Herbert Feuerstein

Biography

Herbert Feuerstein (born June 15, 1937, in Zell am See, Austria; died October 6, 2020, in Erftstadt, North Rhine-Westphalia) was an Austrian-German journalist, cabaret artist, actor, and entertainer. Herbert Feuerstein initially studied music at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and later worked in New York as a journalist and editor-in-chief of the German-language newspaper New Yorker Staats-Zeitung. After returning to Europe, he became the publishing director of the satirical magazine pardon and subsequently, over many years, shaped the German edition of MAD magazine as its editor-in-chief. Feuerstein achieved nationwide fame starting in the late 1980s through his collaboration with Harald Schmidt on the television programs Pssst … and Schmidteinander, in which his absurdist humor and self-deprecating demeanor became his trademarks. Numerous other television formats followed, including Feuersteins Reisen, the legendary twelve-hour live broadcast Feuersteins Nacht, as well as regular appearances on shows such as Genial daneben and Was bin ich?. He was also active as an actor, appearing in films such as Vollidiot and Wickie und die starken Männer, as well as in theater and opera productions. Furthermore, Feuerstein worked extensively as a voice actor and writer. Among other roles, he lent his voice to characters in Die Sendung mit der Maus and the animated film The Incredibles. His literary radio program SpielArt on WDR 5, which he hosted from 2003 to 2017, also received great acclaim; his autobiographically tinged segments blended humor, culture, and personal memories. In 2014, he published his memoirs, Die neun Leben des Herrn F.. Feuerstein most recently lived in Erftstadt and was married to editor Grit Bergmann. He died in 2020 at the age of 83.