Lubach (TV program)

Lubach
Logo
GenreSatire · Current affairs · Talk show
Presented byArjen Lubach
StarringTex de Wit
Diederik Smit
Jonathan van het Reve
Ezra van Hamelen
Thomas Gast
Soumaya Ahouaoui
Danique Leenstra
Country of originNetherlands
Original languageDutch
No. of seasons3
No. of episodes99
Production
Executive producerJanine Abbring
ProducerHuman Factor TV
Running time22-32 minutes
Production companyHuman Factor TV
Original release
NetworkRTL 4
ReleaseMarch 24, 2025 (2025-03-24) –
present
Related
Zondag met Lubach
De Avondshow met Arjen Lubach

LUBACH is a Dutch satirical news and talk television program created and hosted by Arjen Lubach. It premiered on RTL 4 on 24 March 2025 and airs Monday through Thursday at 22:00. The show is produced by Human Factor TV and features many of the same team members from Arjen Lubach's earlier programs on Dutch public television.

Format

Each episode of Lubach follows a consistent structure:

  • A brief summary of the day’s news delivered standing by Arjen Lubach (this segment has been removed from the second season onwards);
  • A desk segment introducing the main topics (typically three per night, except for Thursdays which focus on a single "deep dive" topic);
  • A closing statement: "Dit was Lubach, ik was Arjen" ("This was Lubach, I was Arjen").

The show’s team includes regular satirical writers such as Tex de Wit, Jonathan van het Reve, Diederik Smit, among others. They regularly have appearances as reporters or a fictional character in the main topic segments. The editorial lead is Janine Abbring.

Background

Arjen Lubach had been a prominent satirical television host in the Netherlands for over a decade, best known for Zondag met Lubach (2014–2021) and De Avondshow met Arjen Lubach (2022–2024), both aired on the Dutch public broadcaster VPRO. In May 2024, Arjen Lubach announced he would be leaving VPRO and the public broadcasting system.[1]

On 1 November 2024, a day after the final Avondshow episode, Lubach revealed that he and his team had signed a deal with commercial broadcaster RTL Nederland to create a new daily satire show.[2][3] According to RTL’s content director Peter van der Vorst, Lubach and his editorial team would be granted full creative independence over the show for at least three years.[4]

Reception

The debut episode of Lubach on 24 March 2025 attracted 1.94 million viewers (including delayed viewing) with a market share of 50.7% among the key 25–54 demographic.[5]

Online presence

YouTube

Lubach has an official YouTube channel where all in-depth segments are uploaded separately. Additional content, such as interviews and behind-the-scenes footage, is also available. On 8 April 2025, Lubach received the YouTube Silver Play Button after the channel surpassed 100,000 subscribers.[6]

Instagram

The program’s Instagram account features:

  • Short reels with episode highlights;
  • Posters promoting upcoming episodes;
  • Behind-the-scenes content, including teaser videos before the show’s premiere.

Seasons

Overview of seasons
Season Broadcast schedule Start date End date Episodes
1 Mon–Thu, 22:00–22:30 24 March 2025 12 June 2025 44
2 1 September 2025 13 November 2025 43[a]
3 2 February 2026 TBA

See also

Notes

  1. ^ On 29 October 2025, during the Dutch general election, RTL Tonight had an evening broadcast where they revealed the exit poll results, but before that poll was revealed, at 20:30, Lubach had a live broadcast with sketches. However, because it was part of the RTL Tonight broadcast, it doesn't count as an episode.

References

  1. ^ "Arjen Lubach stopt met Avondshow en vertrekt bij VPRO". RTV Noord (in Dutch). 30 May 2024. Retrieved 8 June 2025.
  2. ^ "Dutch comedian Arjen Lubach and his team sign a deal with RTL to produce TV shows". NL Times. 1 November 2024. Retrieved 8 June 2025.
  3. ^ "Arjen Lubach stapt over naar RTL". NOS (in Dutch). 1 November 2024. Retrieved 8 June 2025.
  4. ^ "Arjen Lubach onthult reden achter zijn overstap én licht tipje van sluier op over nieuw programma". RTL Boulevard (in Dutch). 1 November 2024. Retrieved 8 June 2025.
  5. ^ "Arjen Lubach onthult naam en logo van nieuwe show bij RTL en precieze startdatum". Televizier (in Dutch). 16 January 2025. Retrieved 8 June 2025.
  6. ^ "Arjen Lubach ontvangt award voor zijn nieuwe RTL-show: 'Nooit verwacht'". RTL.nl (in Dutch). 9 April 2025. Retrieved 8 June 2025.