Paul de Leeuw
Encyclopedia
Paul Henri de Leeuw is a Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 comedian
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...

, singer and actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

.

De Leeuw gained national fame in the late eighties and early nineties with television shows for broadcasting company VARA
VARA (broadcaster)
The Omroepvereniging VARA is a Dutch public broadcasting association operating within the framework of the Nederlandse Publieke Omroep system, founded in 1925 as the Vereeniging van Arbeiders Radio Amateurs...

. Though satire was only a part of these shows and much of its humour was essentially harmless, he came into publicity with satire about Dutch show business personalities who were often ridiculed. Besides, many obscure musical acts were featured in his shows, many of which managed to gain national fame after they had been in De Leeuw's show (e.g. Twarres
Twarres
Twarres is a folk/pop band from the Netherlands who perform songs in both English and their native West Frisian language. Their songs are primarily lush, harmonic vocal pop with a focus on acoustic instrumentation such as pianos and violins. At the end of 2003 Twarres gave their last concert...

 and René Klijn, a former boyband member who contracted AIDS). VARA has since continued his shows apart from a few interruptions, often with considerable success.

In the early nineties, Paul de Leeuw also had some shows celebrating the new year. In the 1993-1994 show he satirized the new commercial television station RTL 5
RTL 5
RTL 5 is the 2nd channel of the RTL Group in the Netherlands. The channel mainly broadcasts American films and hit series but also local productions including Jensen! and Holland's Next Top Model, a Dutch version of America's Next Top Model. RTL 5 recently started airing the Dutch version of...

 by announcing another new station, "RTL 6" (RTL six, beter dan niks (lit. better than nothing)). This led to a trial by the RTL company, who demanded that De Leeuw withdraw his joke.

He and his husband, Didier Eerens, have adopted two children: son Kas (adopted in October 2001) and son Tobey (adopted in December 2002).

Paul de Leeuw has had many hit singles in The Netherlands. He is most famous for: Vlieg met me mee (#2), Ik wil niet dat je liegt / Waarheen, waarvoor (#1), and 'k Heb je lief (#3). Since the beginning of his television and singing career he released albums and singles, always becoming a big success.

On Koninginnedag
Koninginnedag
Koninginnedag or Queen's Day is a national holiday in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Celebrated on 30 April , Koninginnedag is Queen Beatrix's official birthday. Though Queen Beatrix was born on 31 January, the holiday is observed on 30 April as it was the birthday of her mother and...

 2007 he was made a Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion.

25th Anniversary

Paul de Leeuw until mid-2009 hosted the weekly chat and comedy show Mooi! Weer De Leeuw
Mooi! Weer de Leeuw
Mooi! Weer De Leeuw was a popular Dutch television show hosted by comedian Paul de Leeuw, that ran from 2005 to 2009...

. On November 29, 2008 he celebrated his 25th television anniversary by staging a 12-hour marathon. Not forgetting the reason Mooi! Weer De Leeuw happened, he invited his one-time collaborator Jack Spijkerman (whose Kopspijkers
Kopspijkers
Kopspijkers was a talk show that has been running on the Dutch public television from 1996 to 2005. A recipient, in 2003, of the annual Zilveren Nipkow best-show award from Dutch television critics, the programme was produced by the left-of-centre public broadcaster VARA...

-show previously filled the Mooi! Weer De Leeuw time slot, before a row prompted VARA to cancel it with immediate effect) to reprise one item from Kopspijkers; other guests included comedians Herman van Veen
Herman van Veen
Hermannus Jantinus "Herman" van Veen is a Dutch stage performer, actor, musician and singer/songwriter and author. He is most famous as the creator of the Dutch-Japanese cartoon Alfred J...

 and Brigitte Kaandorp, and singer/musical actor Danny de Munk
Danny de Munk
Dennis de Munk is a Dutch actor, singer, musical actor and former child star.De Munk started acting at the age of 12 as the leading role in the film Ciske de Rat , directed by Guido Pieters, starring Herman van Veen as teacher and Willeke van Ammelrooy as mother...

.

Eurovision Song Contest 2006 incident

De Leeuw is, despite being famous for a long time in the Netherlands, best-known internationally for presenting the results of the Dutch televote in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006
Eurovision Song Contest 2006
The Eurovision Song Contest 2006 was the 51st Eurovision Song Contest, held at the Olympic Indoor Hall in Athens, Greece on 18 May and 20 May 2006 . The hosting national broadcaster of the contest was Ellinikí Radiofonía Tileórasi . The Finnish band Lordi won the contest with the song "Hard Rock...

. De Leeuw was supposed to present the televote by simply thanking the presenters, performers and fans, before giving the result, but instead the openly gay De Leeuw gave his mobile number
Mobile phone
A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...

 to the male presenter Sakis Rouvas
Sakis Rouvas
Anastasios "Sakis" Rouvas II , often referred to mononymously as Sakis, is a Greek musician, television and film artist, businessman, and former pole vaulter who is one of the most successful and influential entertainers of all time in Greece and Cyprus...

 live on-air, and made other comments which somewhat lengthened the Dutch results.

De Leeuw also made a reference to gay culture when he remarked that Rouvas and his female co-presenter Maria Menounos
Maria Menounos
Maria Menounos is a Greek-American actress, journalist, and television presenter known in America for her appearances as a correspondent for Today, Access Hollywood, Extra, and abroad for co-hosting the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 in Athens, Greece.-Early life and beauty pageants:Menounos, a...

 reminded him of Will & Grace
Will & Grace
Will & Grace was an American television sitcom that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 21, 1998 to May 18, 2006 for a total of eight seasons. Will & Grace remains the most successful television series with gay principal characters...

. As the results were live and required for the contest to continue, De Leeuw could not be cut off until he finished giving the voting results.

De Leeuw's actions resulted in negative comments from the commentators, with the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

's Terry Wogan
Terry Wogan
Sir Michael Terence Wogan, KBE, DL , or also known as Terry Wogan, is a veteran Irish radio and television broadcaster who holds dual Irish and British citizenship. Wogan has worked for the BBC in the United Kingdom for most of his career...

 calling the act "pathetic" and asking "Who selected this eejit?" during the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 coverage of the contest. Other commentators, like the Portuguese Eládio Clímaco, didn't translate properly the gay remarks and said "he was saying that they really look like Greeks". De Leeuw presented the votes again for the Netherlands at the 2007 contest, and that time did not cause quite as much of a stir as he did the year before.

Animal rights dispute and controversy

During an episode of Mooi! Weer De Leeuw, a vegan streaker in underwear managed to enter the sound stage in order to give attention about animal suffering. His body was covered in slogans such as "stop animal suffering" and "meat is murder". De Leeuw stopped security from escorting him from the stage in order to talk with him. De Leeuw proceeded to pull the man onto his lap and poking at his underwear, insisting to "see his meat". As the man stood up, De Leeuw pulled down and eventually ripped off his underwear, saying, "then you must properly streak; off with those briefs."

The streaker later filed a police report, although the molestation charges have since been dropped. Some parents were shocked by the display as the show was targeted at young children.

Israëlean broadcast commotion

De Leeuw identifies as a strong Eurovision Song Contest follower with his own perspectives and beliefs. He presented the Dutch Eurovision occasionally as a host and commentator in 1993, 1994, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2006 en 2007. In 1998 and 1999 together with Linda de Mol. In 1995 a lot of commotion came out of this because he had started a tirade and outburst against the Israëlean broadcasting 'Amen'.

Works

In 2005, De Leeuw wrote the introduction to the Dutch edition of The Eurovision Song Contest - The Official History by John Kennedy O'Connor.

Discography

  • Voor u majesteit (1991)
  • Van u wil ik zingen (1992)
  • Plugged (1993)
  • ParaCDmol (1994)
  • Filmpje (1995)
  • In heel Europa was er niemand zoals zij (1995)
  • Encore (1996)
  • Lief (1997)
  • Stille liedjes (1999)
  • Kerstkransje (2001)
  • Zingen terwijl u wacht (2001)
  • Metropaul (2004)
  • Duizel mij (2005)
  • Mooi! Weer Een Cd (2006)
  • Het wordt winter (2008)

Filmography

List of films in which Paul de Leeuw performed as an actor:
  • Jan Rap en z'n maat (1989)
  • Filmpje! (1995)
  • Heerlijk duurt het langst (1998)
  • De Pijnbank (1998)
  • Max Lupa (1999)
  • Yes Nurse! No Nurse!
    Yes Nurse! No Nurse!
    Yes Nurse! No Nurse! is a 2002 Dutch comedy musical film, based on the original story by Annie M.G. Schmidt.The film received a Golden Film and a Platinum Film in 2002....

    (2002)
  • K3 en het magische medaillon (2004)
  • Alles is liefde
    Alles is Liefde
    Alles is Liefde is a 2007 romantic comedy film , directed by Joram Lürsen, starring Carice van Houten, Paul de Leeuw, Wendy van Dijk, and Daan Schuurmans.-Plot:...

    (2007)
  • Spion van Oranje (2009)

External links



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