Nico Semsrott (born 11 March 1986) is a German

Kabarett Kabarett (; from French ''cabaret'' = tavern) is satirical revue, a form of cabaret which developed in France by Rodolphe Salis in 1881 as the ''cabaret artistique''. It was named Le Chat Noir and was centered on political events and satire. It ...

artist, politician (independent) and

slam poet A poetry slam is a competitive art event in which poets perform spoken word poetry before a live audience and a panel of judges. While formats can vary, slams are often loud and lively, with audience participation, cheering and dramatic delivery ...

who was elected as a

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

as a member of

Die PARTEI (''Party for Labour, Rule of Law, Animal Protection, Promotion of Elites and Grassroots Democratic Initiative''), or Die PARTEI (''The PARTY''), is a German political party. It was founded in 2004 by the editors of the German satirical magazi ...

Career

Entertainment

In school, he founded the satirical

school newspaper A student publication is a media outlet such as a newspaper, magazine, television show, or radio station produced by students at an educational institution. These publications typically cover local and school-related news, but they may also repor ...

''Sophie's Underworld'' (german: link=no, Sophies Unterwelt) together with his younger brother, at the Hamburg . Its sale was banned on the school grounds by the school's headmistress, though it was continued to be sold from a

portable toilet A portable or mobile toilet (colloquial terms: thunderbox, portaloo, porta-john or porta-potty) is any type of toilet that can be moved around, some by one person, some by mechanical equipment such as a truck and crane. Most types do not require ...

. Since 2008, Semsrott has portrayed a depressive persona on

poetry slam A poetry slam is a competitive art event in which poets perform spoken word poetry before a live audience and a panel of judges. While formats can vary, slams are often loud and lively, with audience participation, cheering and dramatic delivery. ...

s and cabarets. He usually introduces himself to the audience as a “demotivational speaker”. This was also a profession on the ballot for the 2019 European elections. His first solo show, titled "Joy is just a lack of information" (german: link=no, Freude ist nur ein Mangel an Informationen), premiered on 14 June 2012 in Hamburg. He performed updated versions from Autumn 2014 until Christmas 2018. In 2019, Semsrott announced a pause in favor of his political work. Semsrott was part of the

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 ...

heute-show The ''heute-show'' ("(the) today show"; stylized in its logo as ''heute SHOW'') is a German Late night television, late-night news satire, satirical television program airing every Friday evening on public broadcasting channel ZDF. A conceptual ...

team from 2017 until 2019, hosting the segment ''No Fun Facts.''

Politics

Semsrott ran in the

2017 German federal election Federal elections were held in Germany on 24 September 2017 to elect the members of the 19th Bundestag. At stake were at least 598 seats in the Bundestag, as well as 111 overhang and leveling seats determined thereafter. The Christian Democr ...

as leading candidate for

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

for

, a satirical German political party, receiving 2.1% of the votes. In the 2019

European elections Elections to the European Parliament take place every five years by universal adult suffrage; with more than 400 million people eligible to vote, they are considered the second largest democratic elections in the world after India's. Until ...

, Semsrott was elected to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

as the second

party-list An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can ...

candidate (behind

Martin Sonneborn Martin Hans Sonneborn (born 15 May 1965) is a German politician and Member of the European Parliament (MEP). He is a founder and federal chairman of Die PARTEI. He was editor-in-chief of the satirical magazine ''Titanic'' from 2000 to 2005 and w ...

) from Die PARTEI. His party received 2.4%. Unlike other elections in Germany, there is no 5%

electoral threshold The electoral threshold, or election threshold, is the minimum share of the primary vote that a candidate or political party requires to achieve before they become entitled to representation or additional seats in a legislature. This limit can ...

concerning the European Parliament elections. In the preelection Semsrott criticized the lack of attention given to younger generations in a TV advertisement. A survey made after the election showed that votes for Die PARTEI came especially from first-time voters (about 9% of this group), who cast more votes for it than for the

SPD The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been t ...

or the FDP, two establishment parties. In May 2020 Semsrott revealed a series of thefts in the European Parliament. He has published a video about the incidents on his YouTube channel, where he criticizes the way the security staff is handling the investigation. He also published a timeline of the thefts and measures that were taken by him on his website. On the 13th of January 2021 he announced his party membership resignation from Die PARTEI after heavy controversies and accusations of racism and blackfacing aroused around the federal chairman

. Semsrott is going to continue his mandate in the European Parliament as an independent member of parliament.

Awards

* 2009: Winner NDR-Comedy Contest * 2010: Karl-Marx-Poesie-Preis * 2011:

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

er Besen, audience award * 2011: Kleines

Passau Passau (; bar, label=Central Bavarian, Båssa) is a city in Lower Bavaria, Germany, also known as the Dreiflüssestadt ("City of Three Rivers") as the river Danube is joined by the Inn from the south and the Ilz from the north. Passau's popu ...

er Scharfrichterbeil (3rd place) * 2011: Winner NDR-Comedy Contest * 2012: Die Freiburger Leiter * 2014: Bayerischer Kabarettpreis, Senkrechtstarter * 2017:

Deutscher Deutscher is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Alma Deutscher, British musician and composer *Drafi Deutscher, German singer and composer *Guy Deutscher (linguist) *Guy Deutscher (physicist) *Isaac Deutscher, British jou ...

Kleinkunstpreis, category

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or d ...

References

External links

*
Videos by and about Nico Semsrott
on the AV-Portal of the Technischen Informationsbibliothek {{DEFAULTSORT:Semsrott, Nico 1986 births Living people German cabaret performers Slam poets MEPs for Germany 2019–2024 Die PARTEI MEPs