Hans Teeuwen

Hans Eduard Marie Teeuwen (born 3 March 1967) is a Dutch comedian, musician, actor and occasional filmmaker.

In the Netherlands, Teeuwen became well known in 1991 when he won an award at the Dutch cabaret festival Cameretten for his show Heist, together with his friend Roland Smeenk.

Apart from a few comic parts with popular Dutch absurdistic comedy group Jiskefet, he acted in the 1999 film Jezus is een Palestijn (Jesus Is a Palestinian).

Together with Theodor Holman he co-created the idea for the film Interview, directed by Theo van Gogh in 2003 (and remade in 2007 in the USA by Steve Buscemi).

In 2005, Teeuwen announced he would no longer perform, incidentally coinciding with the politically motivated assassination of director and close friend Theo van Gogh.

Although his work is typically devoid of politics, in real life Teeuwen has repeatedly acted as a fervent supporter of freedom of speech,[5] especially after the murder of his friend Theo van Gogh.

Hans Teeuwen at TEDx Amsterdam in November 2010