Sebastian Rüger

In the artist's words:

Sebastian Rüger, an actor and cabaret artist, is actually better known for his distinctive pom-pom knit cap than as one half of “Ulan & Bator.” Born in Bad Godesberg in 1967, he grew up near Bonn and in Berlin. After training as an actor at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen, he initially pursued a career in theater, with stints in Essen, Würzburg, Düsseldorf, Bielefeld, Osnabrück, and Karlsruhe, as well as in film and television. Then he grew tired of bringing only other people’s texts and ideas to the stage and, 21 years ago, founded “Ulan & Bator” together with his Folkwang friend Frank Smilgies. Together, they developed a completely unique style of cabaret that blends theater and comedy—an absurd, theatrical form of cabaret comedy that is one-of-a-kind in the German-speaking world and has won numerous awards (such as the German Cabaret Award in 2022).