Christine Prayon

Christine Prayon is a German Kabarettistin, actress and television satirist born on May 22, 1974 in Bonn. She is among the most decorated political cabaret artists of her generation, holder of the German Cabaret Prize, the German Kleinkunstpreis, the Prix Pantheon and the Dieter-Hildebrandt-Preis, and is best known to a mass audience as the recurring character 'Birte Schneider' on the ZDF satire program heute-show, where she appeared from October 2011 until September 2022. Her stage work blends classically trained acting craft with sharp social and political observation, focused on quiet, character-based satire rather than direct topical punchlines.

After her Abitur in 1993 Prayon studied German and Romance philology in Cologne from 1994 before training as an actress at the Bayerische Theaterakademie August Everding in Munich from 1996 to 2000. She came to wider attention with satirical speeches at the Stuttgart 21 protests and through a parody of Baden-Wuerttemberg state minister Tanja Goenner, which drew the attention of the editorial team of the ZDF heute-show. Her first full-length solo cabaret program, 'Die Diplom-Animatoese', premiered in January 2010 at the Theaterhaus Stuttgart, and in 2012 it received the Program Prize of the German Cabaret Prize for its understated, observational approach. She placed second in the Passauer Scharfrichterbeil after winning the Dortmunder Kabarett & Comedy PoKCal the same year. Between 2011 and 2022 she played Birte Schneider in 11 seasons of the heute-show, ending the collaboration in 2023; in a June 2023 interview with KONTEXT:Wochenzeitung she discussed for the first time her experience of Post-Vac Syndrome as part of the reasoning behind stepping back. Her second program 'Abschiedstour' (2019), built around grand, intense emotions and utopian visions rather than conventional cabaret critique, has remained her touring centerpiece, with extended dates running through 2025 and 2026. She received the Dieter-Hildebrandt-Preis in 2019 for satirical work focused on imagining alternatives rather than only complaining about the status quo.

Christine Prayon is touring through 2026 with her solo program 'Abschiedstour' across major German-speaking cabaret venues, including Berlin, Stuttgart, Schaffhausen and various theaters across Baden-Wuerttemberg and Bavaria. Tickets start from approximately 17.50 EUR via AD Ticket and 26 EUR via Reservix, with additional dates listed on her official site christineprayon.de. Archived heute-show segments featuring her character Birte Schneider are available in the ZDF Mediathek.