Heinz Strunk

Heinz Strunk in November 2008

Heinz Strunk, legal name Mathias Halfpape (born 17 May 1962 in Hamburg) is a German entertainer, author, and member of Studio Braun. Strunk's comedy ranges from goofy prank calls to biting political and cultural satire, often involving music.

Perhaps Strunk's most recognizable piece comes from a Studio Braun album full of prank calls made in and around the city of Hamburg. Strunk, playing on homonyms that the English language does not share with German, calls a store which supplies coal for coal-burning stoves. Using the confusion in the German language between the word for that coal and that of cocaine, he tries to order cocaine from the confused man and hilarity ensues. In another prank call, Strunk calls a pastoral resident of the province of Saxony where some residents have unique accents. Claiming to be from "Sachsenhilfe Hamburg," a fictional organization that would translate to Hamburg's Help for Saxony, he offers free voice classes to help the country residents "correct" their dialect. Again, hilarity ensues. Studio Braun and Strunk have 3 such LPs chock-full of prank phone calls.

Most recently and famously, Strunk released the song "Komputerfreak," which takes a serious look at the washed-up lives and addictive/compulsive personalities of those who spend large amounts of time using computers.

Strunk is the author of the comical memoir "Fleisch ist mein Gemüse," in English, "Meat is my Vegetable."

External links

• Heinz Strunk in the German National Library catalogue (German)
• http://www.heinzstrunk.de (Flash)

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Name	Strunk, Heinz
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Date of birth	17 May 1962
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