"Ich bin dann mal weg" was a bestseller by Hape Kerkeling, which brought many interested readers a little closer to the Way of St. James.
After that, however, it became quiet around the otherwise so shrill and happy Kerkeling. Since 2014, the presenter, comedian and voice actor was no longer regularly seen on television.
But that is set to change in 2022. The fans are happy. The news about Kerkeling's comeback spread like wildfire.
"I make myself scarce because I want to make myself scarce!"
... Kerkeling explained in an interview with dpa in March 2014. The comedian justified his decision to stop appearing so often on TV by saying that he felt he was too omnipresent. He therefore took a longer break.
Henning Tewes, the managing director of RTL Television and co-director of TVNow, is now planning to fundamentally renew the broadcast concept and further expand the program. Part of said renewal is to bring the popular comedy star back in front of the camera.
Hape Kerkeling is to lure viewers in front of the screen with his manner and charm in several shows at once. First, he will take on the lead role in a new fictional series. In addition, Kerkeling is to take part in other planned entertainment formats.
Hape Kerkeling has never been completely gone
Fans will agree: as nice as it is to finally see Hape Kerkeling "in action" again - he was never really gone. Even if he wasn't directly on TV, he was still always present somehow.
For example, his work "Der Junge muss an die frische Luft" was filmed and was shown in the cinema. In the context of various, large film productions he lent his voice to some animated characters.
In "The Ice Queen 2" he voiced the snowman Olaf and also in "Kung Fu Panda 3" he took over the German dubbing of the panda Po.
Kerkeling has also appeared as a guest on a number of shows. Most recently on Florian Silbereisen.
Hape Kerkeling's TV history - a look back with a view to lots of exciting new content
Many fans will know him as Horst Schlämmer or Queen Beatrix. But: the list of characters that Hape Kerkeling has portrayed over the years is much longer. In addition to his cabaret interludes, he has also hosted many shows and always showed new facets of himself.
Even then, he hosted his own show called "Hape trifft!"and in 2010 hosted his own Christmas special, "Hapes Zauberhafte Weihnachten. He also hosted the first two seasons of the hit format "Let's Dance" and the "70s Show. The latter even won the German Television Award.
RTL was not the only station that the Recklinghausen native was able to win over. Among other things, he has already hosted the "Eurovision Song Contest" in public service programming and hosted the "Goldene Kamera" awards.
Now it is certain: Hape Kerkeling's screen break has come to an end and for many people this is a reason to cheer. The comedian was already formative for German TV history back then. The likelihood that he will still be convincing with his characteristic style today is high.
After all, nowadays more than ever people are needed to show that good taste never dies out and stylish humor is important right now.
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