Hape Kerkeling

Hans Peter Wilhelm "Hape" Kerkeling (; born 9 December 1964) is a German comedian, TV presenter, author, and actor. Career At secondary school in Recklinghausen, Hape Kerkeling and some fellow students formed a band (Gesundfutter, meaning: health food) and published a record (Hawaii). Kerkeling started his career as a comedian in radio, working for various German broadcasting companies, such as WDR and BR. His breakthrough came in 1984/85 when, still aged only 19, he got a role in the Känguru television comedy show (the German word for kangaroo deliberately spelt without an "h" at the end although this broke the spelling rules at that time). The best-known character in this show was the little boy Hannilein, played by Kerkeling, an irritating child with red hair in a pudding-basin style, dungarees and sitting on giant-sized chairs, who commented on the world of adults.