[3] The undisputed star is Ekel ("creep") Alfred Tetzlaff (Heinz Schubert), commercial clerk, a born Sudeten German, Bild reader and reactionary patriarch, who is constantly arguing with his wife Else, his daughter Rita, and his son-in-law Michael.

[1] He is a declared foe of the SPD government ruining the country only to sell it to the Mongols, of foreigners, Gastarbeiter, Jews and the women's movement.

Alfred's appearance, small in physique (Schubert was 157 centimetres (5 ft 2 in))[5] with a moustache and side-parted hair, along with his passionate politicking with a high-pitched voice and frequent hand movements, make his character somewhat of a parody of Adolf Hitler[6]—a portrayal that was (and is) limited by West German law.

Michael is a supporter of Chancellor Willy Brandt and moreover was raised in East Germany, which arouses Alfred's suspicion of him being a Komsomol, a Bolshevik hyena and an anarchist.

[6] Episodes were regularly recorded live-to-tape the day of broadcast, which allowed the show to handle events with an immediacy rare for sitcoms of the era.

[3] For the second series, Elisabeth Wiedemann, popular in her role as Else Tetzlaff, was replaced by Helga Feddersen and Michael, formerly played by Diether Krebs, was portrayed by Klaus Dahlen.