Jan Böhmermann

Böhmermann was born and raised in Bremen. He enrolled to study history, sociology and theatre in Cologne, but dropped out before long. Previously, Böhmermann had applied to drama schools in Berlin, Hamburg and Munich; he was rejected by all three. He was accepted at a fourth drama school in Hannover, but did not enroll.

In 1997, Böhmermann was hired as a columnist at the Bremen daily newspaper Die Norddeutsche. He joined Radio Bremen as a presenter in 1999, where he also had a stint as a comedy writer. In 2015, he became known internationally for the satirical music video V for Varoufakis about the Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis. The clip is from Böhmermann's late-night show Neo Magazin Royale. His satirical rap song Ich hab Polizei peaked at #10 in the German charts. However, the song also caused considerable controversy: Journalists and rappers accused him of mocking lower-class people and also condoning police violence.