Tankred Lerch

Tankred Lerch studied law and then completed a journalistic internship at Radio Schleswig-Holstein in Kiel. Until 1997, he worked at RSH as an editor and host, including for the Morning Show, and also hosted on the NDR youth station N-Joy Radio.

In 1997, Lerch moved from radio to the television production company Brainpool in Cologne, initially working as a freelance writer for Die Harald Schmidt Show. When TV total with Stefan Raab started, he became part of the core writing team for the show, which was also produced by Brainpool and first aired on ProSieben in 1999. The show won several awards, including the German Television Award, the Comedy Prize, and the Bronze Rose of Montreux (Rose d’Or) in 2001. Lerch remained a regular writer at Brainpool until 2006 and, among other things, co-wrote the script for the 2000 Sat.1 sitcom Der Doc – Schönheit ist machbar with Ingolf Lück, was the writer for Elton.tv in 2001, and from 2002 to 2006 served as head writer and creative producer for the Oliver Pocher-hosted shows Alles Pocher, …oder was? (VIVA) and Rent a Pocher (ProSieben), which won the German Comedy Prize for Best Show in 2005. In 2006, he also directed the music video for Oliver Pocher’s single and official DFB anthem Schwarz und Weiß, which went Gold. As a freelance screenwriter, he wrote several episodes of the Grimme Award-winning series Stromberg between 2006 and 2011.

As a freelance head writer, executive producer, creative producer, and director, he worked on various TV formats in the genres of comedy, satire, documentary, and show. These included serving as head writer and executive producer for Kayas Deutschlandtour (2009, RTL) with Kaya Yanar, head writer and creative producer for Goldrausch am Yukon – Das Abenteuer deines Lebens (2018, Dmax), head writer for extra 3 – Der reale Irrsinn XXL (2017, NDR), and for the music show series The Dome (2006–2008, RTL2). Between 2012 and 2013, he also wrote the “Hans & ich” column for the authors’ blog Carta.

From 2012 to 2014, he was head writer, producer, and director for Krömer – Late Night Show (ARD), which included film inserts from filming with German Bundeswehr troops stationed in Afghanistan. Together with Kurt Krömer, Lerch traveled to Afghanistan twice between 2012 and 2013. The first trip was at the invitation of the Bundeswehr as part of an entertainment performance for the troops. On the second trip, Lerch and Krömer traveled independently to get a view of the country beyond the Bundeswehr camps. Their experiences from both trips were incorporated into their joint book “Ein Ausflug nach wohin eigentlich keiner will. Zu Besuch in Afghanistan.”, which was published in 2013 by Kiepenheuer & Witsch and became a bestseller.