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 (at 23:00 from season 4 onwards). 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:
An opening statement announced by someone off screen: "Het is tien uur geweest. Hier is Arjen Lubach" ("It is past ten o'clock. Here is Arjen Lubach").
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 by Lubach himself: "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.
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. 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.
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.
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.
↑On 29 October 2025, the day of 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.
↑Episodes are available on Videoland at 21:00 while being broadcast on RTL 4 two hours later.
