Herman José
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hermann 'Herman' José von Krippahl (born 19 March 1954 in Lisbon, Portugal) is one of the most successful comedians in Portugal, though virtually unknown abroad. Lately, his career has focused on TV, where he hosts a weekly late night show with comic sketches in which he stars although he doesn't write all his material anymore as he used to.
His mother is Portuguese (of half-Spanish descent) and his late father was German. Herman José is a German citizen. He never acquired dual citizenship, first so he could avoid conscription, then because he said he was not interested. He went to Lisbon's German School for all his schooling and is fluent in Portuguese, German, English, French, and Spanish. He lives in the town of Azeitão, municipality of Setúbal, and keeps houses in Lisbon and Vilamoura, Algarve.
[edit] Career
His professional career started in 1973/1974 doing studio choruses (mostly on protest songs spun by the Carnation Revolution of April 1974) and acting in revues. His first leap to national fame was in 1976, invited by comedian Nicolau Breyner to his TV show Eu Show Nico, where he performed against the host on a weekly skit called "Sr. Feliz e Sr. Contente" (lit. Mr. Happy and Mr. Joyful). His first big success as an author and performer was with O Tal Canal (lit. That Channel) where he performed several characters of a fictitious TV channel. With this show, Herman José was responsible for shaping the sense of humor of Portuguese people after the Revolution that ended almost 50 years of totalitarism. Hermanias was the next show, with huge success, until the Portuguese government ordered public station RTP to cancel the show after a sketch based on the Last Supper originated a public petition against the show. His career then turned mailnly to daily contest shows like Wheel of Fortune and Com a Verdade m'Enganas (lit. With the Truth You Fool Me), and talk shows like Parabéns (lit. Happy Birthday). These shows, while originally not intended to be funny, soon became comic with Herman José hosting them. He returned with comic-oriented shows in the 1990s: Herman Enciclopédia and Herman 98 revealed that Herman José was still a top comedian, although for the first time his shows were mainly written by other people at a company called Produções Fictícias.
In 2000, Herman José moved from RTP to the private station SIC for a reported 1.5 million euros a year, to host his current weekly late-night show. While hosting his current late night show, HermanSic, he went through a change of style that was criticised, using sexual innuendo, crude humor and R-rated acts, which resulted in low ratings. As of mid-2006 his show was changed to a family-safe show, with more comic sketches than before, but the ratings remained low, and the show was cancelled. On the other hand, Herman signed a new exclusivity contract with SIC to work on a new sketch show.
[edit] Trivia
Herman José was a singer and a popular one-man-show in the late 1970s and early 1980s, travelling through Portugal and abroad, for Portuguese groups of emigrants. "Saca o Saca-Rolhas" (lit. Screw the Corkscrew) (1977) and "Canção do Beijinho" (lit. The Kiss Song) (1980) were his biggest hits - both reached gold in sales.
He owns Café Café and Bastidores, two popular back-to-back restaurants in Lisbon, where he performs stand-up comedy once a week. He's also a partner in sea-food restaurant Jardim do Marisco and the Tivoli Theater, both also in Lisbon.
Herman José has a penchant for expensive tastes, including high-end automobiles and motorbikes. He currently owns two Bentleys, a BMW Z4 and a BMW Z8.
He is known for destroying scenery and props. On the last program of Wheel of Fortune, he fired a shotgun live on air against the scenery and a TV set. He later justified the act as wanting to "just see how it looks like in the inside".
