When he withdrew from the public eye in 2015, Stefan Raab did everything right. The presenter separated from his cult show TV total before the format was finally dead and stayed away from cameras for almost 10 years. A mysterious Raab comeback was announced over the past Easter weekend. This didn’t turn out to be an April Fool’s joke, but rather the star’s third boxing match against former boxing athlete Regina Halmich in September 2024.
Raab fans have been looking forward to a comeback since March 29, 2024. The desire has accompanied many of them for a long time. For me, the tired teasers are a bitter disappointment.
Stefan Raab left the public with a bang and it should stay that way
Before TV total disappeared from the scene with the last program in December 2015, the format was no longer at its qualitative peak. Raab himself had already had an impact in previous years like a machine, too routine and absurdly disinterested to his guests who were invited onto the show for marketing purposes.
Despite this, TV Total was still part of my daily bedtime routine and a cherished habit that ended abruptly. When Stefan Raab and Elton said goodbye at the very end of the final broadcast, tears flowed not only from the presenter to the musical accompaniment of the house band Heavytones.
The radical conclusion of stopping the show and saying goodbye to all other formats like Schlag den Raab & Co. made a lasting impression on me. Over the course of his entire career, Raab has managed to keeping his private life almost completely out of the headlines and to avoid personal details in the media. As a result, not only has his TV personality said goodbye – Raab has completely disappeared as a person.
ProSieben
The last TV total edition
For many people, including me, a multi-talented entertainer took early retirement who often relied on tired gags. However, he retained his dogged fighting spirit in competition formats such as Schlag den Raab. And then he said goodbye with a bang.
Raab remained active behind the scenes and supervised or developed various formats as a producer. Nevertheless, the TV total farewell seemed like a striking final point that left the status of a German TV legend as a legacy. But now Raab himself seems to want to endanger his own legacy.
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Stefan Raab’s hints of a comeback are scratching his legacy
In recent years, Raab has only returned publicly once, when he performed several live shows without cameras at Cologne’s Lanxess Arena in 2018. The response to this was muted at best and Stern, for example, reported on one of the evenings that all of this had happened like a limp best-of with no innovations or surprises would have felt.
Nowadays it is questionable whether the TV-focused entertainer would be able to find his way in a landscape of TikTok and Twitch streams. The widely teased comeback attempt initially turned out to be an event promotion for a boxing match rematch between Raab and Regina Halmich. In 2001, the two entered the ring against each other for the first time and the professional boxer broke the entertainer’s nose straight away.
Raab clearly lost to Halmich twice, and hardly anyone has thought about a third fight in the last 10 years. The new match is likely to be the start of a larger event or further announcements. He is reportedly even planning his own streaming service.
We have to live on without Stefan Raab
Even his biggest show baby Raab has now given up TV total. After initial skepticism, Sebastian Pufpaff successfully continued the format with weekly broadcasts at ProSieben. As entertainment successors, Joko & Klaas have shown what great TV entertainment can look like on a channel without Raab dominance.
Many fans don’t want to admit it, but the world has moved on without Stefan Raab. His farewell in front of the cameras was as radical as it was brilliant and should remain so. Maybe Raab just can’t help himself and is desperate to return to the spotlight. But that shouldn’t mean anything good for his legendary status.