Gloggi & Schicho

After 4500 performances, the fun is over now

Winfried "Gloggi" Vollmann (left) and Fritz Schicho have been on stage together since 1979.

(Bild: Robert Eichwald)

The Styrian duo Gloggi & Schicho have written cabaret history: The two artists founded Cabaret Gimpl, launched the Grazer Kleinkunstvogel and have traveled as far as Syria with their funny songs. Today, after 4500 performances, they are saying goodbye to the stage for good.

"When you have 4500 performances in your bones, you can get tired," says Fritz Schicho. Together with Winfried "Gloggi" Vollmann, he has written Styrian cabaret history over the past 45 years. Now the "final whistle" is blown - the name of their last tour, which is now coming to its final end in the Graz Theatercafé: "This is where it all began, so we wanted to end here too," says Schicho.

He and Gloggi met on the soccer pitch in Kobenz: "I had my eye on his sister. And that worked out quite well, we are still married today." But he and his brother-in-law also shared a passion for music and comedy: "We played theater at school in Seckau. When I came to Graz to study, we used to have funny song evenings with friends in the Coburg pub. As payment, we had beer and sauerkraut with mustard," recalls Schicho.

The Styrian duo Gloggi & Schicho.

(Bild: Lucas Pripfl)

With Cabaret Gimpl to the Theatercafé
This is how they came to the attention of the then manager of the Graz Theatercafé: "We then found a new home there and founded Cabaret Gimpl with friends. My father put together the first wooden stage," says Schicho. What began as a student hobby soon became a job. And the theater café became "the" meeting place for cabaret: "We also launched the Kleinkunstvogel," says Schicho, proud of the newcomer award.

Gloggi & Schicho were on the road with the Gimpl until 1992, after which they performed as a duo: "In between, I had the ambition to become a big pop star. I had 1000 copies of the first single pressed - 600 of them are still in the cellar," smiles Schicho.

Her "Anton" became a mega hit
But he was still involved in another mega hit: in 1989, he wrote the original version of "Anton aus Tirol": "It was a parody of popular music, as I always call it. But the parody has become reality," jokes Schicho.

Gloggi&Schicho on the Golan Heights.

(Bild: Gloggi&Schicho)

He is particularly proud of the many performances the duo has given in front of UN soldiers in Syria, Kosovo and Cyprus: "Those were some of the best concerts of our career. And my heart bleeds when I see what Syria, this beautiful country, has become today," says Schicho.

But now, after 45 years, it's over: "We are leaving without melancholy - but full of gratitude for what we have achieved," says Schicho. On Saturday, they will be on stage together once again at the Theatercafé: "And after that, I'll just be on my mountain pasture and take lots of time for my grandchildren."