Editorial KuT | 01.02.2022, 17:44 "TV Total" host Sebastian Pufpaff in private: wife, children, commitment
Photo: IMAGO / Eventpress
After a six-year break, "TV Total" has a new host in Sebastian Pufpaff, but he keeps his private life as secret as his predecessor Stefan Raab did. We reveal the little that is known.
Six years after Stefan Raab (55) said goodbye to the TV stage, his cult show "TV Total" returned with a new host: Sebastian Pufpaff (45) actually comes from cabaret, but has a lot in common with his predecessor Raab – including a top-secret private life.
You don’t even know how big it is
Not much is known about the life of Sebastian Pufpaff. He is a mystery, not even his height can be found in any publicly available source. There was also speculation about his name for a long time, because "Pufpaff", that sounds somehow made up. However, and this is attested, that’s really the man’s name. The surname that brought Sebastian Pufpaff to comedy because of its comical sound goes back to ancestors who worked as Hanseatic black powder dealers.
Photo: IMAGO / Future Image
It has learned "something right" – more or less
Malte Sebastian Pufpaff saw the light of day on 15. Pufpaff was born in Troisdorf in September 1976, grew up in Rheinbreitbach and went to school in neighboring Bad Honnef, where he also lives today – all places are close together in the Rhein-Sieg district.
Nothing is known about his parental home, not even whether he has siblings. Like Stefan Raab, Pufpaff initially studied law after graduating from high school, but did not finish his studies.
Unlike Raab, however, he changed majors and graduated with a Master of Arts degree in political science, sociology and constitutional law. Ideal prerequisite for political cabaret – and with it Pufpaff also began his career in satire, founded the cabaret trio Bundeskabarett with Henry Schumann and Maxim Hofman, with whom he also went on tour. He did this in parallel with his studies and a job in the newsroom at RTL.
Sebastian Pufpaff: Career as a cabaret artist
The federal cabaret was not very successful, but Pufpaff soon took off as a solo artist, had appearances on "Mitternachtsspitzen," "Fun(k)haus," "Nightwash" and "Satire Gipfel". At the Prix Pantheon, he won the audience award "Beklatsch und Ausgebuht" (applause and booing) on the grounds that he "convinced with a sharp-tongued, cryptic and politically delightfully incorrect performance".
Sebastian Pufpaff has remained true to his biting cynicism to this day. He is not afraid to say things that are considered politically incorrect in order to hold up a mirror to his audience and provoke them. This was probably another reason why Stefan Raab chose Pufpaff as his successor. After all, if you host "TV Total," you can’t be too good for a punch line.
In 2013, three years after his success at Prix Pantheon, ZDFkultur and 3sat gave Pufpaff his own show, "Pufpaffs Happy Hour," which is still running successfully today. This was followed by inclusion in the ensemble of the "heute-show" and the Grimme Prize for the program "Noch nicht Schicht" (Not yet a shift). Now the entertainer hosts the new edition of "TV Total".
"Uncle Puffi" in private: his wife, his children
Thus Pufpaff moved more and more into the limelight – but in this way he did not become a public figure.
On Instagram he posts only professional. If you search for his wife Julia Pufpaff, the Google image search spits out a photo of Ina Muller. Only Sebastian Pufpaff is not married to that one. No, the woman at "Puffi’s" side is Julia Skrzypczak by birth and is successfully kept out of the public eye by her husband. All that is known is that she works as a urologist at the public health department.
The couple has two children: they had a daughter in 2011 and their son was born together in 2014. Not even the names of the little ones have leaked out, but that’s probably better for the children.
Enissa Amani and Sebastian Pufpaff as guests on Markus Lanz 2016
Photo: IMAGO / APress
Commitment to the environment
At least his social commitment shows what Sebastian Pufpaff’s heart beats for. In the "heute-show" he likes to play the sleazy lobbyist or other representatives of capital who see the protection of our planet as rather a nuisance. In real life, however, Sebastian Pufpaff is passionately committed to preserving the environment.
As an Antarctic ambassador for Greenpeace, he is campaigning for the establishment of a marine protected area in the Antarctic Weddell Sea, the largest of the fourteen marginal seas of the Antarctic, as is the environmental protection organization itself. Climate protection is also close to Sebastian Pufpaff’s heart, and so with the hashtag #nichtlangefackeln he expressed his support for Greenpeace in their efforts to get the German government to adopt a climate emergency program.
Furthermore, in 2018 Pufpaff was one of 59 celebrities who became tree sponsors for the preservation of the Hambach Forest – as we know without great success.