The first career of the Klaas Heufer-Umlauf began down to earth: after graduating from secondary school, the native of Oldenburg began training as a hairdresser and successfully completed it. According to Heufer-Umlauf, he knew from day one that he didn’t want to be a hairdresser.
“I also had my tragic evenings, where I stood alone in the hairdressing salon and tried to screw in a permanent wave roller on a plastic head. I smoked a lot, listened to loud music and was very sad,” said Heufer-Umlauf years later in an interview with the “Augsburger Allgemeine”.
Joko and Klaas quickly became audience favourites
His steep television career then began in 2004 with a contract with the music channel Viva. There he moderated various programs and formats until 2009. He was also heard on Radio Bremen 4 with a weekly column.
In 2009, together with Thomas Gottschalk and Guido Knopp, he moderated the celebrations for the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Wall in Berlin for ZDF. In the same year, Heufer-Umlauf switched to the music channel MTV, where he stood in front of the camera for the first time for the program “MTV Home” alongside fellow moderator Joko Winterscheidt.
The show quickly became a hit with the public. In addition to discussions with prominent guests from the music and entertainment industry, the duo scored with the audience with unconventional formats and entertaining duels. In 2011, Joko and Klaas switched to ZDF with their show, where they continued until early 2013 under the name “neoParadise”.
For dares around the world
In 2012, Heufer-Umlauf and Winterscheidt tested personal pain limits for ProSieben for the first time: In “Joko vs. Klaas – The Duel Around the World” they faced various tests of courage. For example, Heufer-Umlauf had a gel bagel injected under his forehead, walked around on the edge of an active volcano or was tied to a plastic chair and fell off a cliff in New Zealand.
Their ProSieben show “Circus Halligalli”, characterized by mutual challenges, should also become a hit. With their production company, Heufer-Umlauf and Winterscheidt developed various other show formats for the Munich private broadcaster, which they also moderated. In the meantime, the two omnipresent TV entertainers have even been traded as new “Wetten, dass…?” moderators.
One of their pranks caused a stir when they unnoticed smuggled in a double of actor Ryan Gosling at the “Golden Camera” media award ceremony – and pocketed the trophy.
social commitment
The moderator’s social commitment also keeps making headlines. Not only when Joko
Heufer-Umlauf called several times for fundraisers to support sea rescue – over one million euros have already been raised. He is also actively involved as a stem cell donor in the fight against blood cancer and is a member of the Friends for Life association, which works to educate people about depression and break down prejudices.
Glass ohne Joko
Klaas has long since ceased to exist only as part of what is perhaps the best-known duo in recent television history: he has been presenting his own satirical late-night show since 2018 – without Joko. And Heufer-Umlauf can also be seen time and again as an actor, for example in the comedy series “Check Check”. The idea for the show came from himself.
Heufer-Umlauf is also very busy musically: in 2013 he founded the band Gloria together with the former bassist of “Wir sind Helden”, Mark Tavassol, with whom he released three albums.
“You make yourself vulnerable through the music, that’s the way it is. I don’t have that wall of irony with which I can protect myself from everything,” stated Heufer-Umlauf in an interview.
