Joseph Jacobus Maria "Youp" van 't Hek (born 28 February 1954) is a Dutch, author, columnist, singer-songwriter, playwright, critic and former comedian.
Biography
Van 't Hek was born and raised in the
Gooi, an upper-class region to the southeast of
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
. In 1973 he changed his name from Joep to Youp. He was one of the founding members of Cabaret NAR (Cabaret Jester). In the early 1980s, Cabaret NAR's success declined and moved on as a solo artist.
His big break came in 1983 on
KRO's ''De alles is anders-show''. His energetic performance made him a household name overnight.
In his 1989 "
oudejaarsconference" (end-of-year show), he ridiculed
Buckler, a low-alcohol beer brewed by
Heineken
Heineken Lager Beer (), or simply Heineken (), is a Dutch pale lager beer with 5% alcohol by volume produced by the Dutch brewing company Heineken N.V. Heineken beer is sold in a green bottle with a red star.
History
On 15 February 1864, ...
. As a result sales plummeted and the brand was eventually withdrawn from the market. has often cited this as the best joke in his career and has subsequently referred to it in all his retrospective shows.
In 2021, Van 't Hek announced that he would stop as a comedian in 2024, when he turned 70 and had been a comedian for 50 years. The tour of his last show started in 2021. On May 25, 2024, he gave his last performance in the
Carré theater in Amsterdam.
On June 1, 2024, his last show was broadcast by
BNNVARA
BNNVARA () is a broadcasting association and network within the Dutch public broadcasting system.
History
BNNVARA was founded on 1 January 2014 through a merger of the BNN (founded 1997) and VARA (founded 1925) associations. These continued ...
, which was watched by 2.3 million people.
Van 't Hek is the brother of
field hockey
Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...
international
Tom van 't Hek.
Theater performances
With Cabaret NAR
* ''Your Youp for you'' (1973)
* ''Meer geluk dan wijsheid'' (''More luck than wisdom'') (1973)
* ''Gele ellebogen'' (''Yellow elbows'') (1974)
* ''Blaffende honden'' (''Barking dogs'') (1975)
* ''Alles in Wonderland'' (''Everything in Wonderland'') (1976)
* ''Romantiek met mayonnaise'' (''Romance with mayonnaise'') (1977)
* ''Geen vakantie voor Youp en Jan'' (N''o holiday for Youp and Jan'') (1978)
* ''Zat ik maar thuis met een goed boek'' (''If only I were at home with a good book'') (1979)
* ''Zonder twijfel'' (''Without doubt'') (1981)
Solo
* ''Man vermist'' (''Man missing'') (1982)
* ''Gebroken glas'' (''Broken glass'') (1983)
* ''Verlopen en verlaten'' (literally: ''Faded and abandoned'', or more freely: ''Down and out'') (1984)
* ''Tunnel zonder vluchtstrook'' (''Tunnel without emergency lane'') (1986) This is not a solo-show; he worked with (former) dutch actor Onno Molenkamp (Bukittinggi, 17 januari 1923 – Amsterdam, 11 juli 1990). It was Youp's only 2-men-show.
* ''Hond op het ijs'' (''Dog on ice'') (1987)
* ''Oudejaarsconference 1989'' (
Oudejaarsconference) (1989)
* ''Alles of nooit'' (''All or never'') (1991)
* ''Ergens in de verte'' (''Somewhere in the distance'') (1992)
* ''Spelen met je leven'' (''Playing with your life'') (1994)
* ''Oudejaarsconference'' 1995 (Oudejaarsconference) (1995)
* ''Scherven'' (''Shards'') (1996)
* ''De waker, de slaper & de dromer'' (''The guard, the sleeper & the dreamer'') (1998)
* ''Mond vol tanden'' (Oudejaarsconference) (1999)
* ''De wereld draait door'' (meaning both ''Life goes on'' and ''The world is going crazy'') (2000)
* ''Youp speelt Youp'' (''Youp playing Youp, Oudejaarsconference'') (2002)
* ''Prachtige paprika's'' (''Wonderful sweet peppers'') (2003)
* ''Het zelfmoordcommando'' (''The suicide command'') (2005)
* ''Schreeuwstorm'' (''Shoutstorm'') (2006)
* ''Troost'' (''Comfort, Oudejaarsconference'') (2008)
* ''Omdat de nacht'' (''Because the night'') (2009)
* ''De tweede viool'' (''The second violin, Oudejaarsconference'') (2011)
* ''Wigwam'' (2012)
* ''Mooie verhalen'' (''Beautiful stories'') (2014)
* ''Wat is de vraag?'' (''What is the question?, Oudejaarsconference'') (2014)
* ''Licht'' (Light) (2015–2017)
* ''Een vloek en een zucht'' (Oudejaarsconference) (2017)
* ''Met de kennis van nu'' (2018–2020)
* ''Korrel zout'' (Oudejaarsconference) (2020)
* ''De laatste ronde!'' (2021–2024)
Music
Van 't Hek has worked with a changing group of musicians to supply the music to the songs in his shows. The constant factor in his musical backup during almost his entire career has been
Ton Scherpenzeel (keyboardist of
Kayak
]
A kayak is a small, narrow human-powered watercraft typically propelled by means of a long, double-bladed paddle. The word ''kayak'' originates from the Inuktitut word '' qajaq'' (). In British English, the kayak is also considered to be ...
), who has composed almost all of his songs. In most of his shows he also worked with multi-instrumentalist Rens van der Zalm. The music to 's songs is mostly played on piano,
accordion
Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...
, violin and acoustic guitar, which reflects 's preference for classical music. One example of this is his rendition of the song
Flappie, ostensibly about a Christmas he experienced in 1961. In 2020, the song was covered by
Todd Rundgren
Todd Harry Rundgren (born June 22, 1948) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer who has performed a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the bands Nazz and Utopia. He is known for his sophistica ...
.
Columns and books
Van 't Hek has written columns on sports and later on general topics for NRC Handelsblad since 1988. Several collections of these columns have been published by Thomas Rap publishing. This company was founded by a friend of , and has printed the texts of 's shows from the very first, unsuccessful days, when publishing them seemed a waste of money. Because of this, never switched publishers. A list of the titles of his books that do not contain the texts of his shows:
Sports columns:
* Niks spel, knikkers ("Not the game, the marbles", it's the opposite of the saying: "It's not about the marbles, it's about the game", meaning that playing is more important than winning) (1989)
* Het hemd van de leeuw ("The undershirt of the lion", reference to a Dutch football song for their national team) (1990)
* Sportgek (Mad about sports) (1990)
* Floppie, Yourie en andere helden (Floppie, Yourie and other heroes) (1992)
* Eerst de man, dan de bal (First the player, then the ball) (1993)
* De selectie ("The selection"/"The squad", a compilation of his best sports columns) (1997)
General columns:
* Amah hoela (wordplay on
Amah, a domestic servant, and a Dutch expression "Amehoela" or "Aan m'n hoela", meaning "no way" or "my ass") (1994)
* Ik schreeuwlelijk (I bigmouth, with bigmouth used as a verb) (1995)
* En het bleef nog lang onrustig in mijn hoofd (And my mind remained restless for a long time) (1996)
* Majesteit, (Majesty, ) (1997)
* Fax (
Fax
Fax (short for facsimile), sometimes called telecopying or telefax (short for telefacsimile), is the telephonic transmission of scanned printed material (both text and images), normally to a telephone number connected to a printer or other out ...
) (1998)
* Zaterdag (Saturday) (1999)
* Het zal me jeuken (literally: "it could itch me", meaning "I couldn't care less") (2000)
* Iedereen is in de war (Everybody is confused/crazy) (2001)
* 166x Youp (a compilation of his best columns) (2001)
* Het platte land (literally: "The flat land", referring to the Netherlands, when written as "platteland" it means: "countryside") (2002)
* Liegangst (Fear of lying, wordplay on
Fear of flying
Fear of flying is the fear of being on an aircraft, such as an airplane or helicopter, while it is in flight. It is also referred to as flying anxiety, flying phobia, flight phobia, aviophobia, aerophobia, or pteromerhanophobia (although aero ...
) (2003)
* Hartjeuk en zieleczeem (Hartitch and souleczema) (2004)
* Het leven is wél leuk (Life IS fun, with the emphasis of denying that "Life sucks") (2005)
* Oelikoeli en andere goden ("Oelikoeli and other gods", Oelikoeli is a god made up. is its only believer, because he says that as soon as a god has more than one believer, the believers start fighting each other) (2006)
* Youp is leuk? ("Youp is fun?", a compilation of his best columns) (2007)
* Iedereen is eigenaar van iets (Everybody is the owner of something) (2007)
* Bacteriën moeten ook leven (Bacteria have to live too) (2008)
* Omdat jij mijn beste vriend bent (Because you're my best friend) (2009)
Other books:
* Rijke meiden ("Rich girls", short stories) (1991)
* Liedjes van A tot Z ("Songs from A to Z", an alphabetically ordered collection of lyrics) (2003)
* Komen & gaan, een week scharrelen rond Gare du Nord ("Coming and going, a week of wandering around Gare du Nord", poetry) (2004)
* De wonderlijke broertjes Pim en Pietje ("The amazing brothers Pim and Pietje", children's book) (2004)
* Bob & Youp (photographs by Bob Bronshoff with improvising a column on what just might be the story behind the picture) (2009)
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hek, Youp van 't
1954 births
Living people
Dutch atheists
Dutch male comedians
Dutch cabaret performers
Dutch comedy musicians
Dutch satirists
Dutch satirical musicians
Dutch comics writers
Dutch critics
Dutch humorists
Dutch male singers
Dutch male voice actors
Dutch republicans
Dutch humorous columnists
Dutch satirical columnists
Dutch male short story writers
Dutch short story writers
Dutch children's writers
Dutch sportswriters
Dutch television personalities
Dutch cabaret singers
Dutch male screenwriters
Dutch male singer-songwriters
Dutch singer-songwriters
Dutch male dramatists and playwrights
People from Naarden
Musicians from Amsterdam
Writers from Amsterdam
Anti-monarchists
Dutch male bloggers
20th-century Dutch dramatists and playwrights
21st-century Dutch dramatists and playwrights