Karnaval on TV

I am not even going to try to explain what is going on on my TV because I don't understand it myself. First some background: Sometime in February (specifically calculated as some day before some Special Tuesday in the Christian calendar) many cities in Germany celebrate something with a Karneval (which means "Carnival", Einstein). This may have something to do with Mardi Gras, although I did not realize that that particular Tuesday also occurred in Europe (what with daylight savings and all).

Although we are still in January, it seems that preparations for this time-honoured tradition in which Germans pretend they are in New Orleans have already started. There is some strange ceremony on TV right now in which the folks on stage are dressed like the Jack of Diamonds:

Everyone is handing the microphones back and forth, declaring the start of festivities, etc. The audience/banquet-crowd of old people stands and claps. I swear I could be in Japan and would understand more. Anyways, this festival is called "Fashing" in some parts of Germany and "Karneval" in others (Big schism between those who call it one and not the other, apparently). My colleagues poo-poo the Bonn Karneval as being too prim & proper and encourage me to see the "real" one in Koln with its full-on debauchery. Everyone dresses up in a costume and participates in assorted revelry. There may be beer involved.