Hans Teeuwen

Hans Eduard Marie Teeuwen (born 3 March 1967 in Budel, The Netherlands) is a Dutch ^{Dutch (ethnic group)} comedian, actor and an occasional singer and director ^{film director} . His work can be described as absurdist ^{surreal humour} , apolitical and confrontational ^{off-color humor} .

 
Theatre

In The Netherlands, Teeuwen became well-known in 1991 when he won an award at the Dutch cabaret festival Cameretten for his show Heist, together with 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 ^cabaret '. (Dutch cabaret is a sort of stand-up comedy often lasting for an hour or two, which has a storyline or theme, and can include songs, music and poetry as opposed to purely stand-up comedy.) He did five shows, Hard en Zielig (Hard and Sad, 1994-1995), Met een Breierdeck (With a Breierdeck, 1995-1997), Trui (Sweater, 1999-2000), Dat Dan Weer Wel (2001-2002, a free translation of the title in English could be On the Other Hand) and finally Industry of Love (2003-2004). 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 (Men of the Radio).


TV & film

Apart from a few comic parts with popular Dutch absurdistic ^{surreal humour} comedy group Jiskefet, he acted in the 1999 film Jezus is een Palestijn ^{Jesus is a Palestinian} (Jesus is a Palestinian). Together with Theodor Holman he co-created the idea for the film Interview ^{Interview (2003 film)} , directed by Theo van Gogh ^{Theo van Gogh (film director)} in 2003 (and remade ^{Interview (2007 film)} in 2007 in the USA ^{United States} by Steve Buscemi). He wrote and directed the film Masterclass ^{:nl:Masterclass (film)} 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

In 2006-present, Teeuwen performed as a crooner in an Amsterdam nightclub, ultimately resulting in a DVD entitled Hans Teeuwen Zingt (literal English: Hans Teeuwen Sings), on which he sings songs by artists such as Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra, together with his band. In 2008, Teeuwen performed at the North Sea Jazz Festival.In 2005, Teeuwen announced he would no longer perform, incidentally coinciding with the death of director ^{Film director} and close friend Theo van Gogh ^{Theo van Gogh (film director)} . However, in 2007 he decided to try a new challenge: performing in English ^{English language} . He appeared at the 2007 Edinburgh Festival Fringe 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 in London . He also returned to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2008, and performed at Suffolk's 2008 Latitude Festival . In October 2008, he performed a show in the Leicester Square Theatre, London that was recorded for a future DVD release.
In February 2009, he performed at the Leicester Comedy Festival.Although his work is typically devoid of politics, in real life Teeuwen has repeatedly and openly acted as a fervent supporter of freedom of speech, especially after the murder of his friend Theo van Gogh. His eulogy and speech at the unveiling of a statue in memory of van Gogh were an example of his views. A video clip of Teeuwen eloquently advocating freedom of speech while being interviewed by three female Muslim TV presenters ^{Presenter#Television_presenter} has been chosen as "Dutch TV Moment of 2007" .