Oliver Pocher

Oliver Pocher (born 18 February 1978 in Hanover, West Germany) is a German actor, stand-up comedian and television host.

Biography

Early life and professional training

Pocher is the son of Gerhard and Jutta Pocher and grew up in Hanover. His parents are Jehovah's Witnesses and he too was raised as one. In 2007, Pocher stated that, unlike his parents, he had no contact with the organization anymore as he claimed "not to have agreed with their rules“.^[1]

Reports that Pocher had attended a Waldorf school were denied by his management.^[2] Pocher successfully completed his training as an insurance broker at Signal Iduna Bauspar AG.

During the time of his apprenticeship he had some part-time jobs at various radio stations and as a DJ in clubs and during family celebrations. He also appeared in the comedian group Holla-Bolla and as an entertainer at Birte Karalus, a German chat show. After his apprenticeship he worked for the Swiss life insurance "Schweizerlebensversicherung und Rental AG" (today: SwissLife) and the "HDI Lebensversicherung AG" (HDI life insurance).

Career

Pocher's first television appearance was on 28 October 1998 at the afternoon chat show of Bärbel Schäfer. Pocher was given 5 minutes to make the audience laugh.^[3]

On 29 September 1999 he presented the show Chart Surfer Trash Top 100, Was geht ab, Planet Viva and finally 2002 his own show Alles Pocher, ... oder was?.

Between January 2003 to 14 April 2006 he presents the show Rent a Pocher on ProSieben.^[4]

In 2006 he recorded the single "Schwarz und Weiss," a song dedicated to the 2006 world cup. A music video was made, featuring Oliver as several pressbox speakers, as well as him performing the song in front of fans dressed in Team Germany attire.^[5]

From October 2007 to April 2009, Pocher joined established late night host Harald Schmidt's show on the Das Erste television channel, with the show being called Schmidt und Pocher.

In 2008 his third single "Bringt ihn heim“ (engl.: bring him home) was released. It is a song for the European Football Championship of 2008. The original version is Baschi's number one hit (Switzerland) “Bring en hei“ He acted as a co-trainer of the European Team during the DEL All Star Game in 2009.

Pocher's contract was not renewed after April 2009, so he was hired by Sat.1 instead to present his own late night show, Die Oliver Pocher Show. The show's ratings were always below the station's average and even slipping over the course of the run until it was cancelled in March 2011.

Criticism and scandals

Oliver Pocher is widely criticised for his jokes at the expense of others. After he recommended plastic surgery to a woman of the audience of the Wetten, dass..? ("Wanna Bet..?") episode on 22 January 2005, he was sued for damages of 25,000 Euros.^[6] Although he apologized to her on the phone and repeated this apology in public during one of his shows, he was not able to solve this conflict out of court. On the 11th of January Pocher was sentenced by the district court of Hanover to pay a fine of 6000 euros. The judge in charge called Pocher’s statement (“You look quite old for your age”) a “very insulting comment”. The public insulting continued in January 2008 during the TV show "Johannes B. Kerner" when Pocher once again made fun of this woman’s appearance and mocked the verdict. As a result, another suit was filed against the entertainer. The victim’s lawyer explained that the woman was insulted and that the topic is repeatedly brought up by people whom she meets during her work. Pocher did not comment on this.^[7] Statements as those made by Pocher could be legal in the future, as the Council of Europe is advising to decriminalize insults.^[8]

Pocher caused a scandal in July 2005 during the ZDF (German broadcasting station) – show "Gottschalk & Friends" when he first insulted Mariah Carey and later accidentally spat water onto her.^[9] For this action he has been harshly criticised by some newspapers and by the broadcast station in charge. Gottschalk himself kept calm and commented upon the incident: "Of course I do not want to have jokes at the expense of others during my show and I do not want corpses to be carried away from the battlefield afterwards. If you invite Pocher to your show, however, you should expect a different atmosphere than with, for example, Alfred Biolek."

When Pocher mocked the personal life of singer Sarah Connor and her reality show, Connor sued Pocher. While the exact outcome of the lawsuit is not known, Pocher did apologize to Connor.^[10]

In January 2009, during the TV show “Schmidt & Pocher“, Pocher spoofed the Hitler assassin Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, who is portrayed by Tom Cruise in “Operation Walküre“. He had to face negative feedback for this and thereafter the broadcasting commission examined this incident.^[11]

In February 2014, at the Vienna Ball, Oliver Pocher was interviewed by Mirjam Wechselbraun with Kim Kardashian. He joked that he was only going to dance when 'N****** in Vienna' was played. ^{[12] [13] [14]}

Shows

Discography

Albums

• 2007: It's my life - Aus dem Leben eines B-Promis

Singles

• 2006: "Schwarz und Weiß"
• 2007: "Ich kann nix dafür" (with Nena & Stephan Remmler)
• 2008: "Bringt ihn heim" (Germany: 68th best-selling single of 2008 ^[15])
• 2009: "Kennst du die Stars" (Bushido feat. Oliver Pocher)
• 2010: "Wir gehen nur zurück um Anlauf zu nehm’"

DVDs

• 2005: Best of Pocher: Aufstieg & Fall eines B-Promis (2 DVDs)
• 2007: It's my life - Aus dem Leben eines B-Promis (2 DVDs)
• 2008: Best of Schmidt & Pocher (2 DVDs)
• 2009: Gefährliches Halbwissen - Die Weltrekord Live-Show (2 DVDs)

Awards

2004

• Golden Bravo Otto in the category „Comedy“

2005

• Golden Bravo Otto in the category „Comedy“
• Comet in the category „Beste Live-Comedy“
• Deutscher Comedypreis for „Beste Comedy-Show“
• Jetix Kids Award in the category „Coolster TV-Star“

2006

• Goldene Schallplatte for over 45.000 sold DVDs
• Golden Bravo Otto in the category „Comedy“
• Radio Regenbogen Comedy Award
• Goldene Schallplatte for more than 220.000 sold Cd's of „Schwarz und Weiss“

2008

• Preis der beleidigten Zuschauer (Award of the offended viewers)

Filmography

• 2005: Durch die Nacht mit Moritz Bleibtreu und Oliver Pocher (TV)
• 2006: 7 Zwerge – Der Wald ist nicht genug
• 2006: Hui Buh – Das Schlossgespenst
• 2007: Vollidiot
• 2009: Alarm für Cobra 11
• 2010: Hanni & Nanni

References

External links

• Stephen Colbert about Oliver Pocher (14. February 2008)