Badesalz comedian Gerd Knebel died on Saturday at the age of 72 following a severe cancer illness. His comedy partner Henni Nachtsheim announced this to the German Press Agency. Knebel retained his humor until the end and was mourned by family and friends.
Gerd Knebel, known as part of the comedy duo Badesalz, passed away peacefully on Saturday surrounded by his loved ones. The family and Henni Nachtsheim issued a statement saying: "After a severe cancer illness, he passed away with dignity and peacefully in the circle of his loved ones."
Knebel had recently canceled events for health reasons, as visible on his homepage. Yet he never lost his humor: "He kept his humor until the very end and even made us laugh in our grief. He remains a great loss to us, and our hearts are unbearably heavy," the statement read.
In the 1980s, Knebel gained fame as the singer of the band Flatsch. Later, he founded the duo Badesalz with Nachtsheim, which popularized Hessian dialect and humor nationwide and achieved cult status in Hesse. The duo's successes included TV series like "Och Joh" in 1990 on ARD and "Comedy Stories" in 2000 on Sat.1. Their album "Nicht ohne meinen Pappa" charted in 1991 as the first German spoken-word record since 1983. In 1998, they received the Echo award from the record industry. Badesalz performed at "Rock am Ring" and "Wetten, dass..?". At the end of 2024, Knebel and Nachtsheim released a New Year's Eve song with Badesalz.
Knebel was the father of two children and lived in southern Hesse. He was active in several bands, performed solo – such as with the program "Weggugge" about looking away as a survival strategy – and released numerous albums. As an author, his novel "Freundschaft im Abseits" about an unusual friendship was published in 2024, and in 2018 "Wörld of Drecksäck," in which he settled scores with life's big and small annoyances.
