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About
Absurdist, apolitical, confrontational; Hans Teeuwen’s work certainly ventures beyond the mainstream. The Dutch comedian, actor, singer and director incorporates clowning, virtuoso piano playing, mime, puppetry, songs and physical theatre into his acts.
Teeuwen is one of the Netherland’s most successful comedians, where he came to prominence as one half of the double act ‘Heist’ in 1991. Following the death of his ‘Heist’ partner, he went on to star in his first Dutch TV series, Hard en Zielig in 1994. Appearances in four other shows followed: Met een Breierdeck, Trui, Dat dan weer wel and Industry of Love.
In the UK Teeuwen has somewhat of a cult following, and after a 6 year break from the UK circuit his show ‘Real Rancour’ was met with sell out dates and much celebration from his fanatically loyal fan base.
Watch Hans Teeuwen: Live in London
The grandmaster of absurdity – Hans Teeuwen blends clowning, piano, mime and puppetry whilst waltzing the boundaries of taste and embarrassment. This is free spirit comedy of the highest pedigree that confronts some very real issues from aggression and anxiety to lust and politics. Oh, and there’s some improvised autoerotic yoga in there too…
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Bio
Hans Teeuwen first came to prominence in 1991 when he won an award at the prestigious Dutch cabaretfestival Cameretten for his double act cabaret show Heist, together with Roland Smeenk. Since then he has performed his stand-up, cabaret and music gigs to great acclaim and has attracted a huge following.
His most recent comedy tour, Real Rancour, in the Netherlands and Belgium sold all 68.000 tickets in 1 day when it went on sale February 2016, played festival audiences of 20.000 twice and sold all 18.500 revival tour tickets again.
He has a highly successful simultaneous career as a singer, performing with his band, Hans Teeuwen & The Painkillers, throughout Holland.
Although his work is not overtly political, Teeuwen has repeatedly and openly acted as a fervent supporter of free speech, especially after the murder of his friend and collaborator, the filmmaker Theo van Gogh. His eulogy for Theo van Gogh and his speech at the revealing of his memorial statue were shining (and cynical) examples of his views.
That same year Hans decided to try a new challenge: performing in English. He performed with the ‘Amsterdam Comedy Collective’ at the Edinburgh Comedy Rooms in August 2007 and was described as ‘the find of this year’s festival’ by the Guardian. In 2008 he played sold-out seasons at Soho Theatre, the Arts Theatre, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Battersea Arts Centre and Leicester Square Theatre. He returned to Britain in 2009 and 2010 to sell out seasons at LST and at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. He has also performed at numerous UK and Irish festivals including Latitude, Leicester Comedy Festival, Glasgow Comedy Festival, Cat Laughs Comedy Festival in Kilkenny and Manchester Comedy Festival.
He won a Chortle Award in 2008 and was nominated in 2010.
Homer Simpson produced the “radical genius” Dutch cabaretier Hans Teeuwen’s UK-tour of REAL RANCOUR in autumn 2016. He was described by Stewart Lee as “One of the greatest stand-ups ever” during his sold-out Soho Theatre run in September and received critical acclaim from the national press during his following short UK-tour and at Leicester Square Theatre season in November 2016. The show was picked by The Guardian as part of 2016 Top Comedy Shows.