In 1996, he and John Friedmann created the comedy duo "Erkan und
Stefan", two yobs living in a Munich suburb and speaking their
neighborhood's typical Bavarian-Turkish slang, for a show on Radio NRJ
Munich. As the audience loved the characters, they successfully
performed their program on stage. After graduating from university, the
comedians became popular nationwide due to their first movie
Erkan & Stefan (2000).