Joseph Jacobus Maria "Youp" van 't Hek (born 28 February 1954) is a Dutch, author, columnist, singer-songwriter, playwright, critic and former comedian.

In the early 1980s, Cabaret NAR's success declined and Van 't Hek moved on as a solo artist.

Van 't Hek has often cited this as the best joke in his career and has subsequently referred to it in all his retrospective shows.

Van 't Hek has worked with a changing group of musicians to supply the music to the songs in his shows.

The constant factor in his musical backup during almost his entire career has been Ton Scherpenzeel (keyboardist of Kayak), who has composed almost all of his songs.