Biography

Steimle grew up in Dresden-Trachau. Both parents were unofficial employees of the Ministry of State Security of the GDR. His father was a professional non-commissioned officer (last as a staff sergeant) in the tank troop of the National People's Army, then in the Bundeswehr gatekeeper; the mother worked in a nationally owned packaging company, in the VEB Polypack Dresden. Both parents died in 1992. Steimle pursued competitive sports in his youth (best performance in the 100-meter run 11.2 seconds). After school, he first learned to be an industrial blacksmith at the Freital stainless steel plant. Afterwards he studied at the theater academy "Hans Otto" Leipzig. Steimle did his NVA military service in the Pioneer Construction Battalion 12 (PiBB-12) in Merseburg, where he received training as a demolition engineer. Steimle became a member of the Dresden cabaret Herkuleskeule in 1989.

The portmanteau word "Ostalgie" goes back to Steimle's 1992 program of the same name and came in 9th place in the following year's election for Word of the Year. With Leipzig's Tom Pauls, he created the characters Günther Zieschong (portrayed by himself) and Ilse Bähnert (Pauls). Steimle and Pauls appeared with these characters in the program Ostalgie, which was produced for regional programs of MDR. Later, Steimle's first solo project Günther allein zuhaus was created, in which he had Zieschong appear alone. After Uns fracht ja keener, Steimle brought both characters to life again with new texts in his program Mich fracht ja Eener. Steimle is also known as an impersonator of Erich Honecker; this parody is often an encore at his performances.

Steimle was a guest several times between 2007 and 2010 in cabaret shows Neues aus der Anstalt alongside Urban Priol and Georg Schramm. He also participated in the satire program Kanzleramt Pforte D on MDR as Günter Zieschong.

Since 2017, he has appeared in the program Mir san Mir together with the Bavarian cabaret artist Helmut Schleich. In addition, he can also be seen with several solo programs (eg: Heimatstunde, FeinKOST) on numerous cabaret stages.
- IMDb mini biography by: Christian_Wolfgang_Barth