Its title sequence showed a series of famous clocks in East Berlin, such as that on the Rotes Rathaus and the Weltzeituhr at Alexanderplatz displaying the time of broadcast, 8 p.m. (scheduled to clash with the main evening news on ARD) Ein Kessel Buntes was originally hosted by actors Horst Köbbert (who spoke Low German from the north), Lutz Stückrath (a speaker of the Berlin dialect), and Manfred Uhlig (who spoke Saxon from the south), whose satirical commentary during the live broadcasts often criticised the East German government.
Apart from song and dance numbers and appearances from East German celebrities, almost every broadcast featured well-known stars from the west, often after their popularity had peaked in their home countries.
[3] After German reunification, and the dissolution of Fernsehen der DDR, the concept and name of the program were taken over by ARD and broadcast on Das Erste, following the main news programme Tagesschau.
In its final two years of "Ein Kessel Buntes", Karsten Speck hosted the show on January 12, 1991, a total of ten times.
Numerous international stars were invited to participate: ABBA, Amanda Lear, Secret Service, Bad Boys Blue, Dalida, Karel Gott, Dara Rolins, Helena Vondráčková, Zsuzsa Koncz, Alla Pugacheva, Sofia Rotaru, Kati Kovács and others.