Böhmermann was born and raised in Bremen. He enrolled to study history, sociology and theatre in Cologne, but dropped out before long. Previously, Böhmermann had applied to drama schools in Berlin, Hamburg and Munich; he was rejected by all three. He was accepted at a fourth drama school in Hannover, but did not enroll. In 1997, Böhmermann was hired as a columnist at the Bremen daily newspaper Die Norddeutsche. He joined Radio Bremen as a presenter in 1999, where he also had a stint as a comedy ...