You should recognize him by the black wool beanie, by casually presented, comically affectionate texts, by his love for well-crafted wordplay, even if these are sometimes as charmingly flat as the area around Moers-Kapellen. The best example of this is the title of Sträter's solo program: "Snow Falling on Ceramic Surface".
Regarding his work as a writer and comedian, Torsten Sträter is a late starter. Trained as a men's tailor, he worked in this profession for several years. He then had jobs in a freight forwarding company and as a mobile phone salesperson in a shopping center. He wrote horror short stories and started appearing at poetry slams in the late 2000s with his first amusing texts. From 2009 onwards, he won the "NRW Slam" three times, the North Rhine-Westphalian championship in public text presentation. Since 2013, cabaret and small theater stages discovered him; he became known to a wider audience through increasing appearances on television – "Midnight Highlights", "extra 3", "nuhr im ersten".
From 2016 until April 2019, he had his own show on WDR television called "Sträter's Men's Household", which was perfectly tailored to him. A mix of comedy and talk, recorded in Oberhausen, featuring typical Sträter stand-up routines, actions with prominent guests such as a romantic meeting with Ina Müller at the currywurst fountain or reading "news from the region" together: "The medieval market 'Ärgste Schwerte' in Schwerte-Ergste...". The episode with Richy Müller culminated in a firework of silliness.
Additionally, there were Ruhr area segments like "Ruhr Area Types", where Sträter explained the "Heiopei" or "Our Grandpa" on a display board. The long-promised "Old Wemser" finally appeared in the last show, depicted by Sträter himself. This was followed by the show "Sträter" on WDR television, with a similar concept but on a smaller scale.
Despite all the silliness and his love for applied wordplay, Torsten Sträter allows unusually deep and emotional moments in his texts and stand-ups, without drifting into sentimentality or kitsch. For example, when it comes to depression, which he himself suffered from in the 90s, or the memory of his mother. You can briefly sense a loving vulnerability in him. Sträter uses the open, cabaret-style approach to his depression to make this tabooed common ailment known and, above all, understandable to a broader public. Also offstage, as the patron of the German Depression League e.V. (DLL).
This conscious inclusion of serious topics in his programs is what connects Sträter with his international stand-up colleagues in the USA. In Germany, however, people prefer to play it safe, with a few exceptions. "The Heavy Said Lightly" – that's how it was once put by Hanns Dieter Hüsch.
And then there is Sträter's pop culture side, which he expresses not only in quotes and cross-references in his texts but also in the podcast "Lick Me Round and Call Me Bärbel", where gentlemen Torsten Sträter, comedian Hennes Bender, and screenwriter Gerry Streberg excellently discuss and get excited about all the great stuff, about movies, comics, series, music, audio plays, and superheroes every month.
Clearly, a person like Sträter, always clad in Batman black and with a self-made suit of the dark knight in the cellar, is perfectly at home. The punchlines come flying here too: "The Hunger Games – what kind of movie is that? Are they moving planes around?"
