music competition
ESC successor: Peter Urban would be satisfied with Böhmermann
Moderator Jan Böhmermann at an award ceremony. photo
© Henning Kaiser/dpa
Jan Böhmermann and Olli Schulz repeatedly emphasized in their podcast “Fest & Flauschig” how much they would like to moderate the ESC. Now it worked – at least on the radio. But maybe it could also soon go in front of the camera.
After retiring as ARD commentator for the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC), Peter Urban would have no problem with his successor being named Jan Böhmermann. “For my sake, he can do that,” said Urban in the podcast “Bosbach & Rach – Die Wochentester” (Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger / Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland).
The statement is quite surprising, as Urban had railed against the ZDF moderator before the ESC, who commented on the music show this year for the Austrian radio station FM4: “I find Jan Böhmermann too pinched. I don’t think he would enjoy it thing, he would just tear everything down,” he told the “Stern”.
Now the entertainer has apparently convinced Urban, who is retiring at his own request after more than 25 years. Urban says he met Böhmermann shortly before the final in Liverpool: “He was very nice and very nice.” Böhmermann practically apologized for commenting on the ESC for Austrian radio.
The 75-year-old believes that demands after the German defeat that one should save the money for the ESC are nonsense. “The financial outlay for an ESC in the show area is still rather low compared to other productions.” The ESC is “such a grandiose overall event that the individual placement of a country is not necessarily vital,” says Urban. At the beginning of the week, ARD announced that it would continue to hold Germany’s participation in the ESC.