Enough of Laughter? The Unbridled Expansion of Dutch Cabaret

Freek de Jonge and Youp van 't Hek are perhaps the only two who could compete with each other for the prize of the top cabaret artist in the Netherlands, but both are now in the autumn of their careers. ‘Le grand cabaret', the art of such deceased gentlemen as Toon Hermans, Wim Kan and Wim Sonneveld, no longer dominates the Dutch entertainment world. Cabaret has now become ‘democratised' as a genre: political uncorrectness, stand-up comedy, televison, radio and even the Internet are all part of it. Thus the notion of cabaret has broadened and now includes general entertainment for which the audience does not even have to leave home. It has become a game without boundaries in which – fortunately – also more and more artists with a non-Dutch background are taking part. With extracts by Freek de Jonge, Youp van ‘t Hek, Wim de Bie and Hans Teeuwen & Ronald Smeenk