Stefan Raab

Stefan Raab
Stefan Raab at a Eurovision Song Contest 2010 press conference
Born	Stefan Konrad Raab (1966-10-20) 20 October 1966 (age 50) Cologne, West Germany
Occupation	Entertainer, television host, comedian, musician
Years active	1990–2015
Website	www.tvtotal.de

Stefan Konrad Raab (born 20 October 1966) is a German entertainer, comedian, musician and former television host. Raab began his television career hosting the comedy show Vivasion in 1993. He became well known in 1994 after composing a hit single spoofing national football coach Berti Vogts. From 1999 to 2015, he hosted the late-night comedy show TV total and has also created a number of other television shows, such as Schlag den Raab and Bundesvision Song Contest. Raab has been considered the "most powerful man in German entertainment television".

Raab is also known for his recurring role as producer, writer and performer of German entries to the Eurovision Song Contest beginning in 1998. He was the initiator of the national pre-selection show Unser Star für Oslo (Our Star for Oslo), in which Germany's winning entry at the 2010 contest in Oslo was determined.

Raab grew up in Cologne with his sister and his parents, who owned a butchers shop. He attended Jesuit boarding school Aloisiuskolleg in Bonn. Before entering the entertainment business, he worked as a butcher in his parents' shop and studied law before dropping-out of university after five semesters. Raab lives in a suburb of Cologne and has two daughters (born 2004 and 2006) with his girlfriend Nike. Other than this, very little is known about Raab, who deliberately hides his private life from the media.

Stefan Raab became popular as host of the comedy show Vivasion for the German music television channel VIVA from 1993 to 1998.

In 1999, he created TV total which began airing in April 2001 on ProSieben, four times a week. While TV total started as a comedy format mainly showing and satirizing funny and embarrassing sequences from other television programs, it soon came to be more of a late night show featuring musical performances-- in some ways similar to The Tonight Show with Jay Leno or Late Night with Conan O'Brien.