He thinks Raoul Hertie, 60, has listened to himself long enough. in his first full stand-up show Raoul Hertie doesn’t understand either So let others do the talking too. “I don’t want to get around with a story that I came up with a year ago.”

Kim van der MeulenApril 24, 202310:22

If you see Raoul Hertie sitting somewhere in Amsterdam in the near future at a table with an empty chair in front of him and behind him a sign that says “Hour of Consultation,” please take a seat. The comedian loves to talk to people he doesn’t know. He says this makes him wiser. And we hope the audience is too: Heertje shows the most beautiful, funniest and coolest quotes on his show.

Do you already have general business hours?

“Yes, I recently spent an afternoon with my table and two chairs and a tape recorder at the Sarphatihuis talking to visitors and residents. And last week at Café Belcampo. I’d rather sit outside, but it’s too cold now. When people ask what I do, I explain: I’m doing a show and no I want it to be just about what’s in my head, or what other people think. That’s why I spend half an hour talking to others about the topics I want to cover on the show. I ask everyone if I can record the conversation and at the end they can say if I can use it or not No. At every show I play new quotes, the times I think: It’s time to listen to someone else. It’s great fun. The kick of my life.”

How did you come up with this idea?

“I’ve done a lot, but I never did a complete show, The Raoul Hertie Show. There are all kinds of reasons for that. For example, I don’t like making something and then repeating it a hundred times. I can’t either. I don’t want to travel around with a show telling me what I came up with before General. Maybe it’s not true anymore, or I’ve already thought about it more. Besides, I wanted to make it interesting for myself. The counseling hour is the answer to that. I judge everything on the spot – I made it my job – and I even think I almost know What someone else thinks. Total crap, of course. I’m not in your head, so I don’t know how you look at things. I won’t know until I ask.”

What do the conversations bring you?

“I learn a lot from it. I don’t know where it comes from, but people say things that are lovely and sweet and funny and moving. I asked the first person who came into my office, a pretty, kind woman, ‘What should I know about you?’ Asking such a question gives you an idea of ​​the process that goes into Somebody passed her over to be the person sitting across from you now.” “I am very insecure,” she replied. Everything depends on quicksand. I don’t have a clue what I’m doing.’ It may feel heavier than it was now, but I really like it. And she told me about it ten minutes later.”

How frank.

“If I ask with genuine interest about someone’s story, people obviously really want to tell it. And no, I’m not going to turn around on the tram to ask the people behind me: Hey, how are you? My wife laughed at the thought. Everyone will think you’re a very social person,” she said. I just want to say: all kinds of things are happening around you and they are much more interesting than what you read in the newspaper or see on the news. Usually we just exchange opinions, without listening to each other or asking about the feelings behind us. I always try to understand everything, but I am figuring More and more we all know nothing at all. A fun look to play with.”

Is your performance impromptu?

“No, you can’t improvise everything. I do what I always do: I stand on stage and say what I think needs to be said, in a way that I personally find funny. That’s my take on standing up. I don’t make jokes; I have thoughts, ideas, musings in my head and I decide.” in advance what I want to talk about. But how I do it and what examples I use, I’ll see.”

Do you specify that in suites only?

“Well, I always think: What’s my thing today? My brother-in-law passed away last month. He was sick, it happened so fast. That’s why I started talking to my mother about death. Then I found out I never really talked about it. I’m pretty good at denying it.” Things or theorizing about them. Even when people around me die, I keep thinking: This doesn’t apply to me. That became the point of the show that day. Of course I can’t turn it into an impromptu mourning ceremony, nobody wants that. Nor is it a cure. But In this context, all kinds of ideas arise that can enlighten. Sometimes I also use what people say to me before a show.”

What as an example?

Last week, four people independently started talking about my father (economist Arnold Hertie, who died in 2020, ed.). Someone asked: “How is your father?” But they all came with beautiful stories. This keeps someone alive, so I really enjoyed it. But it’s also hard, because it makes me so emotional I don’t want to start my show in tears. That would also be a little strange. That evening I talked about supply and demand and other economic topics that suddenly popped into my mind, when I had no intention of talking about them. This is how I always stand. But I’ve never felt so free as I do now.”

why is that?

“About ten years ago I did not dare to give myself the space to say: I want to do this, and leave the path in which it opens. I think I could do it traditionally, but I wasn’t ready yet and I didn’t think it was good enough yet. Although. Although I didn’t care much about others, somewhere I thought: Am I living up to expectations? Standing on stage for 45 minutes and making you pay for it, I think it’s too little. You have to create the conditions in which you come yourself. I found it. I am open to my own ideas, without knowing what the outcome will be.”

Doesn’t that make you nervous?

“No, that’s pretty cool. I used to be, but now I dare to think for a moment during the show: What do I feel needs to be said now? It becomes funny in itself, because I have the perversity that every comedian has: dealing with issues that You have it with the world by telling us how you feel about it on stage, in a funny way. Actually, I’m just working on a blemish. People sometimes say afterward: I laughed, but I also looked at things differently. Still, I wouldn’t. If There was any purpose behind my offer, it is to feel that you are with something that is going on right now. That is a good attitude.”