Sjef van Oekel was a TV comedy character created by Dutch artist

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 ...

and played by Dutch comedian, singer and actor

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 ...

(1912–1997). Van Oekel started as a side character in '' De Fred Hachéshow'' in 1972, but became such a cult figure that he gained his own television show, ''

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 ...

'', songs and even a comic strip, all written by Schippers.

Character

created Sjef van Oekel in 1972 as a Belgian

french fries French fries (North American English), chips (British English), finger chips ( Indian English), french-fried potatoes, or simply fries, are '' batonnet'' or ''allumette''-cut deep-fried potatoes of disputed origin from Belgium and France. Th ...

salesman from the village

Reet Rumst (, old spelling: ''Rumpst'') is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Antwerp. Since 1976 the municipality not only comprises Rumst proper but also the towns of (old spelling: ''Reeth'') and , which were independent municipalit ...

. Schippers had never visited Reet, but had seen the name on a company manufacturing car accessories and enjoyed the

double entendre A double entendre (plural double entendres) is a figure of speech or a particular way of wording that is devised to have a double meaning, of which one is typically obvious, whereas the other often conveys a message that would be too socially ...

of the name ("Reet" means "crack" or "buttcrack" in Dutch). In line with his character's origin Van Oekel originally used a Flemish accent, but quickly dropped this in favor for his own Dutch accent. Van Oekel is typically dressed in a fine black

tuxedo Black tie is a semi-formal Western dress code for evening events, originating in British and American conventions for attire in the 19th century. In British English, the dress code is often referred to synecdochically by its principal element fo ...

and always talks and behaves in a refined manner, complete with

archaism In language, an archaism (from the grc, ἀρχαϊκός, ''archaïkós'', 'old-fashioned, antiquated', ultimately , ''archaîos'', 'from the beginning, ancient') is a word, a sense of a word, or a style of speech or writing that belongs to a hi ...

s. However something always went wrong during his presentations, either on the set or he himself tripped or went nauseous. Situations like these always lead to his well-known

catch phrase A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass ...

: "Ik word niet goed!" ("I'm starting to feel not well!"). Whenever Van Oekel said this he usually used a handkerchief to clean off the sweat on his forehead. In one controversial episode he threw up in the bicycle bag of his sidekick Evert van de Pik (played by Jaap Bar), which outraged Dutch journalist Henk van der Meyden so much that he started an unsuccessful campaign to get the program banned. Other well-known catch phrases of Van Oekel were "Als het ware..." ("As it were...") and "Pardon...reeds" ("Pardon... already").

History

The character made his debut in 1972, in '' De Fred Hachéshow'', a controversial television show created by

. He later returned in two later Schippers shows, '' Barend is weer bezig'' (1972–1973) and ''

'' (1974). The van Oekel character was ancillary in ''De Fred Hachéshow'' and ''Barend is weer bezig'', both of which had Barend Servet as the lead, but central in ''Van Oekel's Discohoek'', where he played the host of a music show on television that parodied popular music programs of the era. Van Oekel quickly became a

cult figure A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. A ...

with viewers. Brouwers recorded many Schippers-penned and other songs, most of which comic and dramatic. With

Manke Nelis Manke Nelis (born Cornelis Pieters; 1919-1993) was a Dutch singer in the levenslied genre. Career Manke Nelis was born in Groenlo on 16 December 1919 and began his musical career as a bass player, often accompanying his brother-in-law, accordionis ...

he recorded "Vis wordt duur betaald" (#46 in the Dutch charts in 1988), but his best known song is probably "Vette jus" (" auerkraut withgreasy gravy"), a dish still associated with him in a song that is little more than a list of Dutch dishes. The song was first performed on the 1973 Christmas special for '' Barend is weer bezig''; it was written by Schippers,

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 ...

, and

Clous van Mechelen Clous van Mechelen (born Jacob Philip (Jack) van Mechelen; 12 March 1941 in Amsterdam) is a Dutch musician, arranger, and actor. Van Mechelen scored a minor hit in 1969 with his band The Butlers, and became widely known through the radio and telev ...

Comic strip

In 1976

and

Theo van den Boogaard Theo van den Boogaard (born 25 March 1948, Castricum, Netherlands) – also known as Theo Bogart – is a Dutch cartoonist. He first came to attention as an underground cartoonist in the early 1970s for the sexually explicit comics series ''Ans ...

drew a celebrity comic strip series based on the character. Many stories and gags feature Van Oekel embarrassing other people or meeting rather eccentric and exhibitionistic people himself. Sjef van Oekel quickly became notorious for featuring very risqué subject matter, including religion, pornography,

pedophilia Pedophilia ( alternatively spelt paedophilia) is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although girls typically begin the process of puberty a ...

, prostitution, vulgar language, and so on. The stories were published in ''De Nieuwe Revu'' and sold well enough to be translated in French ("Léon Van Oukel", later "Léon La Terreur"), German ("Julius Patzenhofer", later "Leo, der Terrorist"), Danish and Spanish.

Brouwers' personal backlash

Van Oekel made a few media appearances in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but by 1984 this came to a halt too. Brouwers felt increasingly exploited by Schippers, especially regarding the comic strip. In 1989 he dragged Schippers and Van den Boogaard to court because the comic strip frequently portrayed him in vulgar situations without him earning a penny from it. The judge ruled in favor of Brouwers and decided that the series could continue, but the character was no longer allowed to be portrayed in "obscene or pornographic situations". A financial settlement was also agreed on. Whether van Oekel was just used or also abused by Schippers and others was the topic of a 2004 theater production. According to Hein Janssen, writing in ''

de Volkskrant ''de Volkskrant'' (; ''The People's Paper'') is a Dutch daily morning newspaper. Founded in 1919, it has a nationwide circulation of about 250,000. Formerly a leading centre-left Catholic broadsheet, ''de Volkskrant'' today is a medium-sized c ...

'', it is certainly true that Brouwers jumped at the opportunity to become a celebrity, but the extent to which Schippers and the other writers and directors pushed Brouwers (he balked, for instance, at having to simulate sex with an inflatable doll) is questionable.

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oekel, Sjef van Comedy television characters Television characters introduced in 1972

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 such ...

Dutch comics characters

Comics characters introduced in 1976

Fictional television personalities Fictional singers Fictional characters from Flanders Wim T. Schippers

Male characters in comics Male characters in television Television controversies in the Netherlands Controversies in the Netherlands Obscenity controversies in television Obscenity controversies in comics Comics controversies Dutch satire