Biography

Stefan Konrad Raab (born October 20, 1966, in Cologne, West Germany) is a German entertainer, television host, producer, musician and songwriter. He became one of the most influential figures in German television through a combination of comedy, live performance, music production and competitive entertainment formats.

Raab began his professional career as a composer and producer of jingles, radio material and novelty songs. He gained wider attention in 1994 with "Boerti Boerti Vogts," a humorous song about Germany's national soccer coach. Further releases, including "Hier kommt die Maus," "Maschen-Draht-Zaun" and "Wir kiffen," established him as a musician who used parody, topical humor and deliberately catchy pop arrangements. His music was often closely connected to television and popular culture, but he also released albums such as *Get Ready*, *Schlimmer Finger*, *Stefan Raab ist Prof. Hase* and *TV Total: Das Album*.

His television career took shape in the 1990s. From 1993 to 1998, he hosted the comedy program *Vivasion* on VIVA, where his irreverent presentation style and interest in unusual television material became defining features. In 1999, he created *TV total*, initially a short comedy program built around clips from other broadcasts. After moving to a regular late-night format on ProSieben in 2001, the show developed into a major platform for comedy, interviews, live music and recurring characters. Raab's presentation combined sarcasm, musical skill and a highly competitive personality.

Through his production company Raab TV, he developed a wide range of entertainment formats. These included the *Bundesvision Song Contest*, which presented musical acts from Germany's federal states, and *Schlag den Raab*, a long-form competition in which Raab faced members of the public in a series of physical, strategic and knowledge-based games. The show's success led to related formats, including *Schlag den Star*. Other popular Raab productions and events included the *TV total Wok-WM*, *TV total Turmspringen*, stock-car racing, autoball and poker programs. These projects helped turn televised competition into a central part of German Saturday-night entertainment.

Raab also played a major role in Germany's Eurovision Song Contest history. He wrote "Guildo hat euch lieb!" for Guildo Horn in 1998, performed "Wadde hadde dudde da?" for Germany at the 2000 contest and finished fifth in Stockholm, and helped introduce Max Mutzke through the casting format *SSDSGPS* in 2004. In 2010, he created *Unser Star fuer Oslo*, the selection show that introduced Lena Meyer-Landrut. Lena won the Eurovision Song Contest in Oslo with "Satellite," giving Germany its first victory in the competition since 1982. Raab later co-hosted the 2011 contest in Duesseldorf.

In 2015, Raab ended his regular on-screen career, with the final editions of *TV total* and *Schlag den Raab* airing in December. He continued to work mainly as a producer, including on television formats and entertainment projects. His return to the spotlight came in 2024, when he joined RTL with the streaming show *Du gewinnst hier nicht die Million bei Stefan Raab* and resumed performing in front of the camera.

Raab subsequently returned to Eurovision-related work through *Chefsache ESC 2025 - Wer singt fuer Deutschland?*, a selection project produced with RTL and ARD. Since September 2025, he has hosted *Die Stefan Raab Show*, a current-affairs comedy and entertainment program for RTL and RTL+. In 2026, he also became co-host, with Barbara Schoeneberger, of the Saturday-night quiz show *Wer weiss wie wann was war?*. His career remains notable for joining music, television production, parody and competitive spectacle into a distinctly recognizable form of German mainstream entertainment.