Kaya Yanar

Kaya Yanar (* May 20, 1973, in Frankfurt am Main) is a German comedian, television presenter, actor, and livestreamer. He achieved breakthrough success with the multi-award-winning Sat.1 comedy show "Was guckst du?!" ("What Are You Looking At?!"). Kaya Yanar is the son of a construction engineer. His parents are of Turkish descent and lived in the southern Turkish city of Antakya before immigrating to Germany. German was the only language spoken at home, and religion did not play a role in the family. He has one brother. Yanar attended the humanistic Heinrich-von-Gagern-Gymnasium in Frankfurt (Main), where he graduated. He then studied phonetics, American studies, and philosophy at Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main but did not obtain a degree. He is an animal rights activist and supports the animal rights organization PETA with campaigns against fur and promoting vegetarian and vegan diets. Between 2003 and 2005, he was in a relationship with Mirja Boes. In 2018, he married his longtime girlfriend, Swiss dressage rider Josephine Rosen. The couple has been living in Zurich since 2012. In 2019, they welcomed a son, and in late 2021, a second child. Career He became known in 2001 through the Sat.1 comedy show "Was guckst du?!," a television format adopted from Britain, also known as ethno-comedy, in which he played with the stereotypes of various ethnic groups. He was both the host and main actor in most sketches. In addition, he toured Germany with three solo programs. Recordings of his programs "Made in Germany" (2008), "Live and Uncensored" (2009), and "All Inclusive!" (2013) were broadcast by RTL, and "Reiz der Schweiz" (2017) was aired on Netflix. In 2007, Kaya Yanar hosted the ZDF show "Kaya Yanar testet Deutschland – die Multi-Kulti-Show" as part of a special week on the theme of integration. He played a leading role in the 2008 television comedy "Dekker & Adi – Wer bremst verliert!" alongside Mark Keller. Within the context of the acceptance of multicultural cultural products in Germany, Yanar is considered a key figure and pioneer, as his broad success at the time of his emergence in the German media was unprecedented for an artist with a Turkish migration background in the German-speaking region. From January 2011 to December 2012, Yanar appeared alongside Paul Panzer on RTL's show "Stars bei der Arbeit," where celebrities undertook unfamiliar professional activities. Also in January 2011, he published his first book titled "Made in Germany" with Heyne Verlag. From March 2011, Kaya Yanar went on a Germany tour with his live program "All Inclusive!" From January 14 to February 25, 2012, "Die Kaya Show" aired on RTL. In 2013, it was titled "Typisch deutsch?! Die Kaya-Show," as the focus of the show was on German stereotypes and laws. Since December 2012, Yanar has been a patron of the Heinrich-Middendorf-Oberschule Aschendorf in the project "School without Racism - School with Courage." In 2013, he was nominated for the Arosa Humor Shovel, a jury prize at the Arosa Humor Festival. Since autumn 2013, he has been touring Germany, Austria, and Switzerland with his program "Around the World." On April 25, 2014, RTL aired his show "Geht’s noch?! Kayas Woche" for the first time. It is a weekly review with a mix of stand-up comedy and political satire. From 2014 to 2015, Yanar hosted the blooper show "Life! – Dumm gelaufen" on RTL. Since the relaunch of "Genial daneben" in spring 2017, Yanar has been a recurring guest on the quiz show. He is also often seen on the spin-off "Genial daneben – Das Quiz" since July 2018. In February 2018, the comedy show "Guckst Du?! Kayas große Kinoshow mit Kaya Yanar" premiered on Sat.1. Since February 2020, Yanar has been streaming live on Twitch. His YouTube channels KAYA Backstage, Kaya reagiert!, and KayaZockt have a combined total of over 541,000 subscribers (as of March 2023). In 2022, he made two appearances in the series "Der Letzte Song aus der Bohne" by Julien Bam, where he plays the character Yilderim, the owner of the garden. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.