''Humo'' (stylized in all caps) is a popular

Dutch-language Dutch ( ) is a West Germanic language spoken by about 25 million people as a first language and 5 million as a second language. It is the third most widely spoken Germanic language, after its close relatives German and English. ''Afrikaans'' i ...

Belgian weekly radio and television magazine.

History and profile

''Humoradio'' (meaning a portmanteau of 'humor' and 'radio' in English) was first published in 1936 as a Dutch-language counterpart to ''Le Moustique'', now '' Télémoustique''. During World War II between 1940 and 1944, ''Humoradio'' was not published. In 1958, when television started to reach a larger audience in the country, the magazine was renamed as ''Humo''. The magazine is published on a weekly basis. ''Humo'' as it is recognized today started emerging from 1969 on, when Guy Mortier became its chief editor. He gave the magazine its playful comedic tone, put more emphasis on articles about rock music and shaped it into a magazine that appealed to a left-wing, progressive audience. During Mortier's term many classic columns, interview series, annual cultural events and comic strips that are still considered to be part of "Humo" today saw the day of light. Among those is the annual ''Humo's Pop Poll'', organized since 1967, which lets readers elect their favorite people, radio shows, TV shows, music groups,... of the year. Another recurring event is Humo's Rock Rally, an important Belgian contest for young rock bands. Humo also sponsors the

Rock Werchter Rock Werchter is an annual music festival held in the village of Werchter, near Leuven, Belgium, since 1976 and is a large sized rock music festival. The 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2012 and 2014 festivals received the Arthur award for ''best festiv ...

festival since its conception in 1977. In 2003, Mortier retired. ''Humo''s home cartoonist is

Kamagurka Luc Zeebroek (born 5 May 1956), better known as Kamagurka, is a Belgian cartoonist, playwright, comic strip artist, painter, comedian, comedic singer and television producer, known for the absurd nature of his work. He created various comic st ...

, whose style influenced the overall cult appeal of the magazine. The magazine's mascots, Bert and

Cowboy Henk ''Cowboy Henk'' is a Belgian absurd/surreal humour gag-a-day comic strip series drawn by Herr Seele and written by Kamagurka. It was originally published in the newspaper ''De Morgen'', but later taken over by the magazine ''HUMO'', in which it ...

, are creations by him, both featured in weekly comics series. The owner of ''Humo'' was Sanoma and was published by Sanoma magazines. In May 2015 the magazine was acquired by

De Persgroep DPG Media Group is a Belgian media company also active in the Netherlands and Denmark. It is owned by the Van Thillo family and employs some 6,000 people. Divisions The DPG Media Group operates through three national subsidiaries: * DPG Media ...

Circulation

Since 2002, ''Humo'' has had a declining circulation rate. During the period of 2006–2007, the circulation of the magazine was 278,000 copies. The magazine sold 320,000 copies on 23 September 2008 when it offered a free copy of ''Goddamned Days on a Goddamned Planet'', an unpublished new novel of Flemish author Dimitri Verhulst. During the first quarter of 2009, the circulation of the magazine was 256,558 copies. The magazine had a circulation of 215,409 copies in 2010 and 197,105 copies in 2011. It was 166,732 copies in 2012. The 2013 circulation of the magazine was 150,232 copies.

Antisemitism accusations

In August 2024, Humo published a column by Herman Brusselmans stating, in context of the war between Israel and Gaza, he feels an urge “to shove a sharp knife through the throat of every Jew I see”.

Past and present contributors to "Humo"

Journalists

* Herman De Coninck * Yves Desmet * Marc Didden * Guy Mortier *

Herman Selleslags Herman may refer to: People * Herman (name), list of people with this name * Saint Herman (disambiguation) * Peter Noone (born 1947), known by the mononym Herman Places in the United States * Herman, Arkansas * Herman, Michigan * Herman, Minne ...

* Serge Simonart * Rudy Vandendaele

Columnists

* Herman Brusselmans * Willy Courteaux *

Patrick De Witte Patrick may refer to: * Patrick (given name), list of people and fictional characters with this name * Patrick (surname), list of people with this name People * Saint Patrick (c. 385–c. 461), Christian saint *Gilla Pátraic (died 1084), Patrick ...

Arnon Grunberg Arnon Yasha Yves Grunberg (; born 22 February 1971) is a Dutch writer of novels, essays, and columns, as well as a journalist. He published some of his work under the heteronym Marek van der Jagt. He lives in New York. His work has been transla ...

(until August 2024) * Gerrit Komrij *

Tom Lanoye Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

* Hugo Matthysen * Jan Mulder * Kees van Kooten *

Guido Van Meir Guido is a given name Latinised from the Old High German name Wido. It originated in Medieval Italy. Guido later became a male first name in Austria, Germany, the Low Countries, Scandinavia, Spain, Portugal, Latin America and Switzerland. The mea ...

Rudy Vandendaele Rudy or Rudi is a masculine given name, sometimes short for Rudolf, Rudolph, Rawad, Rudra, Ruairidh, or variations thereof, a nickname and a surname which may refer to: People Given name or nickname *Rudolf Rudy Andeweg (born 1952), Dutch polit ...

Cartoonists

* Jonas Geirnaert * Gummbah * Jeroom *

('' Bert'', ''

'') * Ever Meulen *

Herr Seele Herr Seele, the pseudonym of Peter Van Heirseele (Torhout, Belgium, 13 April 1959), is a Flemish cartoonist, author, actor, piano tuner and piano collector. He is mainly known for the absurd humor comic strip ''Cowboy Henk'', for which his col ...

(''

'') *

Peter van Straaten Peter van Straaten (25 March 1935 – 8 December 2016) was a Dutch cartoonist and comics artist. He is best known for his political cartoons as well as his satirical observations of everyday people. He also had a newspaper comic strip '' Vader ...

References

External links

Official site
{{Commons 1936 establishments in Belgium Weekly magazines published in Belgium Dupuis titles Dutch-language magazines Satirical magazines published in Belgium Magazines published in Flanders Listings magazines Magazines established in 1936 Music magazines published in Belgium Television magazines