Leon van der Zanden
Cabaret performer and presenter on connection, humor and performance pressure
Leon van der Zanden has been performing on stage since 1998. Nine solo productions in theaters in the Netherlands and Belgium, television work for NTR, VARA and Omroep Brabant among others, and annually featured as Piet in the Sinterklaas Journal. He now focuses on speaking engagements, training and coaching. His subject is connection: how to truly engage with an audience, whether it's a venue of 35,000 people or a single conversation partner. His background in comedy teaches him how humor breaks down barriers. The core of his message is enjoyment. Those who stay with that feel no pressure, remain in flow and create space for genuine contact. Only then do you have impact. Not standard presentation training, but something that participants experience themselves.
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Biography
Nine performances in over twenty years
Leon van der Zanden (1977, Helmond) has been a cabaret artist and stand-up comedian since 1998. He created nine solo performances that were presented in theaters throughout the Netherlands and Belgium, from Cool Fast Boy with a Soft Brown Coat to Chameleon. Rebel is considered his most groundbreaking work: a performance based on his own dreams, in which he combined more than ten theater genres into one symbolic story.
Television and presentation
For Omroep Brabant, he created and presented the programme Olifantendoders together with Merlijn Passier, in which social taboos were addressed in a respectful and playful manner. This was followed by the thirteen-part series Leon in Afrika about Dutch people with projects in Rwanda, Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania and Uganda. He also appeared in In goed gezelschap, De Invaller and Grimassen, was a long-time presenter of PLUS TV and acted in De Lerarenkamer in 2025.
From stage to coaching
Leon studied Art History at Radboud University and additionally pursued training in theatre and consciousness development. He is trained as a systems therapist and works with family constellations. As a director, he has guided cabaret duo Spruijt and Opperman, illusionist Niels Houtepen, and comedian Gerrie Smits, among others. In 2019, Geen Cabaretier was published, written by his tour manager Bart van Tongerlo about his theatre career.
Connection as a specialty
Nowadays, Leon gives lectures, workshops and masterclasses focused on connection. How do you turn separate parts into a whole? How do you get different characters to work together? You can talk about it at length, but connection only truly exists once it's felt. Through more than twenty years of stage experience, he learned to make contact in every situation: in large halls, in small groups, one-on-one and through a camera.
Expertise
Making contact in every setting
Large auditorium, small group, one-on-one, or through a camera: every situation demands something different. Leon has worked in all four, and can therefore articulate exactly what changes when the distance to your audience grows or shrinks. This makes his advice concrete for people who need to present equally well in a conference room as on a stage or in an online meeting.
Removing performance pressure
Most people enter a presentation wondering if they'll do well. Leon flips that question around to focus on what they have to share and whether they themselves enjoy it. His argument is that you only stay in flow when the pressure is off, and that's when real connection becomes possible. It remains exciting, but in a fun way.
Humor as a Tool
From his background as a cabaret performer, Leon knows exactly how to break tension and open up a group. He combines this skill with themes such as vulnerability and authenticity, making difficult subjects discussable. In Olifantendoders, he built an entire television program around this approach over many years.
Performance coaching
As a director and coach, Leon works with professionals who already master their craft: cabaret performers, illusionists, speakers and presenters. He sees what doesn't land and can explain why. He brings that perspective to business audiences, where the same mechanisms are at play but are almost never addressed.
Themes
Connection and communication
How to truly connect instead of just conveying information. In a hall, in a team or in front of a camera.
Presenting Without Performance Pressure
How to transform your presentations from something you dread into something you look forward to. About pleasure as a starting point rather than as a side effect.
Speaking with impact and authenticity
What really happens when you stand in front of a group, in you and in the room, and how you direct it.
Collaboration and Team Dynamics
How to get different characters to work together and present themselves as one team to the outside world.
Humor as an Entry Point
How to break tension with humor and open people up to topics they would otherwise avoid.
Pleasure and energy in work
What changes when people communicate from a place of relaxation instead of from a sense of obligation.
Why Leon
He makes you experience it, not just hear it
Leon doesn't just explain how connection works – he lets participants experience firsthand what happens when they stand in front of a group. That's why it sticks in a way a presentation never could.
Over twenty years on stage
Nine theatre productions, years of television and experience from intimate conversations to speaking for 35,000 people at Philips Stadium. He knows every venue size from the inside.
Humor with a Purpose
He leverages his comedy background strategically: removing tension so people remain open to what comes next. Not jokes as decoration, but as a tool.
He also coaches professionals in the field
Leon coaches speakers, presenters and comedians in their performance and has directed multiple theatre programs. He not only knows how to reach an audience, but also how to pass that knowledge on to others.
Depth beneath the lightness
His training as a systemic therapist and his work with family constellations add a dimension to his sessions that you wouldn't expect from a cabaret performer. He inspires and confronts.
Involved from the start
Leon prefers to be involved as early as possible in the preparation phase, so he can make the program his own and share his insights already during the design stage.
Talks
Connection with humor
45 - 60 minutesConnection only exists when it is felt
You can talk about it at length, but connection only emerges when everyone involved experiences it. Leon shares insights from over twenty years on stage and then lets participants themselves feel what it's like to create and maintain connection with a group.
Humor opens the door
From his comedy background, Leon knows how to ease tension and open up a group. This creates space for topics that might otherwise feel too heavy or uncomfortable to address.
From loose parts to one whole
How do you let different characters work together and present themselves as one team? Each in their own way, but together.
Reviews
“By giving out-of-the-box assignments, I ventured far outside my comfort zone. Or so I thought... but it turned out these were actually IN my comfort zone, because it's my natural talent. He brought that to the surface and I'm grateful to him for that.”
“I have come to know Leon as a driven, results-oriented and highly approachable person. His enthusiasm is contagious and creates a wonderful dynamic, with his background as a cabaret performer and his business knowledge running through our interactions like a red thread. In addition to our afternoon where he engaged the entire Retirement & Investment team in playful conversation, he collaborated with us to interview clients and captured this in short films for the event. With a clear objective in mind, these films have become professional and entertaining, in large part thanks to him.”
“For the kick-off of the Springplank foundation, I was organizing an auction. It had to be an auction that immediately showed what Springplank stood for from that point on: supporting homeless and vulnerable people through participation. Through various recommendations, I came across Leon, and there was an immediate connection. His interest in the organization, his empathy for our target group, and at the same time his sense of humor made this click work and created the perfect combination. A perfect evening in which Leon actively engaged the audience and created a new perspective on our target group.”
