HAPE KERKELING

Attaining national fame by hosting the national competition for a spot in the Eurovision Song Contest from 1989 to 1991, Hape Kerkeling was outed at the end of 1991, but had strangely enough already appeared dressed up as Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands in public earlier that year, with no questions asked. He’s since become Germany’s favourite show master, appearing in various films and TV programs, including Let’s Dance’, Germany’s answer to ‘Strictly Come Dancing’, as well as hosting the yearly fundraising gala for AIDS. Several of his comic creations have reached cult status, most noticeably Horst Schlämmer, his fictitious newspaper editor, popularizing the man bag in Germany.