Kaya Yanar

Kaya Yanar

Kaya Yanar (born 20 May 1973 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany) is a German comedian[1] best known for his comedy show Was guckst du?! (Whaddaya lookin' at?!).[2]

Early life

He was born to Turkish immigrants from Antakya.[3] While at school he once told his teacher that he wanted to be a comedian, which made the teacher laugh. In an interview with German talkshow host Johannes B. Kerner Yanar described his childhood as a more liberal one and stated that despite his Turkish nationality, he doesn't have a perfect grasp of the Turkish language. After graduating from Heinrich-von-Gagern-Gymnasium (a school in Frankfurt) he studied phonetics, American studies and philosophy but left university prior to graduation.

Career

In his one-man comedy show Was guckst du?! the distinctly mediterranean-looking Yanar toys with well-known cultural stereotypes both as host and main performer. For one of his best known sketches about an East Indian, Ranjid and his pet cow (and substitute best friend) Benita, he practiced pidgin-English for months, which he learned from some Indian friends of his from university. He also parodies the stereotypical way Turkish migrants use to speak.

Furthermore, he toured through Germany with solo programmes. Fixations of his programmes "Made in Germany" (2008), "Live und unzensiert" (2009) and "All Inclusive!" (2013) were broadcast by German TV station RTL.

He also presented the ZDF-Show "Kaya Yanar testet Deutschland – die Multi-Kulti-Show (2007)" as part of a theme week focusing on integration. Because of his great success being without precedent for an artist with Turkish migration background in the German-speaking countries at the time of his appearance, Yanar is considered as a key figure and trailblazer for the acceptance of multicultural issues.[4]

Since Dezember 2012 Yanar is godfather of the "Heinrich-Middendorf-Oberschule Aschendorf" in the projekt „Schule ohne Rassismus – Schule mit Courage“ ("School without racism - school with courage").

In 2014 RTL started broadcasting his show ""Geht's noch?! Kayas Woche"", a weekly current affairs programme with a mixture of stand up comedy and political satire.

Personal Life

Kaya is a vegan (formerly pescetarian), he is an animal rights activist and he supports PETA.

Selected filmography

Discography

CDs

DVDs

Books

Awards

Notes

  1. ↑ http://www.s2-management.de/kuenstler/kaya_yanar/
  2. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/KayaYanar?sk=info
  3. ↑ Interview mit Kaya Yanar, TV Direkt (in German). "My parents are Turks, have a Turkish passport and lived in the southernmost city of Turkey: Antakya. ... I have occasionally told that my parents know Arabic. That is how this description of being "half Turkish, half Arab" arose. I am a German with Turkish roots, whose parents know Arabic. That is the best way to describe the situation."
  4. ↑ Erol Boran: Geschichte des türkisch-deutschen Theaters und Kabaretts (PDF), Dissertation Ohio State Univ. 2004

References

External links

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