[2] It has become traditional viewing on New Year's Eve in countries such as Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Estonia.
[4] Despite originating as a British stage sketch, the TV version gained only limited recognition in the UK over 50 years after its recording.
Apart from a few satires, Dinner for One is not known in the United States,[7] where the comic premise had already been made famous by Red Skelton and Lucille Ball.
[8] In German-speaking countries, the broadcast features an introduction by Heinz Piper as the conferencier: Miss Sophie (Warden) is celebrating her 90th birthday.
As every year, she has invited her four closest friends to a birthday dinner: Sir Toby, Admiral von Schneider, Mr. Pomeroy, and Mr. Winterbottom.
James must not only serve Miss Sophie the four courses à la russe – mulligatawny soup, North Sea haddock, chicken and fruit – but also serve the four imaginary guests the drinks chosen by Miss Sophie (sherry, white wine, champagne and port wine for the respective courses), slip into the role of each guest and drink a toast to Miss Sophie four times for each course.
As a result, James becomes increasingly intoxicated and loses his dignified demeanour: he pours the drinks with reckless abandon, breaks into "Sugartime" by the McGuire Sisters for a brief moment, and at one point accidentally drinks from a flower vase, which he acknowledges with a grimace and exclaims "Oooh!
James takes a deep breath, turns to the audience with a sly grin and says "Well, I'll do my very best" before the pair retreat to the upper rooms.
Lauri Wylie debuted Dinner for One as a sketch in his London stage revue En Ville Ce Soir in 1934.
The sketch was also staged elsewhere, for example in 1953 in John Murray Anderson's Almanac at the Imperial Theatre with Hermione Gingold playing Miss Sophie, and Billy DeWolfe as the butler and four dead friends.
[10] In 1962, German entertainer Peter Frankenfeld and director Heinz Dunkhase discovered Dinner for One in Blackpool.
The introductory theme, Charmaine, was composed by Lew Pollack and recorded by the Victor Silvester orchestra.
The comic premise of the skit—a man consuming multiple rounds of alcohol and becoming comically drunk—is generally credited to American actor Red Skelton, who included a similar sketch as part of his vaudeville routines beginning in 1928 (and allowed the premise to be used by Lucille Ball in the famed I Love Lucy episode "Lucy Does a TV Commercial").
In 1985, the Danish television network, DR, decided not to broadcast the sketch,[15][16] but received so many complaints that it returned the following year.
It is easy to understand with even a basic knowledge of English due to the physical nature of the comedy.
[23] In 2016, Netflix made a parody in which the guests are replaced with characters from Netflix shows, specifically Saul Goodman from Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, Frank Underwood from House of Cards, Pablo Escobar from Narcos, and Crazy Eyes from Orange is the New Black.
"[30] In December 2022, it was announced that German studio UFA would produce a six-part prequel series, set 50 years before the original version.
[31] In March 2023, King Charles III, delivering a speech at a banquet during his state visit to Germany, raised a laugh by saying, in German, "It is nice of you all, not to have left me alone with a 'Dinner for One'!