Bernd das Brot, a depressed German loaf of bread

BERLIN (AP) — Forget SpongeBob SquarePants, Sesame Street and the sourdough starter craze: a depressed German loaf of bread named Bernd das Brot is celebrating his 25th anniversary as the reluctant star of a children’s television program that accidentally became equally popular with adults. A cult classic in Germany, Bernd das Brot (Bernd the Bread) is a puppet renowned for his deep, gloomy voice, his perpetual pessimism and his signature expression, “Mist!” (Think “crap!” in English.) Played and voiced by puppeteer Jörg Teichgraeber, Bernd is a television presenter who wants nothing to do with TV and can’t wait to go home to stare at the wallpaper. This year, his friends — a sheep and a flower bush — are urging him to become a bread influencer. Bernd’s beginnings Born as a sketch on the back of a napkin in a pizzeria, Bernd’s infamous grimace was drawn by Tommy Krappweis who modeled it after co-creator Norman Cöster’s face. The duo had been asked to come up with mascots for KiKA, ... Read full article.