Stunksitzung

Tuschfactory GmbH is run by actresses Biggi Wanninger and Martina Klinke together with musician Tanja Svejnoha.

The format grew out of a student collective at Cologne University of Applied Sciences, itself an offshoot of the Kölner Spielecircus. Co-founder and cabaret artist Jürgen Becker served as session president under the name „Irokesen-Heinz" until stepping down in 1995. Reiner Rübhausen then took over leadership, and Biggi Wanninger has been president since 1999. Several performers have been part of the show since it began in 1984, including Martina Bajohr, Doris Dietzold, Martina Klinke, Doro Egelhaaf, Didi Jünemann, Günter Ottemeier, and Bruno Schmitz; Christian Rzepka joined in 1988, with others such as Anne Rixmann, Tom Simon, and Ozan Akhan joining in the late 1990s. The house band since 1988 is Köbes Underground, whose members had previously performed under names such as The Dead Lambsdorffs, Schwester Christa und die Brinkmänner, and Elmar goes to Lüdenscheid.

Since 1998, WDR has broadcast the session under formats including „Stunksitzung," „Die lange Stunksitzung," „Die etwas andere Stunksitzung" (2021), and „Die ausgefallenste Stunksitzung" (2022). The 1995 session gave rise to the sketch „Aschermittwoch for one," a Cologne-dialect version of „Dinner for One." The broadcaster has self-censored on several occasions: in 1992, Jürgen Becker's description of Meisner as an „Arschloch" was electronically bleeped out; in 2006, the „Ratze and Meise" sketch was cut; and in 2011, Bruno Schmitz's portrayal of Bishop Walter Mixa was not aired. In 2010, the Kölnisches Stadtmuseum marked the session's 25th anniversary with the special exhibition „Karneval instandbesetzt?" The concept has inspired other alternative carnival formats across North Rhine-Westphalia, such as Aachen's Strunxsitzung.