Helge Schneider (born August 30, 1955 in Mülheim an der Ruhr) is a German comedian, jazz musician, author, film and theatre director, and actor. After dropping out of high school, he started an apprenticeship as a construction draftsman. He soon changed plans and was admitted to the Duisburg conservatoire to study piano, after passing an entrance exam for particularly gifted applicants (it later turned out that his diploma was invalid since he dropped out of high school too early).