In the program white man 75 mainly white men spoke about Paul Witteman. They all gave the impression that Witteman had died, while it was a birthday documentary. Only one of the respondents acknowledged: ‘Paul is not gone.’
We learned that Paul was initially a disaster on TV, but that Marcel van Dam personally made sure he got to try it again, and again. It could also have been a documentary about privilege.
Or well – maybe I was in a bad mood myself. I decided to study the interiors behind the talking heads. Jeroen Pauw had the coziest living room, while Marcel van Dam went for the landed gentry aesthetic. Charles Groenhuijsen intrigued the most. He sat in front of a cabinet that (probably) held two clarinets. Does he play it? And if so, couldn’t he have played some of his answers instead of saying? I’m sure Paul would have appreciated that.