Arjen Lubach

Arjen Henrik Lubach was born on 22 October 1979 in a hospital in Groningen, Netherlands. He was raised in Lutjegast, where he lived until age 15.

In 2001, Lubach became part of the theatre fellowship Op Sterk Water (with Roel van Velzen and others), with whom he performed at, amongst others, Lowlands, Hard Gelach, Laughing Matters and in theatres in the Netherlands and Belgium. In June 2014, he left Op Sterk Water to present a talkshow.

In 2001, Lubach and Janine Abbring scored a number 3 hit under the pseudonym of Slimme Schemer ft. Tido. This song, Jelle, originated as a joke at the Noorderslag festival; it is a parody of American rapper Eminem and British singer Dido's song Stan. It is about a fan, Jelle, who disappointedly sings (in second person singular) about De Kast singer Syb van der Ploeg, blaming him for not replying to his messages.

In 2003, Lubach got a late night programme as Arjen L at 3FM, at first for the NPS and later for the VARA, and he could be heard as the sidekick of Claudia de Breij and Giel Beelen.

Since 2005, Lubach – together with Edo Schoonbeek and Pieter Jouke – has maintained the comedy website Buro Renkema. Some of their items were shown at Pauw & Witteman, Koppensnellers and De Wereld Draait Door. In June 2007, ABN AMRO threatened to sue them, because they created a parody of ABN AMRO online banking. The bank eventually backed off when Buro Renkema refused to take the flash video down.

In August 2006, Lubach's debut novel Mensen die ik ken die mijn moeder hebben gekend ("People I Know Who Knew My Mother") appeared, and in April 2008 his novel Bastaardsuiker ("Brown Sugar"), both at Meulenhoff publishing. In March 2011, Lubach's new novel Lubach Magnus was published by Podium, followed by the thriller IV in 2013, which was nominated for the Gouden Strop. Furthermore, he writes for the VPRO radio, columns for CJP magazine, opinion pieces for NRC Next and scenarios for film and theatre.

In 2007, Lubach did a weekly contribution for the VPRO in the radio programme De Avonden on Radio 6.

Early 2007, Lubach was part of the jury in the show Lama Gezocht. From late 2007 on, he presented De Nieuwste Show for BNN from Monday till Thursday together with Patrick Lodiers. Since September 2009, Lubach and Edo Schoonbeek co-produce the "Rap service" under the name "MC T-Lex" for the AVRO show Koefnoen. Arjen Lubach participated in the TV show Wie is de Mol? in 2010, dropping out in the seventh episode. In June 2010, he and five friends founded the website Recensiekoning ("Review King"), for which he writes regularly.

For the NTR and IJswater Films, Lubach wrote the scenarios De Goudfazant ("The Golden Pheasant") and Midzomernacht ("Midsummer Night"). The latter premiered at the Netherlands Film Festival in 2011, and was shown at other film festivals in Uruguay, Brive and Leeuwarden, and was broadcast on Nederland 2 on 2 December 2011. In 2012, Lubach wrote for Talent United Films the scenario for the television film Honderden Brommers ("Hundreds of Mopeds").

On 31 August 2012, he won the finale of the television show De Slimste Mens ("The Smartest Human") against Mark Huizinga and Jan Rot.

From the 13th season of Wie is de Mol?, Lubach presents the programme MolTalk on Radio 1 and on the second screen, where he looks forward to and back on every episode of that day. In 2013, Lubach and linguist Paulien Cornelisse started a monthly language segment on De Wereld Draait Door.

In 2015, Lubach secretly released the song "Justified (Sunrise Funk)" under the pseudonym Hartebees, which became a hit. Radio host Domien Verschuuren discovered Lubach was the artist, because his name was listed as producer on Deezer. In July 2016 it became known that Arjen Lubach is part of a dance duo called The Galaxy. The Amsterdam-based DJ duo released their Bass Country Club EP in 2015 with the Barong Family label, which was founded by Yellow Claw. The Galaxy released their second EP, Moon & The Stars EP in late 2016.

In early 2017, the Zondag met Lubach video "The Netherlands welcomes Trump in his own words" that ridiculed United States President Donald Trump while at the same time using self-mockery, went viral and was viewed more than 73 million times worldwide. It inspired the similar German late-night satirical talkshow Neo Magazin Royale of Jan Böhmermann to launch a Europe-wide video contest to let every country make its own parody video.