“No worries for tomorrow, no burden on your back, Lebbis and Jansen are back,” said Hans Sibbel (65) and Dolf Jansen (60) in Sublime. It is their first joint performance since they both focused on solo work from 2007. How could it be otherwise than that this new collaboration is celebrated with a New Year’s Eve conference, the genre in which the duo specialized and of which they have made almost twenty.
When asked why they are back, the gentlemen answer in a rap: “Because no one is waiting for Rutte five, six and seven / and no one wants Groningen to shake unexpectedly.” […].” We therefore need rescue from Lebbis and Jansen, is the unspoken suggestion of the duo known for their commitment, an impressive speaking pace and a good dose of bravado.
Nothing has changed, as becomes apparent when Lebbis and Jansen present inventive solutions for the staff shortage, the refugee issue and the health of young people. They have also come up with something for the top of the business community: CEOs of polluting companies, if it were up to Lebbis and Jansen, would be obliged to live with their families “no more than 500 meters from their own smelly factory.”
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Emotional decisions
Sublime is not an objective look back on 2023. That is not a problem at all when the duo thoroughly criticizes someone for a decision or statement. For example, Henk Kamp is being grilled for his arguments during his interrogation about the Benefits Affair. The former minister stated that he had “the feeling” that there was more fraud with benefits than the figures showed. The duo wittily and with some anger explains the consequences of this feeling, and what should be an appropriate consequence for Henk Kamp.
Caroline van der Plas’s emotional decisions are also comically examined. For example, she had announced that, in her opinion, minimum wage earners should receive an additional 1 percent, but she did not want to have that plan tested by the CPB. Jansen: “If you don’t want it to be calculated, just say 85 percent.” Lebbis: “I baked an apple pie last week on instinct. There was way too much mustard in it.”
It is also boring every now and then, when Lebbis and Jansen express their commitment with comments about appearance, or say that no one wants to sleep with a certain politician. These types of sentences have little effect and are not funny.
Fortunately, these are exceptions. Their reasoning is often sharp: when it comes to the new pension system, about people who get angry about vegetarian chicken, anger about the new Transgender Act. These tirades regularly become funny due to a crescendo in speaking pace and temperament – they are only too happy to stoke the fire with each other.
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It makes Sublime into an exciting performance, which subsides a bit when Lebbis and Jansen start writing a number of private stories: about their activities during the May 4 commemoration, a conversation with the chimney sweep and a run in England. These stories are not interesting enough and rather contrived, not so telling examples to their recurring claim that humanity is lost.
The humanity that sometimes loses track is made more visible in the strong song in which Lebbis and Jansen sing about choosing a side and “chopping in the sand”. They sing doggedly about growth as an “unreasonable tumor” and the neighbors’ “mega barbecue”. “To attack!”, sounds belligerent in the chorus. A striking summary of this energetic and inspired New Year’s Eve conference, which leaves you wanting more.
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