Klemen Slakonja
Klemen Slakonja is a Slovenian actor, singer, comedian, television host, and musician. He was employed at the Ljubljana [Slovene National Theatre Drama] and acting between 2010 to 2018. He represented Slovenia in the [Eurovision Song Contest 2025] with the song "How Much Time Do We Have Left".
Slakonja studied at the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television. He is known in Slovenia for his comedy sketches, often made in the form of music videos, as well as for anchoring various shows such as the Slovenian national finals for the Eurovision Song Contest. He has made numerous impersonations of Slovenian musicians, Slovene philosopher Slavoj Žižek, Pope Francis, Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump, Angela Merkel and others.
Career
He was born in a Slovenian border town Brežice. His early impersonations started around second year of high school. He started his career at local Radio Energy near his home in the town of Krško, which is the most known for having the only nuclear powerplant in Slovenia. He was the radio anchor and he was hosting many different kind of local events.2007: Breakthrough after Radio Ga Ga show
In late summer of 2007, he hosted the home reception for Slovenian world class hammer throw champion Primož Kozmus in Brežice, to celebrate his silver medal from 2007 [World Championships in Athletics – Men's hammer throw|2007 World Championships in Athletics] in Osaka. To honour Primož Kozmus he translated the Slovenian Christmas song "Bela snežinka" to "Sivo kladivo" and impersonated it with voices of various Slovenian popular musicians. That's when radio host Edi Štraus noticed him and recommended him to Sašo Hribar, satirical TV and radio host.On 5 October 2007, Sašo Hribar invited Slakonja to make his first public performance on the national level to his satirical radio show called Radio Ga Ga where they are mocking mostly of out of Slovenian politicians and which is broadcast weekly on first channel of Slovenian National Radio. He imitated Slovenian ballad singer Rok Kosmač which was the breaking point of his career and after this performance suddenly became known to a wide Slovenian audience.
Just a month later in November 2007, he made the first public television appearance at satirical television show Hri-bar hosted by Sašo Hribar which was mocking animated characters, mostly Slovenian politicians. Show was broadcast on RTV Slovenia national television. Show hosted regular and also musical guests where Slakonja performed mocking Slovenian musicians with perfect voice and disguise impersonation.
2008: Host on national TV
On 17 February 2008, he became a national television host taking over popular Sunday afternoon family show called "NLP" on RTV Slovenia. He became a co-host with Tjaša Železnik who previously run this show alone for about two years.2011: First time hosting EMA Festival
On 27 February 2011, he first time hosted Slovenia in the Eurovision [Song Contest 2011|EMA] music festival competition, a Slovenian entry for Eurovision Song Contest 2011 and the winner was Maja Keuc. To honour this festival he wrote music and presented "16 let skomin", a mix song of all sixteen EMA festival winners; he also was spokesperson for Slovenia in the ESC Grand final. So far he was hosting this festival for three more times, in 2012, 2016 and 2020. In 2016 he presented "Putin, Putout" in the EMA show.2013: Zadetek v petek & Je bella cesta
On 15 February 2013, he hosted his first own comedy show "Zadetek v petek" which was broadcast on commercial TV3 Medias. The whole thing was shot in Belgrade, however the show was canceled only few months later after only one season. Shortly after he started hosting his second own comedy show "Je bella cesta" which lasted for two seasons from October 2013 to May 2014.2015: Zadžuskaj hit song in commercial
He wrote "Zadžuskaj" song was released in 2014. He shot a music video in which he plays DeciDeci Klemzy, an awkward nerd character. Its jingle was used in a two commercials for health insurance company and became summer hit of the year 2015.2016: Putin, Putout and international fame
His comedy sketch "Putin, Putout" gained international popularity. This was the first video he shot as part of his TheMockingbirdMan project. The video parodies Russian president Vladimir Putin. Shortly after airing on Slovene television, the comedy sketch was uploaded to Slakonja's personal YouTube channel where it went viral.His second TheMockingbirdMan project video entitled "Golden Dump " impersonating Donald Trump premiered on 17 July 2016 at Siti Teater BTC Ljubljana. Two days later it was uploaded to Slakonja's personal YouTube channel. The third project was an imitation of Angela Merkel, the former German chancellor. The title of the song is "Ruf mich Angela".
2025: Eurovision Song Contest
In 2025, he was chosen to represent Slovenia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 with the song "How Much Time Do We Have Left" in Basel, Switzerland. Performing during the first semi-final on 13 May 2025, he failed to qualify to the grand final, finishing 13th in a field of 15 countries.Controversies
Shortly after winning EMA in 2025, Slakonja uploaded a video to his YouTube channel where he impersonates every Eurovision winner from 2000 to 2024, coming under fire after he darkened his skin for his Dave Benton impersonation. Benton defended Slakonja but Slakonja later removed the Dave Benton segment from the video and issued an apology.Work
Radio
| Year | Role | |
| 2007 | "Radio Energy" | host |
| 2007 | "Radio Ga Ga" | satire |
Television
| Year | Title | Role |
| 2007 | "Hri-bar" | satirical late show |
| 2007 | "Osa" | short film |
| 2007 | "Vučko" | short film |
| 2008 | "Nekega lepega popoldne" | family show host |
| 2009 | "Palčica" | short film |
| 2011 | "EMA 2011" | Eurovision entry selection host |
| 2012 | "EMA 2012" | Eurovision entry selection host |
| 2013 | "Zadetek v petek" | comedy show host |
| 2013 | "Je bella cesta" | comedy show host |
| 2014 | "Cipercoper" | animation voice |
| 2014 | "Zadžuskaj s Klemzyem" | commercial |
| 2016 | "EMA 2016" | Eurovision entry selection host |
| 2019 | "Zadnji večer s Klemnom Slakonjo" | comedy show host |
| 2020 | "EMA 2020" | Eurovision entry selection host |
| 2024 | "Kdo si ti? Zvezde pod masko" | comedy show host |
Film
| Year | Title | Role |
| 2009 | "Osebna prtljaga" | Vid |
Web series
| Year | Title | Role |
| 2010 | "Dan ljubezni" | YouTube series |
List of parodies
| Year | Title of parody | Impersonating | Role | Video | ||||||||
| 2007 | "Hepatitis B" |  TheMockingbirdMan projectA project where he is impersonating and making fun of world leaders.
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