Hermann José von Krippahl , known as Herman José (born 19 March 1954), is a Portuguese-born German
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 audience dir ...
, television
host
A host is a person responsible for guests at an event or for providing hospitality during it.
Host may also refer to:
Places
*Host, Pennsylvania, a village in Berks County
People
* Jim Host (born 1937), American businessman
* Michel Host ...
,
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 (), l ...
and
musician
A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who w ...
. He is best known for his numerous TV shows and
comedy sketches
Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term orig ...
. Starting his career in the mid-1970s, Hermann José has become one of Portugal's most recognized comedians and TV personalities, featuring in some of his shows, among others,
Amália Rodrigues
Amália da Piedade Rebordão Rodrigues GCSE, GCIH (23 July 1920 – 6 October 1999), better known as Amália Rodrigues () or popularly as Amália, was a Portuguese ''fadista'' (fado singer) and actress.
Known as the 'Rainha do Fado' ("Queen o ...
,
Kylie Minogue
Kylie Ann Minogue (; born 28 May 1968) is an Australian singer, songwriter and actress. She is the highest-selling female Australian artist of all time, having sold over 80 million records worldwide. She has been recognised for reinve ...
,
Ramalho Eanes Ramalho is a Portuguese surname. Ramalho may refer to:
People
* João Ramalho (1493–1580), Portuguese explorer
* Ramalho Ortigão (1836–1915), Portuguese writer
* Rosa Ramalho (1888–1977), Portuguese ceramist
*José Ramalho (rower) (1901–?u ...
,
Tony Bennett
Anthony Dominick Benedetto (born August 3, 1926), known professionally as Tony Bennett, is an American retired singer of traditional pop standards, big band, show tunes, and jazz. Bennett is also a painter, having created works under his bir ...
,
Roger Moore
Sir Roger George Moore (14 October 192723 May 2017) was an English actor. He was the third actor to portray fictional British secret agent James Bond in the Eon Productions film series, playing the character in seven feature films between 1 ...
,
Cher
Cher (; born Cherilyn Sarkisian; May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Often referred to by the media as the "Goddess of Pop", she has been described as embodying female autonomy in a male-dominated industr ...
and
Joan Collins
Dame Joan Henrietta Collins (born 23 May 1933) is an English actress, author and columnist. Collins is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award, a People's Choice Award, two Soap Opera Digest Awards and a Primetime ...
.
He also opened for
Frank Sinatra's first and only concert in
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, In recognized minority languages of Portugal:
:* mwl, República Pertuesa is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula, in Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Macaronesian ...
.
Early life
Herman was born in
Lisbon to a Portuguese mother and a Spanish-German father on March 19, 1954. His father worked in a marble company and was an amateur filmmaker. Herman was featured in some of his father's films early in his life. Herman attended
Lisbon's German School, and starred in all of his school's
suite
Suite may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
*Suite (music), a set of musical pieces considered as one composition
** Suite (Bach), a list of suites composed by J. S. Bach
** Suite (Cassadó), a mid-1920s composition by Gaspar Cassadó
** ''Suite' ...
s.
At age 18, he made his TV debut as the bassist of a musical trio on juvenile program.
In 1972, at the time of
Salazar's
Estado Novo regime, Herman was forced to either choose Portuguese citizenship and
conscript
Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day u ...
to military service or to accept his German citizenship and leave the country. He decided on the latter and enrolled on
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
's School of Television and Film (Hochschule für Film und Bild), which he would never attend.
With the 1974
Carnation Revolution
The Carnation Revolution ( pt, Revolução dos Cravos), also known as the 25 April ( pt, 25 de Abril, links=no), was a military coup by left-leaning military officers that overthrew the authoritarian Estado Novo regime on 25 April 1974 in Lis ...
, Herman ended up staying in Portugal.
Career
Herman started his acting career with the 1975 piece "Uma no Cravo, Outra na Ditadura" a film that also featured notable Portuguese actor and screenwriter
Nicolau Breyner
João Nicolau de Melo Breyner Moreira Lopes GOIH GOM (30 July 1940 – 14 March 2016), better known as Nicolau Breyner, was a Portuguese actor, screenwriter, producer, director and television host. He was one of the most well-known figures in ...
. In 1977 Herman releases his first single "Saca o Saca-Rolhas", which reached gold.
Herman José's professional career started in 1973–4 doing studio choruses (mostly on
protest song
A protest song is a song that is associated with a movement for social change and hence part of the broader category of ''topical'' songs (or songs connected to current events). It may be folk, classical, or commercial in genre.
Among social mov ...
s spun by the
Carnation Revolution
The Carnation Revolution ( pt, Revolução dos Cravos), also known as the 25 April ( pt, 25 de Abril, links=no), was a military coup by left-leaning military officers that overthrew the authoritarian Estado Novo regime on 25 April 1974 in Lis ...
of April 1974) and acting in
revue
A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance, and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own du ...
s. His first leap to national fame was in 1975, invited by comedian
Nicolau Breyner
João Nicolau de Melo Breyner Moreira Lopes GOIH GOM (30 July 1940 – 14 March 2016), better known as Nicolau Breyner, was a Portuguese actor, screenwriter, producer, director and television host. He was one of the most well-known figures in ...
on to his TV show "Nicolau no País das Maravilhas", where he performed opposite the host in a weekly skit called "Sr. Feliz e Sr. Contente" ("Mr. Happy and Mr. Content"). His first big success as an author and performer was with ''O Tal Canal'' ("That Channel"), where he played several characters appearing on a fictitious TV channel. With this show, Herman José was attempting to shape the sense of humour of the Portuguese in the wake of the revolution that had ended almost fifty years of totalitarianism under the
Estado Novo regime.
''Hermanias'' continued his huge success, but the state channel
RTP cancelled ''Humor de Perdição'', his next show, after a sketch based on
Saint Elizabeth of Portugal
Elizabeth of Aragon, more commonly known as Saint Elizabeth of Portugal, T.O.S.F. (1271 – 4 July 1336; ''Elisabet'' in Catalan, ''Isabel'' in Aragonese, Portuguese and Spanish), was queen consort of Portugal, a tertiary of the Francisc ...
caused public outrage. He then turned mainly to daily
gameshow
A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or demonstrative and are typically directed by a host, ...
s like ''
Wheel of Fortune The Wheel of Fortune or ''Rota Fortunae'' has been a concept and metaphor since ancient times referring to the capricious nature of Fate. Wheel of Fortune may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Art
* ''The Wheel of Fortune'' (Burne-Jo ...
''
and ''Com a Verdade m'Enganas'' ("With the Truth You Fool Me"), and the talk/game show ''Parabéns'' ("Happy Birthday"). These shows had straight formats that he used for comedy. He returned to comedy in the 1990s, with ''Herman Enciclopédia'' and ''Herman 98'', although for the first time the shows were mainly written by other people (from the company Produções Fictícias).
Later career
In 2000, Herman José moved from RTP to the private channel
SIC
The Latin adverb ''sic'' (; "thus", "just as"; in full: , "thus was it written") inserted after a quoted word or passage indicates that the quoted matter has been transcribed or translated exactly as found in the source text, complete with any e ...
, for a reported 1.5 million euros a year, to host a late-night show called ''HermanSic''.
Its sexual innuendo and X-rated acts resulted in low ratings. An attempt to go family-friendly in 2006 was also a failure. In 2007 he presented a new sketch show called ''Hora H'' ("The Eleventh Hour"),
and in 2008 he began a new game show called ''
Chamar a Música'', which was a success. Then, in September, he began a new series of ''Wheel of Fortune'', once again on SIC.
From July to September 2009 he presented ''Nasci p'ra Cantar'' ("Born to Sing"), this time on
TVI.
In 2009, he received the Top Choice Award for Top International Television Personality of Portugal.
After hosting late-night talk shows on the Portuguese television network
RTP1
RTP1 (''RTP um'') is a Portuguese free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP). It is the company's flagship television channel, and is known for broadcasting mains ...
, from 2010 to 2013, and the afternoon talk show ''Há Tarde'' (translating literally as "There is afternoon", but serving also as a pun on ''à tarde'', or "in the afternoon"), alongside
Vanessa Oliveira, Herman returned to comedy, premiering the sitcom ''Nelo e Idália'' on RTP1 in October 2015.
In 2018, he played the character David Attenburger (a pun on
David Attenborough
Sir David Frederick Attenborough (; born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster, biologist, natural historian and author. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit, the nine natural histor ...
) in two filmed skits during the intervals of the semi-finals of the
Eurovision Song Contest held in Lisbon. As Attenburger, he parodied Portugal and its habits in the style of Attenborough's TV series ''
Planet Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surface ...
'', titled ''Planet Portugal''.
Outside television
Herman José was a singer and had a popular
one-man-show, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, which he performed both in Portugal and abroad, entertaining groups of Portuguese emigrants. His discs "Saca o Saca-Rolhas" ("Screw the Corkscrew", 1977) and "Canção do Beijinho" ("The Kiss Song", 1980) both reached
gold record
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile meta ...
status.
He used to own Café Café and Bastidores, two popular bar/restaurants in Alcântara,
Lisbon, where he performed
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, ...
once a week. He is also a partner in the seafood restaurant Jardim do Marisco and the Tivoli Theatre, both also in Lisbon. His expensive tastes include high-end automobiles and motorbikes. He currently owns two
Bentley
Bentley Motors Limited is a British designer,