Freek de Jonge

Freek De Jonge, born Frederik "Freek" Jan Georg de Jonge on 30 August 1944 in Westernieland, is a Dutch cabaret performer and writer. The son of a pastor, his family moved to Workum, and later to Zaandam and Goes. At age 11 he had his first performance on stage. After barely making it through high school, he studied cultural anthropology in Amsterdam, where he met Bram Vermeulen and Johan Gertenbach and formed the comedy group Neerlands Hoop In Bange Dagen.

In 1978, Neerlands Hoop became famous for their opposition to the Netherlands national football team's participation in the football world cup in Argentina, through their show Bloed aan de Paal. After the group split in 1979, De Jonge started a solo career, and from 1983 he regularly performed on Dutch national television on New Year's Eve, the so-called "Oudejaarsconference." Besides cabaret, he wrote the novels Zaansch Veem (1987), Neerlands Bloed (1991) and Opa's Wijsvinger (1993), and wrote two films, The Illusionist (1983) and De KKKomediant (1986).

In 1994 he began working with the band Nits under the name Frits, releasing the album Dankzij de Dijken in 1995. A cover of Bob Dylan's "Death is not the End," titled "Leven Na De Dood," reached the top of the Dutch charts in 1997. From 1997 to 2000 he was a columnist for the daily newspaper Parool. His awards include the Groenman language award, the Annie M.G. Schmidt Prize and the Golden Harp.