Loriot's real name is Vicco von Buelow. He was born in 1923 in Prussia. He gave himself the name "Loriot" because the aristocrat family he was born into carry the Oriole in their family badge.
Now and then, he's still appearing on tv or doing a newspaper interview, but as far as I know, he retreated from creating new stuff. In Germany, his comics, tv series and some of his movies (Pappa Ante Portas, Ödipussi) are quite well-known.
In his work, I would say, he makes fun of "typical" German attributes, such as stubbornness, over-correctness, having to boil eggs for exactly! 3.5 minutes and... being boring. He, though, says a lot of his characters (whom he often plays himself) aren't funny but mentally ill. However, I'm afraid he hits the nail on the head quite often. But maybe for liking him as much as I do, you have to be German or, at least, have met too many Germans.