Jan Böhmermann () (born 23 February 1981) is a German
satirist
This is an incomplete list of writers, cartoonists and others known for involvement in satire – humorous social criticism. They are grouped by era and listed by year of birth. Included is a list of modern satires.
Early satirical authors
*Aes ...
, journalist,
podcast
A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...
and television host. He also worked as a writer, producer, radio host, and is best known for his activism through
publicity stunt
In marketing, a publicity stunt is a planned event designed to attract the public's attention to the event's organizers or their cause. Publicity stunts can be professionally organized, or set up by amateurs. Such events are frequently utiliz ...
s.
Early life and education
Böhmermann was born and raised in
Bremen
Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...
. His mother had immigrated to Germany in the early 1970s, and was part of the German minority in Poland. His father died from
leukemia
Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...
when Böhmermann was 17 years old. Even though he remains silent about his private life, it is known that he has at least one child. He served as a
lay judge
A lay judge, sometimes called a lay assessor (law), assessor, is a person assisting a judge in a trial. Lay judges are used in some civil law (legal system), civil law jurisdictions. Lay judges are appointed volunteers and often require some legal ...
at the local court of
Cologne
Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...
.
Career
In 1997, Böhmermann gained his first journalistic experience at ''Die Norddeutsche'', a local edition of Bremen's daily newspapers. In 1999, he began working as a moderator and reporter at
Radio Bremen
Radio Bremen (), shortened to RB () is Germany's smallest Public broadcasting, public radio and television broadcaster and the legally mandated broadcaster for the city-state Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (which includes Bremerha ...
. He applied to three drama schools, was rejected every time, and a fourth time successfully at the
Hanover
Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...
Drama School, where he did not compete. He also dropped out of his studies at the
University of Cologne
The University of Cologne () is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in 1388. It closed in 1798 before being re-established in 1919. It is now one of the largest universities in Germany with around 45,187 students. The Universit ...
in history, sociology, and theater, film, and television studies.
In 2004, he moved to
1Live on WDR as a presenter and comedian. There he invented the column ''"Lukas' Tagebuch" (Lukas' Diary),'' a parody of the Cologne professional soccer player
Lukas Podolski
Lukas Josef Podolski (; born Łukasz Józef Podolski, , 4 June 1985) is a professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward or attacking midfielder for Ekstraklasa club Górnik Zabrze. He is kno ...
. Podolski sued against it without success and refused interview requests from ARD during the
2006 World Cup. For the
2008 European Soccer-Championship, Böhmermann launched the podcast "''Pod-Olski – Der EM-Podcast von Lukas''", which made it to the top of the
iTunes
iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...
podcast charts. In the follow-up series ''Lukas' WG,'' Böhmermann moved his main character into a shared apartment with the mascot of
1. FC Köln,
billy goat
The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a species of goat-antelope that is mostly kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the family Bo ...
''Hennes''.
In 2007, WDR television broadcast Böhmermann's six-part comedy show ''Echt Böhmermann''. In January 2009, Böhmermann founded the ''First Turkish Carnival Club of Germany (1st TKVD)'' as part of a
satirical
Satire is a genre of the visual arts, visual, literature, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently Nonfiction, non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ...
action for the RTL program ''TV-Helden''. This action inspired a group of Turkish carnivalists from
Dortmund
Dortmund (; ; ) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the List of cities in Germany by population, ninth-largest city in Germany. With a population of 614,495 inhabitants, it is the largest city ...
to found a real first Turkish carnival club. The program ''TV-Helden'' was awarded the 2009 German Television Prize in the category "Best Comedy Program". The program was also awarded the German Television Award. In the same year, Böhmermann published his first book ''Alles, alles über Deutschland – Halbwissen kompakt''. From 2009, Böhmermann was a member of the ensemble of
Harald Schmidt
Harald Franz Schmidt (born 18 August 1957) is a German actor, comedian, television presenter and writer best known as the host of two popular German late-night shows.
Early and private life
A son of refugees who fled from Sudetenland (now Cz ...
's program on ARD. Until 2011, the radio station 1Live ran the monthly satire and entertainment program "
''Die ganz große Jan Böhmermann Radioschau''.
In 2010, Böhmermann joined ''Lateline'' and wrote the column ''Gott fragt, Böhmermann antwortet (God asks, Böhmermann answers)'' for the youth edition of the ''
Süddeutsche Zeitung
The ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' (; ), published in Munich, Bavaria, is one of the largest and most influential daily newspapers in Germany. The tone of ''SZ'' is mainly described as centre-left, liberal, social-liberal, progressive-liberal, and ...
'' newspaper. Until April 2011, he hosted ''Beeck & Böhmermann'' on 1Live together with Simon Beeck.
Starting in January 2011, Böhmermann toured Germany for several weeks with
Klaas Heufer-Umlauf with the satirical
improv
Improv may refer to:
*Improvisation, an act of spontaneous invention
**Improvisational theatre (includes improvisational comedy)
**Musical improvisation
Musical improvisation (also known as musical extemporization) is the creative activity of im ...
cabaret show ''Zwei alte Hasen erzählen von früher''. With Heufer-Umlauf, Böhmermann hosted a bi-weekly show on
Radio Eins from November 2011 to September 2012 under the same title. Since Heufer-Umlauf's departure, he has hosted the show with singer-songwriter
Olli Schulz
Oliver Marc "Olli" Schulz (born 15 October 1973) is a German singer-songwriter, actor and presenter. He became known as a singer and guitarist of the indie rock group Olli Schulz & der Hund Marie and as a sidekick of Joko Winterscheidt and Klaas ...
. Initially under the new title "''Joko und Klaas mit Olli und Jan''", then under the title ''Sanft & Sorgfältig''. From March 2013, Schulz and Böhmermann weekly went on air. Since May 2014, ''Sanft & Sorgfältig'' was broadcast on Sundays by five other radio stations (
Bremen Vier
Bremen Vier (English: Bremen Four) is a radio station from Radio Bremen for the city of Bremen and Bremerhaven in the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. It broadcasts a hot adult contemporary format dominated by pop music and has been operating s ...
,
Dasding,
N-Joy
N-Joy (also ''N-JOY'') is a German, public radio station by the Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) made for listeners with an age between 14 and 39. The headquarters is in Hamburg
Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hambu ...
, Puls and
You FM) in addition to Radio Eins. In April 2016, Böhmermann announced that he would not continue the show. He rejected a connection with the Böhmermann-Erdoğan affair.
From September 2011 until the cancellation of the show, Böhmermann was on the team of the ''Harald Schmidt Show'' on
Sat.1. In 2019, Schmidt said of Böhmermann: "I knew early on that Böhmermann would never make it as a moderator. But that he would make it very far as a riot act, I also knew."
The talk show ''Roche & Böhmermann'' (co-hosted with
Charlotte Roche) was the first broadcast on
ZDFkultur
ZDFkultur (stylized as zdf.kultur) was a German free-to-air television channel owned by ZDF. It was launched on 7 May 2011, replacing ZDF theaterkanal. It mainly broadcast music shows, such as ''Later... with Jools Holland'', pop concerts and s ...
on 4 March 2012. After two seasons, the last edition was shown in October 2012. In January 2013, ZDF announced that there would be no continuation of the show due to disagreements between those involved.
In November and December 2012, he went on tour with ''Lateline'' through the cities of Bremen,
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...
,
Baden-Baden
Baden-Baden () is a spa town in the states of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg, south-western Germany, at the north-western border of the Black Forest mountain range on the small river Oos (river), Oos, ten kilometres (six miles) east of the ...
,
Magdeburg
Magdeburg (; ) is the Capital city, capital of the Germany, German States of Germany, state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is on the Elbe river.
Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archbishopric of Mag ...
, and
Hanover
Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...
. The shows were broadcast live on ''
EinsPlus''. Starting in April 2013, a second season with seven shows ran live from the Weserhaus in Bremen. The third season with five more shows was broadcast starting in November 2013.
Together with
Klaas Heufer-Umlauf, Böhmermann recorded the radio play ''Förderschulklassenfahrt'', which was continued in 2014 with the title ''Förderschulklassenfahrt 2 – Fünf Feinde und der Proletenhund''.
In October 2013,
Das Erste
Das Erste (; "The First") is the flagship national television channel of the ARD (broadcaster), ARD association of public broadcasting corporations in Germany. ''Das Erste'' is jointly operated by the ARD (broadcaster)#Institutions and member org ...
broadcast the program ''16 × Germany'', in which each German state was covered in 15-minute features. The focus was left to the authors. Böhmermann devoted himself to his hometown of Bremen. With his documentary-like satire, "audience and contributors were taken for a ride," as the media service ''Kressreport'' criticized. A museum expert interviewed by Böhmermann was deceived about the satirical intentions, and the film team put an invective into the mouth of a city hall doorman without consultation. Böhmermann completely invented two police officers who allegedly obstructed the filming and an alleged professor, without this being recognizable to the viewers. The responsible broadcaster, ''Radio Bremen'', defended Böhmermann's film as a
mockumentary
A mockumentary (a portmanteau of ''mock'' and ''documentary'') is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events, but presented as a Documentary film, documentary. Mockumentaries are often used to analyze or comment on current event ...
that "mercilessly uses and exaggerates the means of the documentary."
From October 2013 to December 2019, he hosted the political-satirical late-night show ''
Neo Magazin'' on
ZDFneo
ZDFneo is a German free-to-air television channel, programmed for an audience aged 25 to 49 to complement the primarily older-skewing main channels of public broadcasters ZDF and ARD. It replaced ZDF's documentary channel ZDFdokukanal on 1 N ...
. It was, like ''Roche & Böhmermann'', produced by bildundtonfabrik. ZDF has shown a repeat of the show on Friday nights since February 2015, since then named "addition Royale.
Starting in March 2014, Böhmermann went on tour in Germany with his stage program "''Schlimmer als Jan Böhmermann''", in which he preserves jokes and one-liners from his previous shows and publications.
In February 2014, the television station RTL announced that it would be testing ''Was wäre wenn?'', a new comedy program with Böhmermann,
Palina Rojinski, Katrin Bauerfeind and Jan Köppen. A pilot had been made back in 2012, and the first four episodes were recorded in March 2014 at the nobeo studios in
Hürth
Hürth () is a town in the Rhein-Erft-Kreis, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Hürth shares borders with the city of Cologne and is about 6 km to the southwest of Cologne city centre, at the northeastern slope of the natural preserve Natur ...
. The first episode was broadcast on 28 August 2014 on RTL. The series was nominated in the category Comedy for the German Television Award 2014.
Böhmermann was the author of the show ''Die unwahrscheinlichen Ereignisse im Leben von ...'' ("The unlikely events in the life of..."), which, like his own show, was produced by bildundtonfabrik. The show features a celebrity guest with sketches and live performances. On 20 July 2014, the first episode aired on WDR with guest
Frank Elstner.
In August 2015, Böhmermann and Olli Schulz announced in ''Neo Magazin Royale'' that they would produce a new edition of ''Roche & Böhmermann'' called ''Schulz & Böhmermann'' broadcast on ZDFneo starting on 10 January 2016. The texts introducing the invited guests were written and spoken by
Sibylle Berg. Ten more episodes followed in 2017, but at the end of the year, ''Schulz & Böhmermann'' was discontinued due to too low viewer numbers.
Since 15 May 2016, Schulz and Böhmermann have jointly hosted the podcast ''
Fest & Flauschig'' as a successor to their former show ''Sanft & Sorgfältig'' on Radio Eins. The podcast is produced for
Spotify
Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...
and in 2018, it was the most-streamed Spotify podcast worldwide. The podcast appeared weekly until early 2020. After 2020, when the podcast was expanded to twice weekly, Böhmermann and Schulz announced in the 18 March 2020 episode that due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
they would indefinitely release a shorter ''Fest und Flauschig: Zuhause'' podcast daily, i.e. from Tuesday to Friday and in addition to their regular Sunday podcast. These special shows aired in a weekday format from 26 March to 24 April. After the podcasts's summer break in 2024, Schulz and Böhmermann returned to recording and releasing ''
Fest & Flauschig'' once per week.
On 24 April 2017, Böhmermann became the first German comedian to guest on the U.S. talk show ''
Late Night''.
Böhmermann regularly advocates for the welfare of
refugee
A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...
s and criticizes European refugee policies. He particularly dislikes the bans, criminalization attempts, and threatened prosecution of private sea rescue services. In the case of the arrest of German captain and the seizure of the ''
Lifeline'' sea rescue ship in Malta in July 2018, Böhmermann launched a fundraising campaign and collected around 200,000 euros in favor of a legal aid fund. Also on the occasion of the arrest of German sea rescue captain
Carola Rackete
Carola Rackete (; born 8 May 1988) is a German conservation ecologist, activist, politician and former ship captain. She was elected to the European Parliament as an independent candidate for the Left Party on June 9, 2024.
Rackete participa ...
in Italy at the end of June 2019, Böhmermann, together with the presenter Klaas Heufer-Umlauf, called for donations for her and the German non-governmental organisation
Sea-Watch. Within a few days, almost one million euros was collected.
On 29 August 2019, Böhmermann announced in a satirical broadcast that he wanted to become SPD party chairman. A month later, he joined the party.
Controversies
"V for Varoufakis" video, 2015
In February 2015, Böhmermann's late-night show ''Neo Magazin Royale'' created the song and music video "''V for Varoufakis''". The title references ''
V for Vendetta
''V for Vendetta'' is a British graphic novel written by Alan Moore and illustrated by David Lloyd (comics), David Lloyd (with additional art by Tony Weare). Initially published between 1982 and 1985 in black and white as an ongoing Serial (li ...
'', which introduced the
Guy Fawkes mask as a symbol of rebellion. In addition to poking fun at Germans generally, the video explored the German fascination with Greek finance minister
Yanis Varoufakis
Ioannis Georgiou "Yanis" Varoufakis (; born 24 March 1961) is a Greek economist and politician. Since 2018, he has been Secretary-General of the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM25), a left-wing pan-European political party he co-founde ...
, who is regarded as articulate, physically attractive and having a stylish, unconventional fashion sense, while also portraying Greece's dependence on German money during the
Greek government-debt crisis
Greek may refer to:
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family
** Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kn ...
. Unlike most content on the ZDF program ''Neo Magazin Royale'', the song is in English rather than German.
The conclusion of the video shows an actual clip of Varoufakis in which he says "and
stick the finger to Germany, and say 'well, you can now solve this problem for yourself'. Right?" The clip shows Varoufakis
giving the finger. This clip had been taken out of context: Varoufakis had used a rhetorical example of what not to do. After TV host
Günther Jauch confronted Varoufakis with the video clip in an interview (still out of context), German news media made the issue of Varoufakis giving Germany the finger into a minor scandal.
The ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' ran an article with the title "German Media Want Greek Finance Minister's Head Over 'Fingergate'". Varoufakis himself briefly claimed that the video must have been doctored.
''
NZZ am Sonntag'' called for Günther Jauch to be fired for bad journalism.
In response to the claims of the middle finger being either fake or real, Böhmermann's ''Neo Magazine Royale'' created a false version of the video clip labelled ''#varoufake'', which claimed to show that Varoufakis had not given the finger, and that the clip ''Neo Magazine Royale'' had used in "''V for Varoufakis''" was indeed a fabrication. At 8:10 in the video, Böhmermann says the following:
This passage of the #varoufake video caused confusion; the
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
interpreted it as an admission that the video in which the finger was given was the original footage. However, as explained in the rest of the video, the editors of ''NEO Magazine Royal'' edited it. The media were unclear as to which version was not manipulated, and ZDF had to officially state that ''Neo Magazin Royale'' is satire and should not be taken at face value. Varoufakis himself praised Böhmermann's mockery of the German media on Twitter, writing "@janboehm Humour, satire & self deprecation are great solvents of blind nationalism. We politicians need you badly." Böhmermann won a
Grimme-Preis award for the manipulated finger video.
Erdoğan satire, 2016
In mid-March, the German political satire TV show ''
extra 3'' aired a critical song about Erdoğan, which led to protests of the Turkish government.
Two weeks later, on 31 March 2016 Böhmermann presented a poem named "''
Schmähkritik''" ("abusive criticism") about Turkish president
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician who is the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as the 25th prime minister of Turkey, prime minister from 2003 to 2014 as part of the Jus ...
in his satire show ''
Neo Magazin Royale'' on the
ZDF
ZDF (), short for (; ), is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Launched on 1 April 1963, it is run as an independent nonprofit institution, and was founded by all federal states of Germany ( ...
public channel. Afterwards, twenty people lodged a complaint. Proceedings instituted by the prosecutor's office for "insulting of organs and representatives of foreign states" were based on principles §103 and §104 in the
German penal code. In the satire, Böhmermann called Turkish president
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician who is the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as the 25th prime minister of Turkey, prime minister from 2003 to 2014 as part of the Jus ...
"the man who beats girls", and said that Erdoğan loved to "fuck goats and suppress minorities, kick Kurds, hit Christians, and watch child pornography."
Much of the rest of the poem was devoted to associating Erdoğan with various less accepted forms of sexuality. Böhmermann deliberately played with the limits of satire and said several times that this form of abusive criticism was not allowed in Germany.
The ZDF channel distanced itself from the poem and cut it out of the program which can be seen in its online media library (''Mediathek'').
[Türkei fordert Strafverfahren gegen Böhmermann](_blank)
Die Welt
(, ) is a German national daily newspaper, published as a broadsheet by Axel Springer SE.
is the flagship newspaper of the Axel Springer publishing group and it is considered a newspaper of record in Germany. Its leading competitors are the ...
, in German After a phone call with the Turkish prime minister
Ahmet Davutoğlu
Ahmet Davutoğlu (; born 26 February 1959) is a Turkish academic, politician and former diplomat who served as the List of Prime Ministers of Turkey, 26th Prime Minister of Turkey and Leader of the Justice and Development Party (Turkey), Justice ...
, Chancellor
Angela Merkel
Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German retired politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. She is the only woman to have held the office. She was Leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2005 and Leade ...
criticised the poem as "intentionally hurtful" ("bewusst verletzend"),
and prosecutors in
Mainz
Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...
planned to consult the federal Justice Ministry on whether to launch criminal proceedings. The Turkish government released a verbal note in which it demanded the criminal prosecution of Böhmermann.
According to the law, the government has to approve the demand for criminal prosecution by a foreign government, before criminal proceedings can be started because of §103/104
StGB. Therefore Angela Merkel accepted the request from Turkey to seek his prosecution, but stressed that the acceptance was not due to the merits of the prosecution case. In addition, Erdoğan himself made a complaint against Böhmermann as a private person because of the alleged insult. The vice minister president of Turkey,
Numan Kurtulmuş
Numan Kurtulmuş (born 15 September 1959) is a Turkish politician and academic who is currently the speaker of the Grand National Assembly.
He served as Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey in the 62nd, 63rd, 64th and 65th AKP governments between ...
, called the poem a "serious crime against humanity".
On 10 April 2016 the CEO of publishing house
Axel Springer SE
Axel Springer SE () is a European multinational corporation, multinational mass media, mass and online media company, based in Berlin, Germany. The company offers printing and publishing of advertisements, digital classifieds portfolio, marketi ...
,
Mathias Döpfner, made a plea for "solidarity with Jan Böhmermann". He compared Böhmermann's poem to the works of
Martin Kippenberger. He also referenced
Michel Houellebecq
Michel Houellebecq (; born Michel Thomas on 26 February 1956) is a French author of novels, poems, and essays, as well as an occasional actor, filmmaker, and singer. His first book was a biographical essay on the horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. H ...
's ''
Submission
Deference (also called submission or passivity) is the condition of submitting to the espoused, legitimate influence of one's superior or superiors. Deference implies a yielding or submitting to the judgment of a recognized superior, out of re ...
'' and accused the German government of
kowtow
A kowtow () is the act of deep respect shown by prostration, that is, kneeling and bowing so low as to have one's head touching the ground. In East Asian cultural sphere, Sinospheric culture, the kowtow is the highest sign of reverence. It w ...
ing to the Turks. The former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis wrote on Twitter: "Europe first lost its soul (agreement with Turkey on refugees), now it is losing its humour. Hands off @janboehm!" More than 100,000 people signed a petition for Böhmermann at
Change.org. In a satirical letter to president Erdoğan, the mayor of
Tübingen
Tübingen (; ) is a traditional college town, university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer (Neckar), Ammer rivers. about one in ...
,
Boris Palmer
Boris Erasmus Palmer (born 28 May 1972) is a German politician and former member of the Alliance '90/The Greens, Green Party. He has been mayor of Tübingen since January 2007. From March 2001 to May 2007, he was a member of the Landtag of Bade ...
(
Alliance 90/The Greens
Alliance 90/The Greens (, ), often simply referred to as Greens (, ), is a Green (politics), green political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 by the merger of the Greens (formed in West Germany in 1980) and Alliance 90 (formed in East Ger ...
), assured Erdoğan his "solidarity" and demanded the extradition of Böhmermann to Turkey. "Cut off Böhmermann's testicles, so he never makes fun of presidents with a short dick again", he wrote. The letter is signed "most respectfully, Boris Palmer".
[Palmer macht sich für Auslieferung Böhmermanns stark](_blank)
Die Welt
(, ) is a German national daily newspaper, published as a broadsheet by Axel Springer SE.
is the flagship newspaper of the Axel Springer publishing group and it is considered a newspaper of record in Germany. Its leading competitors are the ...
, in German
An April 2016
YouGov
YouGov plc is a international Internet-based market research and data analytics firm headquartered in the UK with operations in Europe, North America, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific.
History
2000–2010
Stephan Shakespeare and Nadhim ...
poll revealed, that a majority of the Germans supported Böhmermann's position. 48 percent of the pollees found the poem appropriate, 29 percent view it as undue. A great majority (66 percent) opposed the deletion of the poem on the ZDF website as well as Merkel's criticism of the poem as "intentionally hurtful" (68 percent). Only 15% support a criminal investigation, with 77% against.
In April 2016 it was reported that Böhmermann was under police protection, because he was threatened by supporters of Erdoğan.
The filming of the upcoming edition of ''Neo Magazin Royale'' was cancelled due to "massive media reporting and the focus on the programme and the presenter".
Böhmermann had also cancelled his radio show ''Sanft & Sorgfältig'' on Sunday and his appearance at the
Grimme Awards, where he was awarded for his Varoufakis video.
In October 2016, prosecutors dropped the case, saying they had not found sufficient evidence to continue the inquiry against Böhmermann. Subsequently, in 2018, the rarely used paragraph 103 of Germany's penal code, which criminalized
insults against foreign heads of state, under which Böhmermann was indicted, was abolished.
Works
Radio
* 1999–2004:
Radio Bremen
Radio Bremen (), shortened to RB () is Germany's smallest Public broadcasting, public radio and television broadcaster and the legally mandated broadcaster for the city-state Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (which includes Bremerha ...
* 2009–2011: ''Die ganz große Jan Böhmermann Radioschau''
* 2010–2013: ''Lateline''
* 2011–2012: ''Zwei alte Hasen erzählen von früher'', with
Klaas Heufer-Umlauf
* 2012: ''Joko und Klaas mit Olli und Jan'', with
Olli Schulz
Oliver Marc "Olli" Schulz (born 15 October 1973) is a German singer-songwriter, actor and presenter. He became known as a singer and guitarist of the indie rock group Olli Schulz & der Hund Marie and as a sidekick of Joko Winterscheidt and Klaas ...
* 2012–2016: ''Sanft & Sorgfältig'', with Olli Schulz
Podcast
* 2012 – 2016 ''Sanft & Sorgfältig'', with Olli Schulz
* since 2016: ''Fest & Flauschig'' (
Spotify
Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...
), with Olli Schulz
Television
* 2007: ''Echt Böhmermann'' (
WDR Fernsehen)
* 2009: ''TV Helden'' (
RTL)
* 2012: ''Roche & Böhmermann'' (
ZDFkultur
ZDFkultur (stylized as zdf.kultur) was a German free-to-air television channel owned by ZDF. It was launched on 7 May 2011, replacing ZDF theaterkanal. It mainly broadcast music shows, such as ''Later... with Jools Holland'', pop concerts and s ...
), with
Charlotte Roche
* 2012–2013: ''Lateline'' (
EinsPlus)
* 2013–2014: ''
Neo Magazin'' (
ZDFneo
ZDFneo is a German free-to-air television channel, programmed for an audience aged 25 to 49 to complement the primarily older-skewing main channels of public broadcasters ZDF and ARD. It replaced ZDF's documentary channel ZDFdokukanal on 1 N ...
)
* 2014: ''Was wäre, wenn?'' (
RTL), with
Palina Rojinski, Katrin Bauerfeind and Jan Köppen
* 2015–2019: ''
Neo Magazin Royale'' (
ZDFneo
ZDFneo is a German free-to-air television channel, programmed for an audience aged 25 to 49 to complement the primarily older-skewing main channels of public broadcasters ZDF and ARD. It replaced ZDF's documentary channel ZDFdokukanal on 1 N ...
,
ZDF
ZDF (), short for (; ), is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Launched on 1 April 1963, it is run as an independent nonprofit institution, and was founded by all federal states of Germany ( ...
)
* 2016–2017: ''Schulz & Böhmermann'' (
ZDFneo
ZDFneo is a German free-to-air television channel, programmed for an audience aged 25 to 49 to complement the primarily older-skewing main channels of public broadcasters ZDF and ARD. It replaced ZDF's documentary channel ZDFdokukanal on 1 N ...
), with Olli Schulz
* Since 2018: ''Lass dich überwachen!'' (
ZDF
ZDF (), short for (; ), is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Launched on 1 April 1963, it is run as an independent nonprofit institution, and was founded by all federal states of Germany ( ...
)
* Since 2020: ''ZDF Magazin Royale'' (
ZDF
ZDF (), short for (; ), is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Launched on 1 April 1963, it is run as an independent nonprofit institution, and was founded by all federal states of Germany ( ...
)
Books
; Print
* 2016: ''Alles, alles über Deutschland. Halbwissen kompakt.'' (''Everything, everything about Germany. Superficial knowledge compact.'') (
Kiepenheuer & Witsch)
* 2020: ''Gefolgt von niemandem, dem du folgst: Twitter-Tagebuch. 2009–2020.'' (''Not Followed by Anyone You Follow. Twitter Diary 2009–2020.'') (Kiepenheuer & Witsch)
; Audio
* 2005: ''Da Original Shaggä – Biddebaba''. (G+H Hamburg)
* 2009: ''Lukas' Tagebuch live'' (Roof Music)
* 2009: ''Jan Böhmermann liest Alles, alles über Deutschland'' (Roof Music)
* 2013: ''Förderschulklassenfahrt'' (Roof Music), along with
Klaas Heufer-Umlauf
* 2014: ''Förderschulklassenfahrt 2: Fünf Feinde und der Proletenhund'' (Roof Music), along with Klaas Heufer-Umlauf
Albums
* 2016: ''Neo Magazin Royale: Live in Concert''
Singles
* 2015: ''V for
Varoufakis''
* 2015: ''Mit wem war Mutti im Bett?'' ("Who was mummy in bed with?")
* 2015: ''Besoffen bei Facebook'' ("Drunk on Facebook")
* 2015: ''Baby Got Laugengebäck''
* 2015: ''
Ich hab Polizei'' ("I have police"), as POL1Z1STENS0HN a.k.a. Jan Böhmermann
* 2016: ''Be Deutsch!'' ("Be German!")
* 2016: ''Blasserdünnerjunge macht sein Job'' ("Pale-skinny-boy does his job"), as POL1Z1STENS0HN a.k.a. Jan Böhmermann
* 2016: ''Grab US by the Pussy''
* 2017: ''
Menschen Leben Tanzen Welt'' ("Humans Life Dancing World"), as Jim Pandzko feat. Jan Böhmermann
* 2019: ''Herz und Faust und Zwinker Zwinker'' ("Heart and Fist and Winker Winker") as POL1Z1STENS0HN
* 2020: ''Bürgermeister'' ("Mayor"), as POL1Z1STENS0HN
* 2021: ''Ischgl-Fieber (Husti Husti Heh!)'' ("
Ischgl
Ischgl () is a town in the Paznaun valley in the Austrian state of Tyrol. Its ski resort is connected with that of Samnaun across the border in Switzerland to form one of the largest in the Alps. Ischgl was a major hotspot in 2020 of the COVID-19 ...
fever (cough cough heh!)"), as Tommy Tellerlift feat. the Fangzauner Schneebrunzer
* 2021: ''Warum hört der Fahrradweg einfach hier auf?'' ("Why is the
bike path
A bike path or a cycle path is a bikeway separated from motorized traffic and dedicated to cycling or shared with pedestrians or other non-motorized users. In the US a bike path sometimes encompasses '' shared use paths'', "multi-use path", or ...
just ending here?")
* 2022: ''Micha (Was hast Du mir nur angetan?)'' ("Micah (What Have You Done to Me?)"), as Jürgen Michaels
* 2022: ''Right Time to Thiel''
* 2022: ''Lass das Gürteltier in Ruhe!'' ("Leave the Armadillo Alone!"), as Jan Zookowski
Stage programs
* 2005: Boombastic Fantastic – ein Schmuseabend mit Da Original Shaggä, Comedy
* 2007: Lukas' Auswärtsspiel, Reading
* 2008: Lukas' Auswärtsspiel – Saison 2008/2009, Reading
* 2009: Lukas' Rückspiel – Saison 2008/2009, Reading
* 2009: Alles, alles über Deutschland, Lecture tour
* 2009: Die ganz große Jan Böhmermann Radio-Show, Comedy
* 2011: Zwei alte Hasen erzählen von früher, Comedy, along with
Klaas Heufer-Umlauf
* 2014: Schlimmer als Jan Böhmermann, Cabaret/Comedy
Executive producer
* 2014–2016: ''Die unwahrscheinlichen Ereignisse im Leben von …''
Awards
* 2009: ''
Deutscher Fernsehpreis
The Deutscher Fernsehpreis (''German Television Award'') is an annual German award for television programming, created in 1999, by German television channels Das Erste, ZDF, RTL (German TV channel), RTL and Sat.1. It was created to be an equivalen ...
'' in the category ''Best Comedy'' for ''TV Helden''
* 2013: ''Entertainment Journalist of the Year'' 2012 (Medium Magazin)
* 2013: ''
Grimme-Preis'' nomination in the category ''Entertainment'' for ''Roche & Böhmermann''
* 2014: ''Grimme-Preis'' in the category ''Entertainment'' for ''
Neo Magazin''
* 2014: ''Journalist of the Year'' in the category ''Entertainment/Culture''
* 2016: ''Deutscher Fernsehpreis'' in the category ''Best Late Night Entertainment'' for ''
Neo Magazin Royale''
* 2016: ''Grimme-Preis'' in the category ''Entertainment/Special/Innovation'' for ''#Varoufake'' in the program ''Neo Magazin Royale''
* 2016: ''Grimme Honor Award''
* 2017: ''
Goldene Kamera Digital Award'' in the category ''viral clip'' for ''BE DEUTSCH''
* 2017: ''Deutscher Fernsehpreis'' in the category ''Best Late Night Entertainment'' for ''
Neo Magazin Royale''
* 2017: ''Grimme-Preis'' in the category ''Entertainment/Special/Innovation'' for ''#verafake / Einspielerschleife'' in the program ''Neo Magazin Royale''
* 2017: Award of the ''German Academy of Television'' in the category ''Entertainment'' for ''Schulz & Böhmermann''
* 2018: ''Grimme-Preis'' in the category ''Entertainment'' for ''
Eier aus Stahl – Max Giesinger und die deutsche Industriemusik'' in the program ''Neo Magazin Royale''
* 2023:
Karl-Eduard-von-Schnitzler-Preis', a satirical prize named after Karl Eduard von Schnitzler, who was a leading journalist (and as such responsible for disinformation and propaganda in the interest of the communist regime) in the state broadcasting corporation of the German Democratic Republic
Notes
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bohmermann, Jan
1981 births
Living people
Mass media people from Bremen (city)
German male comedians
German television presenters
German satirists
German male poets
21st-century German poets
German satirical poets
German comedy musicians
German satirical musicians
Radio show creators
Satirical radio show creators
German television show creators
German satirical television show creators
German television journalists
ZDF people
Westdeutscher Rundfunk people
Radio Bremen people
Comedians from Bremen (state)