Oliver Pocher

Pocher is the son of Gerhard and Jutta Pocher; he was born and grew up in Hanover, West Germany. His parents are Jehovah's Witnesses and he too was raised as one. In 2007, Pocher stated that, unlike his parents, he had no contact with the organisation anymore as he claimed "not to have agreed with their rules". Reports that Pocher had attended a Waldorf school were denied by his management. Pocher successfully completed his training as an insurance broker at "Signal Iduna Bauspar AG". During the time of his apprenticeship, he had some part-time jobs at various radio stations and as a DJ in clubs and during family celebrations. He also appeared in the comedian group Holla-Bolla and as an entertainer at Birte Karalus, a German chat show. After his apprenticeship, he worked for the Swiss life insurance company "Schweizerische Lebensversicherungs- und Rentenanstalt" (today: SwissLife) and the "HDI Lebensversicherung AG" (HDI life insurance). Pocher's first television appearance was on 28 October 1998 at the afternoon chat show of Bärbel Schäfer. Pocher was given five minutes to make the audience laugh. On 29 September 1999, he presented the show Chart Surfer Trash Top 100, Was geht ab, Planet Viva and finally 2002 his own show Alles Pocher, ... oder was?. Between January 2003 and 14 April 2006, Pocher presented the show Rent a Pocher on ProSieben. In 2006, he recorded the single "Schwarz und Weiß", a song dedicated to the 2006 FIFA World Cup. A music video was made featuring Pocher as several pressbox speakers, as well as him performing the song in front of fans dressed in Team Germany attire. From October 2007 to April 2009, Pocher joined established late-night host Harald Schmidt's show on the Das Erste television channel, with the show being called Schmidt und Pocher. In 2008, his third single "Bringt ihn heim" ("bring him home") was released. It is a song for the European Football Championship of 2008. The original version is Baschi's number-one hit (Switzerland) "Bring en hei". Pocher's contract was not renewed after April 2009, so he was hired by Sat.1 instead to present his own late-night show, Die Oliver Pocher Show. The show's ratings were always below the station's average and even slipping over the course of the run until it was cancelled in March 2011.