Markus Barth

Markus Barth is a German stand-up comedian, author, podcaster and television headwriter born on March 1, 1977 in Bamberg and based in Cologne since 1999. After more than two decades writing for some of Germany's most successful comedy shows, he stepped onto the stand-up stage himself in 2007 and has since built a distinctive solo career. Barth is also the creator and host of Queer up Comedy, a touring format that became one of the most successful queer comedy shows in the German-speaking world.

Barth grew up in Zeil am Main in Franconia as the son of two finance officials and briefly studied theatre science and English literature at Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich before joining Die Wochenshow on Sat.1 as an author in 1999. Within six months he was promoted to co-headwriter and went on to write for many of the most-watched German comedy formats, including the ZDF Heute-show. His current solo program Pures Gold premiered in October 2024 at the Gloria in Cologne and is currently touring Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Earlier shows include Haha Moment was?, his ironic-poetic everyday observations format. Since March 2024 he has been moderating the BR cult format Kabarett aus Franken, and he co-hosts the dating podcast Wilde Geschichten with Nina Goldberg. Barth also tours the show Konig mit Barth together with comic artist Ralf Konig.

Markus Barth continues to tour Germany, Austria and Switzerland with Pures Gold, playing theatres including the Gloria in Cologne, Theater Stuttgart and venues in Berlin and Bayreuth. His YouTube channel features full specials such as Haha Moment was? alongside stand-up shorts, and his Instagram account with around 34K followers documents tour dates and behind-the-scenes content. Queer up Comedy continues as a recurring show with rotating guest comedians.