Hamburg's Senate voted on Thursday to make Otto Waalkes a compulsory feature of public life, ordering that every gathering of more than three people in the city must include a live Otto performance, a recording of his greatest hits, or a citizen trained to imitate his signature «Holladihiti» call. The measure passed without debate after a single test run in the Rathausmarkt, where officials reported «unprecedented civic calm».
Under the new rules, each of Hamburg's districts has been assigned a personal Holladihiti chorus. Residents will rehearse twice weekly in designated waiting rooms, where they must stand in rows and practice the call until a supervisor confirms they have achieved what the city describes as «adequate Ottoness». Those who fail will be sent to a second waiting room with stricter rules and a larger portrait of the comedian.
The city has already converted three former container terminals into Otto training halls. A new timetable divides the day into Holladihiti hours, silent hours, and hours for queuing to register for Holladihiti hours. The fire brigade now opens every shift with the call, and the port authority has begun teaching it to visiting ships.
«We are not asking anyone to be funny,» said a city official. «We are asking them to be consistent.» The first mandatory public performance is scheduled for Monday, when the entire city will attempt the call at once. Neighboring municipalities have asked Hamburg to keep the volume below the level that cracked windows in 2019.