Hans Eduard Marie Teeuwen (born 3 March 1967) is a Dutch

comedian A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolish (as in slapstick), or employing prop comedy. A comedian who addresses an audienc ...

, musician,

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), lit ...

and occasional filmmaker. His work has been described as absurdist, apolitical and confrontational.

Dutch career

Theatre

In the Netherlands, Teeuwen became well known in 1991 when he won an award at the Dutch

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 dinin ...

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''Cameretten'' for his show ''Heist'', together with his friend Roland Smeenk. Just before the ending of the try-outs of this show, Smeenk died in a car accident in 1992. Teeuwen decided to go solo as a ' ''cabaretier'''. (Dutch cabaret is a sort of

stand-up comedy Stand-up comedy is a comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up. Stand-up comedy consists of one-liners, stories, ...

often lasting for an hour or two, which has a storyline or theme, and can include

song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetiti ...

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...

and

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek '' poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meani ...

as opposed to purely stand-up comedy.) Initially he did five shows, ''Hard en Zielig'' (''Hard and Sad'', 1994–1995), ''Met een Breierdeck'' (''With a Knitter's Deck'', 1995–1997), ''Trui'' (''Sweater'', 1999–2000), ''Dat Dan Weer Wel'' (2001–2002, ''So There's That'') and ''Industry of Love'' (2003–2004). Then after seven years he made a comeback in 2011 with his show ''Spiksplinter'' (''Brand Spanking''), followed some years later by ''Echte Rancune'' (''Real Rancour'') in 2016. One of the other comedy projects he has worked on is ''Poelmo, Slaaf van het Zuiden'' (''Poelmo, Slave of the South''), a series of shorter comedy shows with his friends and colleagues Pieter Bouwman and Gummbah. Bouwman and Teeuwen also worked together on a radio comedy show that was mainly improvised, called '' Mannen van de Radio'' (''The Men on the Radio'').

TV & film

Apart from a few comic parts with popular Dutch absurdistic comedy group Jiskefet, he acted in the 1999 film '' Jezus is een Palestijn'' (''Jesus is a Palestinian''). Together with Theodor Holman he co-created the idea for the film ''

Interview An interview is a structured conversation where one participant asks questions, and the other provides answers.Merriam Webster DictionaryInterview Dictionary definition, Retrieved February 16, 2016 In common parlance, the word "interview" ...

'', directed by Theo van Gogh in 2003 (and

remade Bas-Lag is the fictional world in which several of English author China Miéville's novels are set. Bas-Lag is a world where both magic (referred to as "thaumaturgy") and steampunk technology exist, and is home to many intelligent races. It is in ...

in 2007 in the USA by

Steve Buscemi Steven Vincent Buscemi ( ,As stated in interviews by Buscemi himself, some may insist that his pronunciation of his own name is "wrong" because it does not match the original Italian pronunciation as well. It is not uncommon for people to pronou ...

). He wrote and directed the film '' Masterclass'' in 2005. A couple of years later, he starred in the film ''Gewoon Hans'' (''Just Hans''), written and directed by friend and colleague Diederik Ebbinge from comedy group De Vliegende Panters ("The Flying Panthers"); this film premiered on Dutch television on 30 December 2009, and was released on DVD in January 2010.

Singing career

From 2006 onwards, Teeuwen performed as a crooner in an

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nightclub A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gen ...

, ultimately resulting in a DVD titled ''Hans Teeuwen Zingt'' (literal English: ''Hans Teeuwen Sings''), on which he sings songs by artists such as

Billie Holiday Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday had an innovative influence on jazz music and pop s ...

and

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the " Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular entertainers of the 1940s, 1950s, and ...

, together with his band. In 2008, Teeuwen performed at the North Sea Jazz Festival. He released a CD consisting of self-written songs, titled ''How It Aches'', in March 2010. A CD in Dutch language titled ''Popstukken'' appeared in 2015.

International career

In 2005, Teeuwen announced he would no longer perform, incidentally coinciding with the politically motivated assassination of director and close friend Theo van Gogh. However, in 2007 he decided to try a new challenge: performing in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

. He appeared at the 2007

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

as part of the Amsterdam Underground Comedy Collective, which spurred him to do a longer show. In 2008 he performed solo at the Soho Theatre in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. He also returned to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2008, and performed at Suffolk's 2008 Latitude Festival. In October 2008, he performed a show in the Leicester Square Theatre, London that was recorded for a future DVD release. In 2009, he performed at the Leicester Comedy Festival and the Belfast Festival at Queen's.

Political views

Although his work is typically devoid of

politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

, in real life Teeuwen has repeatedly acted as a fervent supporter of

freedom of speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recogni ...

, especially after the

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the ...

of his friend Theo van Gogh. His eulogy and speech at the unveiling of a statue in memory of Van Gogh was an example of his views. A

video clip Video clips refer to mostly short videos, most of the time called memes, which are short videos of silly jokes and funny clips, most of the time coming from movies or any entertainment videos such as YouTube. The term is also used more loosely ...

of Teeuwen advocating freedom of speech while being interviewed by three female Muslim

TV presenter A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces, hosts television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. Nowadays, it is common for people who garne ...

s was chosen as "Dutch TV Moment of 2007".

Personal life

Hans Teeuwen's girlfriend Eva Boeter gave birth to his first child, daughter Nika Teeuwen, in September 2013.

References

External links

HansTeeuwen.tv
*
Hans Teeuwen
at The World Stands Up
Hans Teeuwen
at Chortle * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Teeuwen, Hans 1967 births Living people 21st-century pianists Controversies in the Netherlands Film controversies in the Netherlands Dutch cabaret performers Dutch comedy musicians Dutch film directors Dutch humorists Dutch impressionists (entertainers) Dutch male film actors Dutch pianists Dutch republicans Dutch satirists Dutch stand-up comedians Dutch surrealist artists Obscenity controversies in stand-up comedy Obscenity controversies in television Obscenity controversies in theatre Obscenity controversies in film People from Cranendonck Religious controversies in stand-up comedy Religious controversies in television Religious controversies in theatre Religious controversies in film Surreal comedy Television controversies in the Netherlands Religious controversies in the Netherlands