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

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 occasional

filmmaker Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, castin ...

. His work has been described as absurdist,

apolitical Apoliticism is apathy or antipathy towards all political affiliations. A person may be described as apolitical if they are uninterested or uninvolved in politics. Being apolitical can also refer to situations in which people take an unbiased p ...

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 The arts, art of arranging sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Exact definition of music, definitions of mu ...

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 meanings ...

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 Theodor Holman (born 9 January 1953, in Amsterdam) is a Dutch journalist, presenter, and writer of Indo descent. He studied Dutch language and History at the University of Amsterdam. He was editor of the satirical student newspaper Propria Cures. ...

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

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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 Yanka Industries, Inc., doing business as MasterClass, is an American online education subscription platform on which students can access tutorials and lectures pre-recorded by experts in various fields. The concept for MasterClass was conceiv ...

'' 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 Crooner is a term used to describe primarily male singers who performed using a smooth style made possible by better microphones which picked up quieter sounds and a wider range of frequencies, allowing the singer to access a more dynamic ran ...

in an

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

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 gener ...

, ultimately resulting in a

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

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, together with his

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary * Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania * Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, ...

. In 2008, Teeuwen performed at the

North Sea Jazz Festival The North Sea Jazz Festival is an annual festival held each second weekend of July in the Netherlands at the Ahoy venue. It used to be in The Hague but since 2006 it has been held in Rotterdam. This is because the Statenhal where the festival wa ...

. 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 Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

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 id ...

. 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 The Soho Theatre is a theatre and registered charity in the Soho district of the City of Westminster, in London, England. It produces and presents new works of theatre, together with comedy and cabaret, across three performance spaces. The the ...

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 The Latitude Festival is an annual music festival that takes place in Henham Park, near Southwold, Suffolk, England. It was first held in July 2006 and has been held every year since, apart from 2020, when it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 ...

. In October 2008, he performed a show in the

Leicester Square Theatre The Leicester Square Theatre is a 400-seat theatre in Leicester Place, immediately north of Leicester Square, in the City of Westminster, London. It was previously known as Notre Dame Hall, Cavern in the Town and The Venue. The theatre hosts st ...

, London that was recorded for a future DVD release. In 2009, he performed at the

Leicester Comedy Festival The Leicester Comedy Festival is an annual comedy festival held in a number of venues across Leicester, England early in the year. History The festival started in 1994 with 40 events in 23 venues over 7 days throughout Leicestershire, attracti ...

and the

Belfast Festival at Queen's Belfast International Arts Festival, formerly known as Belfast Festival at Queen’s, claims to be the city’s longest running international arts event. Originally established in 1962, it was hosted by Queen’s University until 2015, after whi ...

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 stud ...

, in real life Teeuwen has repeatedly acted as a fervent supporter of freedom of speech, especially after the murder of his friend Theo van Gogh. His

eulogy A eulogy (from , ''eulogia'', Classical Greek, ''eu'' for "well" or "true", ''logia'' for "words" or "text", together for "praise") is a speech or writing in praise of a person or persons, especially one who recently died or retired, or a ...

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 t ...

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 garner ...

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