Herman Finkers

Hermenegildus Felix Victor Maria "Herman" Finkers [ɦɛrmeːnə'ɣɪɫdəs 'feːlɪks 'vɪktɔr ma'riaː "'ɦɛrmɑn" 'fɪŋkərs] (born December 9, 1954 in Almelo, Overijssel) is a comedian from the Dutch region of Twente, who is well known in the Netherlands for his friendly, dry-witted humour and his ambiguous style of storytelling. In his way of telling a story the moral should never be in the way of a good joke or pun. His humor is never at the expense of others, except his brother Wilfried Finkers, who is frequently the target of jokes. Wilfried Finkers co-wrote material and occasionally appeared in his brother's shows. Herman Finkers temporarily stopped performing in 2000, and soon afterwards he was diagnosed with a form of leukemia. He was given an estimate of 10 to 15 years of life left. On August 5, 2006 a Fuchsia was named after him. In 2007 he started playing in theatres again, with a new show called "Na de Pauze" (After the Break). On 31 December 2015 he gave the traditional New Year's Eve conference on Dutch television, in which he remarked that the chance that he would become 90 years old was statistically larger than the chance that he died three years ago.

Finkers is a devout Catholic.

Tweants
Finkers has a strong love for the Tweants dialect. He has translated a number of his shows into Tweants Low Saxon, which is his mother tongue. He also wrote and directed two short animation films, which were completely in Twents: Kroamschudd'n in Mariaparochie (which tells the story of the birth of Christ in a setting of Twente) and his comic interpretation of William Shakespeare's MacBeth, the former of which is shown annually around christmas on regional television. After his retirement from theatre, Finkers played a role in the first Soap series in Twents: "Van Jonge Leu en Oale Groond" (Of Young People and Old Ground). For his efforts to promote the Tweants dialect he received the Johanna van Buuren prize.

Theater performances

 * Op Zwart Zangzaad ("On Black Birdseed") (1979)
 * De terugkeer van Joop Huizinga ("Joop Huizinga's Return") 1982
 * De Diana Ros Show ("The Diana Ros Show") 1983
 * EHBO is mijn lust en mijn leven ("First aid is the love of my life") 1985
 * Het Meisje van de Slijterij ("The liquor store girl") 1987
 * De zon gaat zinloos onder, morgen moet zij toch weer op ("The sun sets pointlessly, it has got to rise again tomorrow anyway") (1990)
 * Dat heeft zo'n jongen toch niet nodig ("A guy like him doesn't need that") (1992)
 * Geen spatader veranderd ("Not changed one bit") (1995) (also in Twentsch: "Gen spatoader aans")
 * Kalm aan en rap een beetje ("Take it easy, on the double") (1998) (also in Twentsch: "Heanig an en rap wat")
 * Na de pauze ("After the break") (2007)
 * Een uur Herman Finkers ("An hour of Herman Finkers") (2015)

Discography

 * Van zijn LP ("From his album")
 * EHBO is mijn lust en mijn leven ("First aid is the love of my life")
 * De zon gaat zinloos onder, morgen moet zij toch weer op (The sun sets pointlessly, she's got to get up tomorrow anyway.)
 * Carnaval der Dieren / Sint Joris Mis (Animal Carnival/ Saint George Mass)
 * Kroamschudd'n in Mariaparochie / MacBeth (animation films) ("Baby shower" in Mary's Parish / MacBeth)
 * Dat heeft zo'n jongen toch niet nodig (A boy like that doesn't need that)
 * Geen spatader veranderd (Not changed one bit)
 * Kalm aan en rap een beetje. (Take it easy, on the double.)
 * Een engelhart in Rome (an angel heart in Rome) (A thoughtful Finkers on audience in the Vatican)

DVDs
Most of his theater shows were released on VHS and DVD, and several years ago a box set of all these DVDs was made available.