Hape Kerkeling
A TV comeback is not in sight
© imago/APress / A-way!/Ulrike Blitzner
Hape Kerkeling spoke on “3nach9” about the beginnings of his career, genealogy and a possible TV comeback.
Hape Kerkeling, 59, made one of his now rare television appearances on the talk show “3nach9” and talked about the beginnings of his career, his genealogical research and a possible TV comeback.
40 years after his beginnings at Radio Bremen, he is always happy to return to the city, Kerkeling said on Friday evening. “Without wanting to suck up, Bremen has an incredible spirit of freedom,” said Kerkeling. “I have tried to preserve this spirit in my work to this day.”
When he was twelve, he first applied to the station on a torn-out page from his maths notebook. However, he didn’t get the job at the time. “Why wasn’t I invited? I came from Recklinghausen, and the train ticket was too expensive for them,” he explained with a wink.
When Queen Beatrix attended the state reception: “It wasn’t really planned”
Kerkeling also spoke about the legendary state reception at Bellevue Palace, where he pretended to be Queen Beatrix, 86, of the Netherlands for his show “Total Normal” in 1991. And admitted: “It wasn’t really planned that we would drive in there.” The production had thought that Kerkeling would be stopped at the barrier at the latest. “Instead, the barrier went up, without any control, although we really did everything wrong on purpose,” said the entertainer. The action had no aftermath, at least not a negative one: The then Federal President Richard von Weizsäcker “then invited me on a private tour of Bellevue.”
Kerkeling spoke in detail about his new book “Give me some time” and the genealogical research into his family. This began with a DNA test during the pandemic and was put together through further pieces of the puzzle. He remembered an old fan letter in which he was told that his grandmother was the result of an illegitimate affair with the English King Edward VII. And the stories that his grandmother told “when she was slowly going into dementia” about “life in a castle,” “a count” and “a pig princess” suddenly made sense. If the genealogical research is correct, Kerkeling would theoretically be 111th in line to the throne, he explained.
TV comeback? “I don’t plan to”
However, the popular entertainer had less to say about a possible television comeback. “I don’t plan to,” he clarified. “But I had a nightmare three days ago that I was hosting a Saturday night show with Heidi Klum. Who knows.”