A gripping coming-of-age story set against the real culture wars and political events of Germany in the 1980s. The drama follows Martin Rauch as the 24 year-old East Germany native is pulled from the world as he knows it and sent to the West as an undercover spy for the Stasi foreign service. Hiding in plain sight in the West German army, he must gather the secrets of NATO military strategy. Everything is new, nothing is quite what it seems and everyone he encounters is harboring secrets, both political and personal.
Der Clown was a German television series that ran between 21 April 1998 and 11 October 2001. It ran for 46 episodes, and starred Sven Martinek, Diana Frank, Thomas Anzenhofer and Volkmar Kleinert.
Der Clown was also a 2005 film.
The context of the show is that unsuspecting and often male passers are put in comical situations by three female decoys: Annett Fleischer, Isabell Polak and Manuela Wisbeck. Female stereotypes and corresponding reactions by men are put in the foreground during the show. For example a woman fills up the cabrio of her boyfriend after she asked another driver for the right sort of fuel and fills up the inner of the car and not the tank.