Hans-Joachim Heist

Hans-Joachim Heist (born 11 January 1949 in Seeheim-Jugenheim) is a German actor and comedian. He works as an actor and comedian in television programmes on German broadcasters. In the German satire programme heute-show on the broadcaster ZDF, he plays the role of "Gernot Hassknecht", a choleric, ranting and screaming television news commentator.

Heist has worked extensively on stage. His stage credits include Komm raus aus dem Schrank (1985), Sextett (1989), Der froehliche Weinberg (1995), Die drei Musketiere (2004), Der Kontrabass (2006-2011), Die Sternstunde des Josef Bieder (2006-2016), and Noch'n Gedicht der grosse Heinz Erhardt Abend (2008-2016), in which he portrayed Heinz Erhardt. He later developed solo programmes built around his Hassknecht character, including Das Hassknecht Prinzip (2013-2016) and Hassknecht LIVE - Jetzt wird's persoenlich (from 2017).

For his work on the heute-show, Heist has received numerous honours, including the Deutscher Comedypreis (2009 through 2012), the Deutscher Fernsehpreis in the Best Comedy category (2010 and 2014), the Adolf-Grimme-Preis (2010), the Bambi Award (2014), and the Goldene Kamera (2017). In 1999 he received the Fachmedienpreis in the "Comedy" category for "James" in "Dinner for one", and in 2015 he was awarded the Ehrenbrief des Landes Hessen.