Paul Haenen
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Paul Haenen (born 30 April 1946 in Amsterdam, Noord-Holland) is a Dutch comedian and voice actor.
Haenen does the voices of Bert and Grover on Sesamstraat, the Dutch co-production of Sesame Street.
Paul Haenen is a well-known comedian in his native Netherlands, who plays many different characters. He also translates many of the American Sesame Street songs into Dutch.
Paul Haenen has been doing the voice of Bert since Sesamstraat's first season in 1976, with Wim T. Schippers as Ernie. Jim Henson was so impressed by Paul and Wim's performances, that they are the only Bert and Ernie in the world who are allowed to write their own material. Paul and Wim have recorded a whole series of self written Bert and Ernie record albums, and they also appear as Bert and Ernie in interviews.
Paul and Wim do not record the TV sketches together: partly because of their busy schedules, but also because they make each other laugh too much.
A running gag on the Dutch Bert and Ernie albums is that Bert sings off key, whereas Ernie knows how to sing in harmony, and likes to brag about it. In real life, Wim has a lot more feeling for music than Paul. Paul is better at singing in a bass voice.
