One of the most popular anecdotes about Brecht's early years in Munich involves a significant encounter with the popular comedian Karl Valentin (1882-1948).

In October 1922, following on from the success the previous month of the première of Drums in the Night at the Munich Kammerspiele, Brecht was appointed to the dramaturgical team of the theatre and was immediately given the task of rewriting and adapting Marlowe's Edward II. The writing took place over the winter of 1922/3, but the eight-week rehearsal period, then the longest in the Kammerspiele's history, did not start until January 1924. In one of his conversations with the essayist and critic Walter Benjamin on 29 June 1938, Brecht told the story of how 'the idea of Epic Theatre first came into his head' at one of these rehearsals:

A few years later, Brecht himself wrote a version of the same story in The Messingkauf Dialogues: 'When the Augsburger was producing his first play, which included a thirty minutes' battle, he asked Valentin what he ought to do with the soldiers. “What are soldiers like in battle?” Valentin promptly answered: “White. Scared.”' (pp. 69-70).