Stefan Raab

Stefan Raab

Stefan Raab at a Eurovision Song Contest 2010 press conference
Born Stefan Konrad Raab
(1966-10-20) 20 October 1966
Cologne, West Germany
Occupation Entertainer, television host, comedian, musician
Years active 1990–2015
Website www.tvtotal.de

Stefan Konrad Raab (born 20 October 1966) is a German entertainer, comedian, musician and former television host. Raab began his television career hosting the comedy show Vivasion in 1993. He became well known in 1994 after composing a hit single spoofing national football coach Berti Vogts. From 1999 to 2015, he hosted the late-night comedy show TV total and has also created a number of other television shows, such as Schlag den Raab and Bundesvision Song Contest. Raab has been considered the "most powerful man in German entertainment television".[1]

Raab is also known for his recurring role as producer, writer and performer of German entries to the Eurovision Song Contest. He was involved in the organisation of the national pre-selection show Unser Star für Oslo (Our Star for Oslo), in which Germany's winning entry at the 2010 contest in Oslo was determined.

Early life and family

Raab grew up in Cologne with his sister and his parents, who owned a butchers shop. He attended Jesuit boarding school Aloisiuskolleg in Bonn. Before entering the entertainment business, he worked as a butcher in his parents' shop and studied law before dropping-out of university after five semesters.[2] Raab lives in a suburb of Cologne and has two daughters (born 2004 and 2006) with his girlfriend Nike.[3] Other than this, very little is known about Raab, who deliberately hides his private life from the media.

Career

Television

Stefan Raab became popular as host of the comedy show Vivasion for the German music television channel VIVA from 1993 to 1998.[4]

In 1999, he created TV total which began airing in April 2001 on ProSieben, four times a week. While TV total started as a comedy format mainly showing and satirizing funny and embarrassing sequences from other television programs, it soon came to be more of a late night show featuring musical performances-- in some ways similar to The Tonight Show with Jay Leno or Late Night with Conan O'Brien.[4][5]

After a boxing match against Regina Halmich in 2001 (rematch 2007) and a speed skating race against Claudia Pechstein in 2002, he also created several other celebrity sports events that are produced regularly, including TV total Turmspringen (high diving) and TV total Stock Car Crash Challenge (stock car racing). He also brought fun and variety to the show by invented new sports: In November 2003, he initiated the first "official" World Wok racing Championship in Winterberg, Germany. Modified Chinese woks are used to make timed runs down an Olympic bobsled track. The championship has taken place every year since, most recently in March 2011 in Innsbruck.[5] The first Autoball EM, autoball being a version of football played in cars and using an exercise ball to score goals was made in 2007.[6]

In 2006, Raab invented the game show Schlag den Raab (German for Beat the Raab, remade for British television as Beat the Star and as "Beat your host" in several other European countries), in which he competes against a contestant in various disciplines – some episodes of the show lasted more than five hours with excellent quotas.

Raab frequently organizes PokerStars.de Nacht, a poker event featuring some celebrity names in German entertainment.[5]

In September 2012, he announced that he will be hosting a new talk show on ProSieben which will include political guests and begin airing on 11 November 2012.[7] It will stand in direct competition with the self-titled talk show hosted by Günther Jauch.

In September 2013 Raab was one of four hosts (one from each big television network) at the federal election debate between chancellor Angela Merkel and her challenger Peer Steinbrück.

In mid-2015, Raab announced his retirement from television and stated that he would remain hosting until the end of the year.[8] The last episode of his show TV total aired on December 16 and the last episode of Schlag den Raab aired on December 19, 2015.

Music

Raab performing Satellite at the Eurovision Song Contest 2011

Raab began working as a freelance producer and composer of jingles and radio commercials in 1990 at his own studio in Cologne.[2]

From 1994 onwards, he produced a number of popular songs, including "Böörti Böörti Vogts" (a song about Berti Vogts), "Hier kommt die Maus" ("Here comes the mouse", a tribute to the children's television series Die Sendung mit der Maus), "Maschendrahtzaun", "Wir kiffen", "Gebt das Hanf frei!" ("Legalise Dope!", featuring Shaggy and samples from German politician Hans-Christian Ströbele), "Hol' mir ma' 'ne Flasche Bier" ("Get me a bottle o' beer", containing samples from then-Chancellor Gerhard Schröder), and "Space Taxi" from the soundtrack of the movie Traumschiff Surprise - Periode 1.[6]

He wrote the song for the German entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 1998, Guildo Horn's "Guildo hat euch lieb!",[5][9] and in the Eurovision Song Contest 2000 he took part himself, performing the nonsense song "Wadde hadde dudde da?".[9] Raab cast the German entry for the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest in a talent show contest called SSDSGPS ("Stefan sucht den Super-Grand-Prix-Star", "Stefan seeks the super Grand-Prix star", satirising the title of the German Idol series Deutschland sucht den Superstar, DSDS).[10] The winner, Maximilian Mutzke, came in eighth place.[9]

Bored with the Eurovision Song Contest, Raab came up with the Bundesvision Song Contest in 2005 (Bundesrepublik Deutschland = Federal Republic of Germany). The contest features representatives from each of the 16 states of Germany and stipulates that their song has to be at least partly in German.

In 2009, Raab was approached by the public broadcaster NDR, a member of the ARD broadcasting consortium, to jointly organise a national preselection in order to determine the German entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010. It was revealed that Raab initially refused the request, but that his television network ProSieben accepted the offer to work with ARD/NDR.[11] As a result of the cooperation, the talent show contest Unser Star für Oslo (Our Star for Oslo) took place from 2 February 2010 onwards, stretching across 8 shows. Raab took a lead role in the programmes as head of the jury. In the national final on 12 March 2010, Lena Meyer-Landrut emerged as winner.[12] On 29 May 2010, Meyer-Landrut won the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 with the song "Satellite", claiming the first German Eurovision victory in 28 years.[13]

As a musician, Raab is an autodidact, playing various instruments, such as piano, drums, guitar, ukulele, and some wind instruments.[4]

Participation at the Eurovision Song Contest

Year Place of Event Artist Song Involvement as Position Points
1998 Birmingham, England Guildo Horn Guildo hat euch lieb Composer 7 86
2000 Stockholm, Sweden Stefan Raab Wadde hadde dudde da? Performer,
composer		 5 96
2004 Istanbul, Turkey Max Mutzke Can't Wait Until Tonight Discoverer,
composer,
Mentor		 8 93
2010 Oslo, Norway Lena Meyer-Landrut Satellite Initiator and Jury-President of
Unser Star für Oslo,
Mentor		 1 246
2011 Düsseldorf, Germany Lena Meyer-Landrut Taken by a Stranger Initiator and Jury-President of
Unser Song für Deutschland,
Mentor,
Host		 10 107

On 19 May 2011 Raab eventually ended his Eurovision involvement as a host, chairman of the jury, composer and musical producer.[14]

Awards

For his television show Vivasion Raab received the Goldener Löwe (Golden Lion), the predecessor to Deutscher Fernsehpreis (German Television Award), in 1996. For TV total he received the Deutscher Fernsehpreis in 1999 as well as the comedy award Rose d'or in 2001.

For his talent show SSDSGPS he was awarded the Adolf-Grimme-Preis in 2005 in for the "discovery and support of young music talents". On 29 May 2005, Stefan Raab received the Deutsch-Türkischer Freundschaftspreis (German-Turkish Friendship Award) for his TV total specials from Istanbul in preparation for the Eurovision Song Contest 2004. He won the Bravo Otto in the category "Comedystar" from 2000 to 2003. In 2000 and 2005 Raab was awarded the ECHO (German music award) as "Best National Producer". In 2005 he also received the ECHO award as "media partner of the year").

On 29 September 2007, Raab received the Deutscher Fernsehpreis for "best entertainment show" for the fifth episode of Schlag den Raab. On 6 February 2008 the show was awarded the Goldene Kamera (Golden Camera). Furthermore, Raab received the media award Bambi on 27 November 2008.[15] In 2009 Raab won the Herbert Award 2009 for best television sports show with the TV total Turmspringen.[16]

Madame Tussauds in Berlin displays a wax figure of Stefan Raab since April 2009.[17]

As the initiator and president of the jury of the show Unser Star für Oslo he was awarded the Bayerischer Fernsehpreis (Bavarian television award) in 2010.

On 12 November 2011, Stefan Raab came second in Synchronspringen teaming with Elton in Munich at the TV Total Turmspringen 2011 event. This was his first ever podium along with Elton at this event.

Controversies

Raab has been the subject of lawsuits throughout his career, some of which have gained public attention. The two most referenced cases are:

References

  1. ↑ "Die Geiseln des Metzgers" (in German). Spiegel online. 14 February 2011. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
  2. 1 2 Stefan Raab biography. laut.de. Accessed 30 March 2010. (German)
  3. ↑ "Stefan Raab wird zum zweiten Mal Vater" (in German). Die Welt. 15 September 2006. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
  4. 1 2 3 Schüle, Christian. Fernsehen: Das Prinzip Blamage. zeit.de. 12 March 2007. Accessed 14 April 2010. (German)
  5. 1 2 3 4 Stefan Raab biography. tvtotal.de. Accessed 30 March 2010. (German)
  6. 1 2 Stefan Raab biography. mtv.de. Accessed 30 March 2010. (German)
  7. ↑ "Stefan Raab: Moderator plant neue Talkshow gegen Guenther Jauch" (in German). spiegel.de. 9 September 2012.
  8. ↑ "Stefan Raab beendet seine TV-Karriere zum Ende des Jahres". TZ. 2015-08-28. Retrieved 2015-12-16.
  9. 1 2 3 Germany country profile at eurovision.tv. eurovision.tv. Accessed 30 March 2010.
  10. ↑ Max goes to Istanbul!. brainpool.tv. Accessed 30 March 2010.
  11. ↑ Solloso, Jaime. Germany prepares for 2010. oikotimes.com. 25 May 2009. Accessed 30 March 2010.
  12. ↑ Brey, Marco. Lena Meyer-Landrut gets German ticket to Oslo. eurovision.tv. 12 March 2010. Accessed 30 March 2010.
  13. ↑ Schacht, Andreas. Germany wins: See full results. Eurovision.tv. 30 May 2010. Accessed 30 May 2010.
  14. ↑ http://www.eurovision.tv/page/news?id=36603&_t=stefan_raab_ends_eurovision_career
  15. ↑ Stefan Raab bekommt BAMBI. Auf: bambi.de.
  16. ↑ Ergebnisse des „Herbert-Award 2009“. Auf: herbert-award.de.
  17. ↑ Madame Tussauds Berlin Website: Presseinformation zur Ausstellung von Raabs Wachsfigur, 7 April 2009. Accessed 27 April 2009.
  18. ↑ Raab zu 70.000 Euro Schadenersatz verurteilt. spiegel.de. 4 February 2004. Accessed 30 March 2010. (German)
  19. ↑ Raab spart 130.000 Euro. stern.de. 20 March 2006. Accessed 30 March 2010. (German)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Stefan Raab.
Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Sürpriz
with Reise nach Jerusalem - Kudüs'e seyahat		 Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest
2000 		Succeeded by
Michelle
with Wer Liebe lebt
Preceded by
Norway Nadia Hasnaoui, Haddy N'jie and Erik Solbakken		 Eurovision Song Contest presenter
(with Anke Engelke and Judith Rakers)
2011 		Succeeded by
Azerbaijan Leyla Aliyeva, Nargiz Berk-Petersen and Eldar Gasimov
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