.3 million inhabitants. The majority of the population lives in the European part of Russia, which is much more densely populated than the Asian part.
Since 1992, the Russian Federation has been the successor state to the Russian Soviet Republic (Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, RSFSR), by far the largest constituent state of the former Soviet Union. It is also the legal successor of the Soviet Union in the sense of international law.
German Democratic Republic
deu. Deutsche Demokratische Republik, eng. GDR, eng. East Germany, deu. DDR, . Němska demokratiska republika, . NDR, . Nimska demokratiska republika
The German Democratic Republic (GDR) was the second German state after World War II. It was proclaimed on October 7, 1949, and comprised the eastern part of present-day Germany. It was established in place of the Soviet occupation zone in response to the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany in the territory of the Western Allies' occupation zones on May 24, 1949. Its capital was the eastern part (Soviet sector) of Berlin, which was contrary to the Allies' agreement on the joint administration of Berlin. The GDR increasingly isolated itself, especially from the Western states, which culminated visually in the construction of the Berlin Wall. Despite its name, the GDR was an undemocratically ruled puppet state of the Soviet Union until 1989. The existence of the GDR ended on October 3, 1990, with its unification with the Federal Republic of Germany (“reunification”).
Meanwhile, Laura Wrobel (@the.real.lauri)9 steps into the role of a Polish mother. Her character cultivates an unpretentious, no-nonsense approach to parenting, but, at the same time, tends to defend her daughter a little too eagerly during parent–teacher meetings. Another example of Polish ethno-comedy enjoying popularity on video-based social media is Paul (@karlitoz.tv)10, who went viral with his portrayal of Lutzek, a kleptomaniac, jack-of-all-trades handyman.
But the rise of Polish diaspora comedy on TikTok and Instagram is not limited to the German-speaking world. In other regions with significant Polish migration, such as the United Kingdom, Polish ethno-comedy is also enjoying considerable popularity — not exclusively, but always prominently, on social media. Caroline Koziol (@karolkashow)11, for instance, portrays a range of characters from the Polish diaspora in the UK, including the Polish construction worker who is perpetually swearing and the Polish flight attendant with a falsified résumé.
Polish construction workers in the UK
All of these comedians perform with a strong Polish accent and draw on familiar stereotypes and clichés associated with their characters. The Polish construction worker, for instance, has an alcohol problem and a tendency to swear excessively. Lutzek, meanwhile, likes stealing cars most of all — but he’s also a doting host who insists on lavishing his guests with pierogi, cake, vodka, and pickles.
The ‘Eastern Bloc Dad’ character loves DIY, gets easily annoyed by questions — from his son or anyone else for that matter — and would rather just watch TV all the time. ‘Polish Dad’ snacks endlessly on Polish pickles (pronounced ‘Girkchen’), drinks beer, and loses his pa-tience when explaining math problems. And then there’s the devout Polish mother, who won’t tolerate any complaints or special requests from her children — a cliché that’s well-known, also beyond social media.
Polnische Mutter beim Lehrergespräch (Polish Mother at the parent-teacher interview) (@the.real.lauri)
New platform, same humor?
The themes explored in these clips differ little from those that ‘classic’ stand-up comedians, such as Marek Fis,12 employed long before the TikTok trend to parody Poles in the diaspora. This form of ethnic comedy has already been the subject of several academic studies,13 most of which conclude that its inherent ambivalence — combining stereotype and parody — actually has the potential to foster integration. On the one hand, by engaging in self-exoticization — that is, the strategy of presenting oneself as foreign or culturally different — these comedians reinforce certain expectations held by mainstream society about the Polish minority. On the other hand, precisely through this strategy, they expose such prejudices and make the discriminatory tendencies inherent in the mainstream society visible.”
The audience’s laughter is both laughter with and laughter at14 — uniting both migrant and non-migrant spectators into a shared, ‘collective body.’15 Laughter in response to ethnic comedy thus becomes a ‘social gesture,’16 as Bakhtin has shown — one that holds the potential to suspend, if only momentarily, the tensions and iniquities within the social order. In doing so, it not only exposes the prevailing (and discriminatory) structures of that order but also partici-pates in their deconstruction. What is laughed at, then, is no longer ‘the Other,’ but rather the stereotype that we hold inside us — and that manifests in our own behavior and thinking.”17
If the above observations apply to ethnic comedy in general, a further, more specific form of impact can be observed among the younger generation of “ethno-TikTok” comedians. As Slavist Miranda Jakiša notes in her study of ethnic comedy produced by members of southern Slavic diaspora communities in Vienna, this young generation of TikTok-based performers can, in fact, no longer truly be described as doing ethnic comedy. Their work, she argues, is less concerned with the discriminatory tendencies of mainstream society than with fostering a form of “solidarity and community-building that transcends first language on TikTok and Instagram.”18
According to Jakiša, this new trend in comedy therefore no longer highlights the tensions between majority and minority society, but rather the contradictions among different groups within
post-migrant societies
Post-migrant society
Post-migrant (lat. post: 'behind', 'after') refers to a perspective that deals with the social changes and identity issues that arise after migration processes. It is concerned with how migration shapes societies, normalizes diversity and questions concepts of identity beyond traditional immigration discourses. A post-migrant research perspective understands knowledge as processual and produced by people, and explores, for example, the production of knowledge about migrants and society. This also makes it possible to look at global interdependencies and not just think within national containers.
, where monolingualism and origin are no longer stable categories.19 The comic potential now emerges from contradictions and inconsistencies that no longer run between the monolingual “native” and the multilingual “foreigner,” but between monolingual and multilingual individuals — regardless of whether they are “from here” or “from there.”In the case of the Polish diaspora comedians on TikTok and Instagram, a similar transformation of “affective communities”20 can be observed — communities that are both produced and addressed through the humor of their online sketches. Many of these comedians no longer situate their characters in opposition to the host society. Instead, by foregrounding parental figures in particular, they point to the tensions between first- and second-generation migrant individuals and to their differing relationships with mainstream society.
New post-migrant alliances
Polish ethnic comedy thus touches on the shared experiences of second-generation immigrants, regardless of their parents’ original nationality. Here, laughter no longer connects the immigrant and the native-born. Instead, the continued perception of a certain difference from ‘mainstream’ society becomes the unifying element — and the very condition for a post-migrant sense of humor.
This phenomenon can be seen particularly clearly in the comments on skits that deal with parental behavior patterns. Many TikTok users identify with the child’s perspective and either confirm or challenge the portrayal of, for example, the “Eastern Bloc Dad” when he has guests over or falls asleep in front of the television. In every case, they express a personal connection to the situation — that either accurately represents their lived reality or does not.
Through social media, post-migrant communities are emerging around the world that are shaped less by national or regional differences than by the shared experience of cultural difference. The Polish diaspora on TikTok and Instagram likewise distinguishes itself both from its country of origin and from individual countries of immigration. It sees itself as part of broader diaspora identities that are no longer tied to a specific origin, but rather to the distinctive experience of in-betweenness in post-migrant contexts — and it is precisely this that lends it, like contemporary diaspora comedy in general, an emancipatory potential.21
Post-migrant laughing with
If the preceding discussion focused on laughter-with — that is, an integrative form of consolidating a second-generation, post-migrant identity — then TikTok and Instagram, as platforms for the development of ethno-comedy, add another relevant dimension: one that leans more toward laughter-at. After all, not all viewers and followers of TikTok ethno-comedians belong to the second migrant generation.
Through the transience of content and the possibilities of adopting virtual identities, social media enable users to distance themselves from their own roles — for instance, as autochthonous non-migrants.22 This allows them, at least for a moment, to behave “politically incorrectly,” to laugh at the experiences of their migrant co-followers — without guilt and without risk. Thus, laughter-at becomes laughter-with, and the anonymity of the digital world becomes productive in an integrative way23 — if only temporarily, for, with a single swipe, the clip disappears again.
It is not unlikely that the anonymity and ephemerality of TikTok and Instagram content account for the massive rise of ethno-comedy formats on social media. At the same time, we see an identity-producing potential that detaches members of the Polish diaspora — particularly younger generations — from the identity discourses of both their country of immigration and their country of origin, situating them instead within global post-migrant diaspora communities.
It seems that the TikTokers and Instagrammers are not merely concerned with visibility or monetization. They are developing a “post-migrant ethnicity”,24 which, as Gerd Baumann and Thijl Sunier observe, no longer adheres to a fixed or rigid notion of ethnicity. Instead, they resist simple dichotomies such as “insider/outsider” or “native/migrant”.25 In doing so, they emerge as important voices in emancipatory processes that no longer view diaspora as the opposite of home, but rather as a home in itself – one that generates identity in its own right.
English translation: Gwen Clayton
Info section
Authors
Footnotes
1.
A concise overview of the spectrum of ethno-comedy in the German-speaking world is provided, among others, by Helga Kotthoff: Ethno-Comedy zwischen Inklusion und Exklusion. Komische Hypertypen und ihre kommunikativen Praktiken. In: Özkan Ezli, Deniz Göktürk, Uwe Wirth (eds.): Komik der Integration. Grenzpraktiken und Identifikationen des Sozialen, Bielefeld 2019, pp. 66–69.
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One example of this is Marek Fis (real name Wojciech Oleszczak), who is also active on social media and has even collaborated with the TikTokers mentioned here. However, his career began on an “analog” stage, namely at the Quatsch Comedy Club (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7PFq2hxcqM). Marek Fis is a fictional character who represents the typical Polish migrant of the 1980s and deliberately plays with stereotypes common in Germany, such as the image of Poles as car thieves and handymen for everything, but also humorously points out their precarious position. Since early 2025, Oleszczak aka Fis has publicly declared his support for the AfD, making it clear that comedy artists, despite their sensitivity to discrimination against their “own” community, are not necessarily critical of other discriminatory tendencies in society. Collaborations with other TikTokers and well-known figures in German-Polish public life, such as Steffen Möller, subsequently declined. However, at the time of publication of this article, I am not aware of any clear public distancing of these collaboration partners from Fis.
13.
See Patricia Carolina Saucedo Añez: Deutsche Ethno-Comedy. Zwischen Anti-Rassismus und dem Zusammenprall der Kulturen. In: Halyna Leontiy (ed.): (Un)Komische Wirklichkeiten. Komik und Satire in (Post-)Migrations- und Kulturkontexten, Wiesbaden 2017, pp. 85–87; Kotthoff: Ethno-Comedy zwischen Inklusion und Exklusion, pp. 65–101.
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Andreas Schellewald also addresses the productive potential of the ephemeral on TikTok in his article on communicative forms on TikTok, although not in relation to the context of ethno-comedy discussed here. The article is nevertheless relevant, as it shows that the speed and transience inherent in TikTok posts can be interpreted not only negatively as a waste of time, but also as a substantively productive feature; see Andreas Schellewald: Communicative Forms on TikTok.019, p. 1.
23.
At the same time – and this is also clearly shown by examples from the present article – anonymity enables uncontrollable criticism in the form of hate speech, as users can hide behind their profile aliases without having to fear consequences for their statements. For instance, the creator of @karolkashow explains in an interview with actor/TikToker Adam Fido that she is often harshly criticized (“hated”) by Poles on TikTok for allegedly portraying a “bad” image of Poles in the UK (see https://www.tiktok.com/@adamfido/video/7491679329789938946).