''De Fred Haché Show'' is a 1971 Dutch television show written and directed for the

VPRO The VPRO (stylized vpro; originally an acronym for , ) is a Dutch public broadcaster, which forms a part of the Dutch public broadcasting system. Founded in 1926 as a liberal Protestant broadcasting organization, it gradually became more soc ...

Wim T. Schippers Willem Theodoor "Wim T." Schippers (; born 1 July 1942) is a Dutch artist, comedian, television director, and voice actor. During the 1960s, he worked mostly as a visual artist, associated with the international Fluxus-movement. As a television w ...

Ruud van Hemert Ruud van Hemert (29 October 1938 – 5 July 2012) was a Dutch film director known especially for (dark) comedy. In the 1970s he helped produce and direct TV shows on VPRO before starting a career as a film director. Biography Ruud van Heme ...

, Wim van der Linden, and

Gied Jaspars Gied Jaspars (6 July 1939 – 14 February 1996) was a Dutch television maker who gained prominence in the 1960s and 1970s making progressive and controversial TV shows for the VPRO; he is well known for his collaboration with writer and dire ...

. The show marked the return to television for Schippers, van der Linden, and Jaspars, who had been on the team that was responsible for the controversial 1967 show ''

Hoepla ''Hoepla'' ("Whoops") was a Dutch experimental cultural television show broadcast in 1967. It aimed at a young teenage audience and was notable for being unpredictable and risky in its subject matter, featuring reports, performances, declarations ...

'', canceled after three episodes. Like its "sister show" '' Barend is weer bezig'' (1972-1973) and ''

Van Oekel's Discohoek ''Van Oekel's Discohoek'' was a Dutch television show, aired on VPRO in 1974-1975. The show, written by Wim T. Schippers and produced by Ellen Jens, starred Dolf Brouwers as the comedic character Sjef van Oekel, and parodied music television progr ...

'', it was an absurdist show with much nudity, linguistic humor, satirical skits, and illogical plot lines.

Content

The show was built around two main characters, Fred Haché ( Harry Touw) and his assistant Barend Servet (

IJf Blokker IJf Blokker (born 2 September 1930) is a Dutch musician and television actor and presenter. After a professional career as a drummer, he became a well-known television actor in the 1970s playing the character Barend Servet in the Wim T. Schippers-d ...

), with cameos by

Kees van Kooten Cornelis Reinier "Kees" van Kooten () (born 10 August 1941) is a Dutch comedian, television actor, and writer. He formed the duo Van Kooten & De Bie with Wim de Bie from 1972 to 1998. Biography Cornelis Reinier van Kooten was born on 10 Augus ...

Wim de Bie Willem Philippe "Wim" de Bie (; born 17 May 1939) is a Dutch comedian, writer and singer. He formed the comedy duo Van Kooten en De Bie with Kees van Kooten. G.J. van Bork,Bie, Wim de, ''Schrijvers en dichters'', 2002. Retrieved on 17 December ...

, poet

Simon Vinkenoog Simon Vinkenoog (18 July 1928 – 12 July 2009) was a Dutch poet, spoken word poet and writer. He was the editor of the anthology ''Atonaal'' (Atonal), which launched the Dutch "Fifties Movement". In 2004 he was chosen as Dichter des Vaderland ...

, and

Dolf Brouwers Dolf Brouwers (31 August 1912 – 23 September 1997) was a Dutch comedian, singer, and television actor who rose to fame late in life playing the character Sjef van Oekel in the 1970s satirical television shows aired on VPRO, written and directed ...

, who would return as the regular

Sjef van Oekel Sjef van Oekel was a TV comedy character created by Dutch artist Wim T. Schippers and played by Dutch comedian, singer and actor Dolf Brouwers (1912–1997). Van Oekel started as a side character in '' De Fred Hachéshow'' in 1972, but became suc ...

character in ''Barend is weer bezig'' and ''

''. Schippers tendency to treat serious matters in irreverent fashion is exemplified in the interview with God, which Jan Blokker, then director of VPRO television, had cut from the show: apparently the show had at some point been unable to get more guests, and Schippers thought God would make a good guest for an interview with Fred Haché, who asked him if He didn't think it unreasonable that people who lived their life carelessly "could get into heaven by converting just before death comma God?" ("Comma" was one of Haché's catchwords.) God promised to consider it. The fragment is lost, though the audio was saved.

In other media

Touw and Blokker personally adapted the TV show into a

gag-a-day A gag-a-day comic strip is the style of writing comic cartoons such that every installment of a strip delivers a complete joke or some other kind of artistic statement. It is opposed to story or continuity strips, which rely on the development of ...

comic strip called "Bakken aan de bar" ("Jokes at the counter").

DVD release and controversy

The series was released on DVD in November 2007, with the four ''Sad Movies'' by Schippers, Wim van der Linden, and

Willem de Ridder Willem de Ridder ('s-Hertogenbosch 14 October 1939 – 29 December 2022) was a Dutch anarchist and artist, known as a founder of Fluxus. He was the foremost Fluxus member in the Netherlands. He showed and sold Fluxus works in his gallery, Amst ...

as a bonus. One of the show's scenes, though, was removed after protests by

Willeke van Ammelrooy Willy Geertje van Ammelrooij (born 5 April 1944), known as Willeke van Ammelrooy, is a Dutch actress and director. Life and career Willeke van Ammelrooy was born in Amsterdam, Netherlands. She attended drama school in Amsterdam. Van Ammelr ...

, who had (against her will) acquired a reputation as a "sex kitten" because she had appeared nude on screen (in ''

Mira Mira (), designation Omicron Ceti (ο Ceti, abbreviated Omicron Cet, ο Cet), is a red-giant star estimated to be 200–400 light-years from the Sun in the constellation Cetus. ο Ceti is a binary stellar system, consisting of a varia ...

'' by

Fons Rademakers Alphonse Marie "Fons" Rademakers (5 September 1920 – 22 February 2007) was a Dutch actor, film director, film producer and screenwriter. His 1960 film '' Makkers Staakt uw Wild Geraas'' was entered into the 11th Berlin International Film Fest ...

and in movies by

Wim Verstappen Wim Verstappen (4 May 1937 – 24 July 2004) was a Dutch film director and producer, television director, and screen writer. Verstappen grew up in Curaçao. He began studies at the Netherlands Film and Television Academy in 1961, and released h ...

and

Pim de la Parra Pim de la Parra (born 5 January 1940) is a Surinamese-Dutch film director. Between 1967 and 1976, he directed films under the independent production company Scorpio Films with Dutch film director Wim Verstappen, who manages all of its achievemen ...

). In the ''De Fred Haché Show'' she played a scene in which Fred Haché and Barend Servet crash through a ceiling and land in the bathtub of the floor below, where van Ammelrooy's character is taking a bath. Van Ammelrooy, who had been trying to shed her image and hated having to do the scene, fought for ten years to have the scene removed from the collection, even a pixelated version.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fred Hache Show 1971 Dutch television series debuts 1971 Dutch television series endings 1970s Dutch television series Dutch-language television shows Dutch comedy television series Television shows adapted into comics Surreal comedy television series Wim T. Schippers Obscenity controversies in television Religious controversies in television Television controversies in the Netherlands