The satirical news show that explains the week through songs and sketches
Part of: Dutch Culture
Even tot hier is a Dutch satirical current affairs programme on NPO 1, made by BNNVARA. It airs twice a year — a spring run and an autumn run — and has been running since March 2019. As of 2026 it has produced over 100 episodes across 15 seasons.
The format: presenters Niels van der Laan and Jeroen Woe take the week's news and process it through sketches, commentary, audience quiz rounds, and — most distinctively — original songs performed by guest musicians reworking familiar tunes around recent events.
A recurring segment involves "a simple song about a complicated topic," originally accompanied by toy piano, later ukulele. It is exactly what it sounds like: a deceptively light treatment of something genuinely difficult.
Even tot hier became one of the most watched programmes on Dutch public television, winning the Gouden Televizier-Ring in 2022 — the most prestigious prize in Dutch television, voted by the public — and the Ere Zilveren Nipkowschijf in 2023. It grew in prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, when its ability to make sense of bewildering news through satire found a large audience.
In 2025, the programme ran a charitable initiative that raised approximately €3.18 million for Ukrainian ambulances — an indication of how seriously its audience takes it beyond entertainment.
If you want to understand what the Netherlands is laughing and groaning about in any given week, Even tot hier is one of the most efficient ways in — even with limited Dutch. The musical parodies are accessible; the sketches often lampoon figures and policies that appear in the news. It sits in the same tradition as British panel shows and American late-night satire, but distinctly Dutch in tone: more Doe Maar Gewoon than confrontational, absurdist rather than outraged.
Episodes are available on NPO Start (free, requires a Dutch postal code to register fully, though many episodes are accessible without an account).
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