Hermes Ahmadi

As an Afghan refugee, Hermes comes from a hospitable and generous culture – and now he has an Excel sheet to keep track of all his Tikkie payment requests. 

From his first time “eating” at Dutch friends’ houses to “AZC weg ermee” (“No asylum centre here!”), Hermes hopes his jokes, stories and anecdotes will make Dutch people look differently at other cultures – but above all, come along for a good laugh. 

Because after years of searching, Hermes has found a place where he always feels welcome: the wonderful Dutch theatres!

You are, of course, very welcome at his show.

Hermes Ahmadi (1987) is a versatile presence on stage. He started doing cabaret in 2018 and soon reached the finals of the Leeuwarder Cabaret Festival and Puck’s Cabaret Talent, among others. Since then he has been touring the whole country as a cabaret performer and comedian, building up a rich array of stories and material. With that material he competed in the Leids Cabaret Festival in 2024 and reached the final of Cameretten!

He also recently made his TV debut with a cameo in RTL’s The Box. 

Hermes is a storyteller, but he also goes for sharp and unexpected jokes, unusual characters and relatable – and above all bizarre – subjects such as integration, climate change, flixbus, frikandellen and flitsmeister.

“An important story with an underlying critique of the system, delivered with self-mockery and good jokes” –Leids Cabaret Festival jury

“Hugely impressive how he cuts through his committed, charged pieces with rock-solid jokes” –Cameretten jury

“Through jokes about the Efteling and the oddities of the Dutch language, Ahmadi sharply shows the bizarre situations you end up in when, as a refugee, you have to integrate into the Netherlands” – de Volkskrant