Martin Rassau

Martin Rassau is a German Kabarett artist, comedian and theater entrepreneur born on January 3, 1967 in Fürth, Bavaria. He is best known as one half of the legendary Franconian widow duo Waltraud und Mariechen, in which he plays Waltraud Lehneis opposite Volker Heißmann's Mariechen Bezold. Rassau is co-founder and co-managing director of the Comödie Fürth, Bavaria's largest private theater, and a defining voice of Franconian dialect cabaret. His work combines German Volkstheater, character drag, musical parody and a strong regional identity rooted in Franconia.

Rassau first met Volker Heißmann on stage in 1990 and within a year they had founded the Kleine Komödie in Nuremberg in 1991, opening in the Mautkeller on May 8, 1991. The Waltraud und Mariechen characters were created the same year from observing elderly women chatting in a Fürth café, and the duo's nationwide breakthrough came in 1997 with their appearance at Fastnacht in Franken in Veitshöchheim on Bayerischer Rundfunk. In 1998 Rassau co-founded Comödie Fürth in the historic Berolzheimerianum with Heißmann, Michael Urban and Marcel Gasde, building it into Bavaria's largest private theater. Beyond the duo, Rassau also performs solo, interpreting famous opera classics in a fresh, cheeky Franconian manner ("Traumschiff Rambazamba" and "Grimms Gschmarri Gschichtn"). He shared the Bavarian Dialect Prize special award with Heißmann in 2017 and the Frankenwürfel for Middle Franconia. Their current touring program is "Lustbarkeiten" (2025-2026).

Martin Rassau is on tour with Volker Heißmann through the 2025-2026 season with the duo program "Lustbarkeiten," featuring sketches, wordplay and the widow duo Waltraud und Mariechen. The home venue is Comödie Fürth in the Berolzheimerianum, with regular runs at Comödie Dresden and tour dates across Germany. Rassau also performs solo cabaret evenings and appears in Fastnacht in Franken broadcasts on Bayerischer Rundfunk.