Kees van Kooten

Cornelis Reinier "Kees" van Kooten (Dutch pronunciation: [kɔrˈneːləs rɛiˈniːr keːs fɑŋ ˈkoːtə(n)]) (born 10 August 1941) is a Dutch comedian, television actor, and writer. He formed the duo Van Kooten & De Bie with Wim de Bie from 1972 to 1998. Cornelis Reinier van Kooten was born on 10 August 1941 in The Hague, Netherlands. He is the oldest child of Cornelis Reinier van Kooten en Anna Geertruida Snaauw. He has one sister, Anke, who is a year younger. He met his wife Barbara Kits in 1959 and married her on 18 October 1968. After their marriage they moved from The Hague to the polder village of Zuidoostbeemster, where their two children were born, Kasper in 1971 and Kim in 1974. Both children are well-known performers in the Netherlands. In 1978 the family moved to Hilversum and in 1996 to Amsterdam.

Van Kooten is best known for his collaboration with Wim de Bie. With him he formed the comedic duo Van Kooten en De Bie, often abbreviated as "Koot en Bie," in a variety of often very popular programs for the VPRO broadcasting organization from 1972 to 1998. Their collaboration had started in the Dalton Lyceum high school in The Hague, where they had formed a theater group named Cebrah. Every year between 1972 and 1985 they published a tear-off calendar named Bescheurkalender, combining the Dutch words for tear-off and splitting one's sides in laughter; Bescheurkalender is now officially included in Dutch dictionaries for any humorous block-calendar.