Frank-Markus Barwasser (born 16 February 1960 in

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the ''Regierungsbezirk'' Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River. Würzburg is ...

) is a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

political satirist Political satire is satire that specializes in gaining entertainment from politics; it has also been used with subversive intent where Political discourse analysis, political speech and dissent are forbidden by a regime, as a method of advancing ...

and

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

. On stage, he almost always acts as the character of Erwin Pelzig, wearing a corduroy hat. Barwasser grew up in

, Lower Franconia,

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

. After working for the local newspaper, ''Main-Post'', he studied

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

and ethnology at the

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's sixth-oldest university in continuous operatio ...

and the University of Salamanca. From 1985, he began his career on stage as a satirist. In 1993, he invented the character of Erwin Pelzig, which has been his most popular character ever since. Until 2013, he was co-host, with colleague

Urban Priol Urban Priol (born 14 May 1961) is a German people, German Kabarett artist and comedian. Life Urban Priol was born on 14 May 1961, in Aschaffenburg. He spent his childhood in Obernburg am Main. In 1980, he made his abitur at the Kronberg-Gymnasiu ...

, of the satirical

ZDF ZDF (, short for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen; ; "Second German Television") is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an independent nonprofit institution, which was founded by all fe ...

show ''

Neues aus der Anstalt (English: "News from the (mental) institute") was a political cabaret program on German television station ZDF, hosted by Urban Priol and Frank-Markus Barwasser, who replaced Georg Schramm. Broadcast monthly from 2007 to 2013, it usually featu ...

'' and until 2015 he was host of a talk show for the same channel, ''"Pelzig hält sich".''

Awards

* 2020

Dieter Hildebrandt Prize The Dieter Hildebrandt Prize has been awarded by the city of Munich since 2016. The award honors German Kabarett artist Dieter Hildebrandt, who died in 2013. The annual prize honors ambitious political or decidedly socially critical cabaret. It is ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barwasser, Frank-Markus German male journalists German journalists German satirists German cabaret performers Living people 1960 births German male writers University of Salamanca alumni ZDF people Bayerischer Rundfunk people