Portrait HAPE KERKELING

Ein komischer Junge
43 min. WDR 2007
"Die Besten im Westen"

I'LL BE OFF — that's the title of the book which catapulted Hape Kerkeling to the top of the German bestseller list of 2006. For one of his fictional characters, a guy by the name of Horst Schlämmer, he had previously received the German Television Award as well as the German Comedy Prize. As a moderator, he made the show "Let's Dance" one of the most watched programs of the year (which year?) While still in high school he wrote his first sketches and applied for a television job — based on his irresistible comedic talent he had his own TV show at the age of twenty. Kerkeling was born in Recklinghausen on December 9, 1964 as the son of a carpenter and a florist. His mother died when he was eight and he grew up with his grandparents. When he was sixteen, they bought him a train ticket to Passau where he participated in a young talent competition — he won. In 1984 he began working as an entertainer for the major television stations WDR, Bayrischer Rundfunk, and Radio Bremen. His great breakthrough came with his program Total Normal — a witty media critique — that premiered in the fall of 1989. Four years later, Kerkeling satirized the German post-war television landscape with his film Kein Pardon (No Pardon). Hape Kerkeling is not just liked by his audience — he is loved. The main reason for his immense popularity is his childlike charm coupled with self-irony, which has endeared the slightly overweight, openly gay entertainer and author to his viewers. "Inside I have always remained a child —I don't think of myself as a professional and even less as an actor," he has said.