I usually don’t remember things I read in a newspaper word by word. But I still remember the beginning of an article published in the Irish Times back in 1998. It dealt with the German act in that year’s Eurovision song contest, and my Irish friend thought I should read it.

Germans have a general, if somewhat unfair, reputation for humourlessness.

Unfair indeed… we can even lough about ourselves, and even if the jokes aren’t meant to be backhanded compliments like it’s the case in Citroen’s new C5 spot, produced by EuroRCSG for the British market, and currently available on the net and in cinemas across the British Isles. By the way, when I heard the “unmistakably German” voice over, I realised something else – the car reminded me of the Audi A4… I doubt that’s an association Citroen had in mind.

But back to the the jokes visible to everyone – here’s the youtubed version – enjoy your dose of Germanic clichés.