Stefan Raab | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Raab at aEurovision Song Contest 2010 press conference | |
| Born | Stefan Konrad Raab (1966-10-20)20 October 1966 (age 59) |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1990–2015, 2024–present (entertainer) 2018–present (as producer) |
| Children | 2 |
Stefan Konrad Raab (born 20 October 1966) is a German entertainer, television host, producer, and businessman. From 1999 to 2015, he hosted thelate-night comedy talk showTV total onProSieben and also created a number of other television shows on the channel, most notablySchlag den Raab andBundesvision Song Contest.
Raab began his TV career hosting the comedy showVivasion in 1993. He became well known in 1994 after composing a hit single spoofing national football coachBerti Vogts. In the early 2010s, German media considered him the "most powerful man in German entertainment television".[1]
Raab is also credited with inventingwok racing and known for his recurring role as either producer, writer and/or performer of the German entries to theEurovision Song Contest from 1998 to 2012. He was the initiator of the national pre-selection showUnser Star für Oslo ("Our Star for Oslo"), in whichGermany's winning entry at the2010 contest inOslo was determined.
In 2015, Raab ended his on-screen career while staying active as a television producer. He made his public return in 2024.
Raab grew up inCologne with his sister and their parents, who owned a butcher's shop. He attendedJesuit boarding schoolAloisiuskolleg in Bonn. Before entering the entertainment business, he completed an apprenticeship as a butcher in his parents' shop and studiedlaw before dropping out of university after five semesters.[2]
Raab became popular in Germany as the host of the comedy showVivasion for German music television channelVIVA from 1993 to 1998.[3]
In 1999, he createdTV total which began airing in April 2001 onProSieben, four times a week. WhileTV total started as a comedy format mainly showing and satirizing funny and embarrassing sequences from other television programs, it soon came to be more of a late night show featuring musical performances—in some ways similar toThe Tonight Show with Jay Leno orLate Night with Conan O'Brien.[3][4]
After aboxing match againstRegina Halmich in 2001 and aspeed skating race againstClaudia Pechstein in 2002, he also created several other celebrity sports events that are produced regularly, includingTV total Turmspringen (high diving) andTV total Stock Car Crash Challenge (stock car racing). He also brought fun and variety to the show by invented new sports: In November 2003, he initiated the first "official" WorldWok racing Championship inWinterberg, Germany. Modified Chinese woks are used to make timed runs down an Olympic bobsled track. The championship took place annually until March 2011, inInnsbruck.[4] The firstAutoball EM —Autoball being a version of football played in cars and using anexercise ball to score goals — took place in 2007.[5]
In 2006, Raab invented the game showSchlag den Raab (German for "Beat the Raab", remade for British television asBeat the Star and asBeat Your Host in several other European countries), in which he competed against a contestant in various disciplines. Some episodes of the show lasted more than five hours with excellent ratings.
Raab also organizedPokerStars.de Nacht, a poker event featuring some celebrity names in German entertainment.[4]
In September 2012, he announced that he would be hosting a new talk show onProSieben which would include political guests. It began airing on 11 November 2012.[6] It stood in direct competition with the self-titled talk show hosted byGünther Jauch.
In September 2013, Raab was one of four hosts (one from each big television network) at the federal election debate between chancellorAngela Merkel and her challengerPeer Steinbrück.
In mid-2015, Raab announced his retirement from television and stated that he would remain hosting until the end of the year.[7] The last episode of his showTV total aired on 16 December and the last episode ofSchlag den Raab aired on 19 December 2015.
He made his return in 2024 with a show titledDu gewinnst hier nicht die Million onRTL+, which has been described as a combination ofTV total andSchlag den Raab.[8] In June 2025, the show was cancelled and in fall 2025 Raabs new late-night-showDie Stefan Raab Show aired on RTL.
As a musician, Raab is anautodidact, playing various instruments, such as piano, drums, guitar,ukulele, and some wind instruments.[3] He began working as a freelance producer and composer ofjingles and radio commercials in 1990 at his own studio in Cologne.[2]
From 1994 onwards, he produced a number of popular songs, including "Böörti Böörti Vogts" (a song aboutBerti Vogts), "Hier kommt die Maus" ("Here comes the mouse", a tribute to the children's television seriesDie Sendung mit der Maus), "Maschen-Draht-Zaun", "Wir kiffen", "Gebt das Hanf frei!" ("Legalise Dope!", featuringShaggy and samples from German politicianHans-Christian Ströbele), "Hol' mir ma' 'ne Flasche Bier" ("Get me a bottle o' beer", containing samples from then-chancellorGerhard Schröder), "Space Taxi" from the soundtrack of the filmTraumschiff Surprise – Periode 1,[5] "Pa aufs Maul", and "Rambo Zambo (Was is Bubatz?)" where Raab used the clipout of a speech of the German chancellorFriedrich Merz.
Based on the concept of the Eurovision Song Contest, Raab created and hosted theBundesvision Song Contest (Bundesrepublik Deutschland = Federal Republic of Germany), which first aired on ProSieben in 2005. The contest features representatives from each of the 16 states of Germany and stipulates that their song has to be at least partly in German. It took place yearly until Raab's preliminary retirement in 2015.
Raab wrote the song for the German entry to theEurovision Song Contest 1998,Guildo Horn's "Guildo hat euch lieb!". After placing first in the pre-selection competitionCountdown Grand Prix 1998, it finished the main contest in seventh place.[4][9] Raab participated himself as the German entry to theEurovision Song Contest 2000 with thenonsense song "Wadde hadde dudde da?". He placed first in the pre-selection competitionCountdown Grand Prix Eurovision 2000 and finished the contest in fifth place.[9] For the2004 Eurovision Song Contest, Raab created and hosted atalent show calledSSDSGPS ("Stefan sucht den Super-Grand-Prix-Star", "Stefan seeks the super Grand-Prix star", satirising the title of the GermanIdol seriesDeutschland sucht den Superstar, DSDS).[10] The competition was won byMax Mutzke, who finished the main contest in eighth place.[9]
In 2009, Raab was approached by the public broadcasterNDR, a member of theARD broadcasting consortium, to jointly organise a national pre-selection in order to determine the German entry for theEurovision Song Contest 2010. It was revealed that Raab initially refused the request, but that his television network ProSieben accepted the offer to work with ARD/NDR.[11] As a result of the cooperation, the talent show contestUnser Star für Oslo (Our Star for Oslo) took place from 2 February 2010 onwards, stretching across 8 shows. Raab took a lead role in the programmes as head of the jury. In the national final on 12 March 2010,Lena Meyer-Landrut emerged as winner.[12] On 29 May 2010, Meyer-Landrut won the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 with the song "Satellite", claiming the first German Eurovision victory in 28 years.[13]
The cooperation between NDR and ProSieben was continued for theEurovision Song Contest 2011. Meyer-Landrut was confirmed as the artist of the German entry after her successful win in the previous contest. The pre-selection competitionUnser Song für Deutschland was held to determine the song of the German entry, with Meyer-Landrut performing twelve songs to be voted on by the public. Raab was involved in the selection of the competing entries, some of which he also wrote and composed, and was a juror on the final of the competition. "Taken by a Stranger", which was produced by Raab, emerged as the winning song. In May 2011, Raab acted as co-host of the main contest alongsideAnke Engelke andJudith Rakers, with Meyer-Landrut finishing in tenth place.
The week following the 2011 final, Raab announced he would end his Eurovision involvement as a pre-selection host, chairman of the jury, composer and musical producer.[14] However, he still returned in 2012 as creator and producer of the pre-selection competitionUnser Star für Baku. Raab participated as a regular jury member and was succeeded as jury president byThomas D.[15] The competition was won byRoman Lob with "Standing Still", which finished the main contest in eighth place. Raab was no longer involved from theEurovision Song Contest 2013 onwards, as the cooperation between NDR and ProSieben was dissolved.
After Raab came out of his retirement as entertainer and television host in 2024, he reportedly offered to produce a pre-selection competition for theEurovision Song Contest 2025 to be hosted jointly by public and private broadcasters.[16] In October 2024, Raab was confirmed to return as creator, producer and jury member of the pre-selection competitionChefsache ESC 2025: Wer singt für Deutschland?. The television shows aired onDas Erste as well as private channelRTL, where Raab had signed an exclusive contract. The duo Abor & Tynna won the contest and represented Germany at the Eurovision Song Contest, where they reached 15th place.
| Year | Place of event | Artist | Song | Involvement as | Position | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Birmingham, England | Guildo Horn | "Guildo hat euch lieb!" | Composer | 7 | 86 |
| 2000 | Stockholm, Sweden | Stefan Raab | "Wadde hadde dudde da?" | Performer, composer | 5 | 96 |
| 2004 | Istanbul, Turkey | Max Mutzke | Can't Wait Until Tonight | Discoverer, composer, mentor | 8 | 93 |
| 2010 | Oslo, Norway | Lena Meyer-Landrut | "Satellite" | Creator and jury president of Unser Star für Oslo, mentor | 1 | 246 |
| 2011 | Düsseldorf, Germany | "Taken by a Stranger" | Creator and jury president of Unser Song für Deutschland, music producer, mentor, host | 10 | 107 | |
| 2012 | Baku, Azerbaijan | Roman Lob | "Standing Still" | Creator and jury member ofUnser Star für Baku | 8 | 110 |
| 2025 | Basel, Switzerland | Abor & Tynna | "Baller" | Creator and jury member ofChefsache ESC 2025 | 15 | 151 |
Raab lives in a suburb of Cologne and has two daughters (born 2004 and 2006) with his girlfriend Nike.[17] Other than this, very little is known about Raab, who deliberately hides his private life from the media.
Raab has been the subject oflawsuits throughout his career, some of which have gained public attention. The two most referenced cases are:
For his television showVivasion, Raab received theGoldener Löwe (Golden Lion), the predecessor toDeutscher Fernsehpreis (German Television Award), in 1996. ForTV total he received theDeutscher Fernsehpreis in 1999 as well as the comedy awardRose d'or in 2001.
For his talent showSSDSGPS he was awarded theAdolf-Grimme-Preis in 2005 in for the "discovery and support of young music talents". On 29 May 2005, Raab received theDeutsch-Türkischer Freundschaftspreis (German-Turkish Friendship Award) for hisTV total specials fromIstanbul in preparation for theEurovision Song Contest 2004. He won theBravo Otto in the category "Comedystar" from 2000 to 2003. In 2000 and 2005, Raab was awarded theECHO (German music award) as "Best National Producer". In 2005, he also received the ECHO award as "media partner of the year").
On 29 September 2007, Raab received theDeutscher Fernsehpreis for "Best Entertainment Show" for the fifth episode ofSchlag den Raab. On 6 February 2008, the show was awarded theGoldene Kamera (Golden Camera). Furthermore, Raab received the media awardBambi on 27 November 2008.[20] In 2009, Raab won theHerbert Award 2009 forBest Television Sports show forTV total Turmspringen.[21]
Madame Tussauds in Berlin has displayed a wax figure of Raab since April 2009.[22]
As the initiator and president of the jury of the showUnser Star für Oslo, Raab was awarded theBavarian TV Award in 2010.
On 12 November 2011, Raab came second insynchronised diving, teaming withElton in Munich, at theTV Total Turmspringen 2011 event. This was his first ever podium along with Elton at this event.
| Awards and achievements | ||
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| Preceded by | Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 2000 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Eurovision Song Contest presenter 2011 With:Anke Engelke andJudith Rakers | Succeeded by |
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