Toon Hermans is a melancholic
Dutch cabaret artist who makes
audiences roar with
laughter as he
privately ponders the depths of
human existence.
Hermans is widedly regarded in the Dutch cabaret world as a
consummate one-man
entertainer who is a
master of intelligent
one-liners and humorous ballads.
``Toon is the greatest of us all. He can cast a spell with nothing
at all,'' fellow showman
Paul van Vliet said.
But he also has a deeply philosophical side, which intensified
after the
1990 death of his
wife of 40 years, Rietje. He was
fascinated by the
philosophy of
Zen Buddhism, the contemplations of
German philosopher Arthur Shopenhauer and the lyric verse of German
poet
Rainer Maria Rilke.
``
Sadness has made me
wealthier than
pleasure,'' Hermans said in
a
1997 interview. ``Suffering is not senseless.''
In
1993, Hermans once had to leave a
stage in mid-
performance
because he couldn't hold back the
tears.
Born
Antoine Gerard Theodore Hermans, the entertainer began his
career drawing
commercial ads and designing
storefront displays.
After winning a
clown competition and starting his own theater
review, he moved to
Amsterdam in
1942 to perform in the companies
of Dutch directors
Carl Tobi and
Floris Meslier.
By the late
1950s, he was drawing huge
audiences with his
one-man show, a format virtually unknown in the
Netherlands at the
time.
Hermans continues performing and vows he will never quit.
``I will never take leave,'' he told Amsterdam's
De Telegraaf
newspaper on his 80th birthday. ``At a certain point, life will do
it for me.''
Toon Hermans passed away on April 22nd, 2000.