Harald Schmidt
Encyclopedia
Harald Franz Schmidt is a German actor
, writer
, comedian
and television entertainer best known as host of two popular German late-night shows.
) in 1945, Schmidt spent his youth in Swabia
n Nürtingen
, where he went to grammar school. Due to his strict Catholic upbringing he devoted time to the Roman Catholic church
, serving as choirmaster and playing the organ.
At the age of 21, Schmidt went to Stuttgart
to attend drama school for three years. After that, he gained on-stage experience at Städtische Bühne (Municipal Stage) in Augsburg
. His first role was that of the 2nd Mamaluke in Lessing's Nathan the Wise
. In 1984, Harald Schmidt became a text writer for the cabaret Kom(m)ödchen
in Düsseldorf
and in 1986, was honoured as "Best Newcomer cabaret artist" and toured through Germany
with his own show.
). Schmidt was awarded Germany's most important TV award, "Adolf-Grimme-Preis", which would be followed by many others. Just one year later, he was honoured as the "Entertainer of the year" and awarded the famous Bambi
award and the Golden Camera.
In 1995, Schmidt changed from the publicly funded TV station ARD to the privately owned channel Sat.1
and started the late night talk and variety show, Die Harald Schmidt Show. From 30 June 2003 the show was broadcast five days a week, including Monday evening. On the 8th December 2003, Schmidt suddenly announced the end of the show, following a change of management of Sat.1. The last show was aired on the 23rd December 2003.
. On December 23 of the same year, the new show Harald Schmidt began featuring Andrack, back on ARD, where Schmidt had begun his television career 16 years earlier.
In October 2005, his daughter Amelie was born.
Harald Schmidt resides in Cologne
with his partner Ellen Hantsch, a school teacher, and five children, the eldest being from a former relationship. Little is known about the children and their two mothers as Schmidt shields them from the public. In interviews he hardly talks about them.
or Late Night with David Letterman
, which has now begun a second run after a year-long "creative break". The original show, named Die Harald Schmidt Show and shown on German television network
Sat.1
, featured stand-up comedy as well as famous national and international guests.
In its later years, the show became a critics' favourite due to Schmidt's "intellectual" sense of humour. For example, he hosted one show completely in French
. On another occasion, the screen was blacked for half of the show making it into a "radio broadcast
". Another time, he disproved a critic who had written that it is impossible to spend several minutes on TV just cracking nuts.
on publicly funded ARD, this time without "celebrity" interviews and with even more discussion of current events in a rather freely associative manner. As the German entertainer Thomas Gottschalk
recently quipped, Schmidt will always attract the student and intellectual crowd, Gottschalk himself will take care of the rest.
On his first show after the break Schmidt appeared with long hair and a fluffy full beard (which looked kind of grey-white-blond-yellowish and reminiscent of Ernest Hemingway and made it to the newspaper headlines the next morning) making fun of his long absence from the public. Although he claimed right on: "I swear, I shaved this morning!". After summer break in 2005 the "celebrity guest" segment was reintroduced.
, who had a more active part than his predecessor, and some other elements changed as well. The broadcast's title was changed to "Schmidt & Pocher", trying to attract a younger audience. Oliver Pocher was less educated and "less intellectual", a fact that caused some criticism among Harald Schmidt's core audience and broadsheet newspaper comments in Germany.
each week.
c became popular for his cynical jokes, cruel remarks and wry intellectual wit. (Even though he is obsessed with health he was able to lampoon this weak spot in a self ironic TV commercial for a medicine curing colds.) Schmidt models himself after people like Johnny Carson
and Conan O'Brien
, but adds important factors and qualities to his show that neither of these models has.
He engaged in long, seemingly boring conversations with his "supervising producer" Manuel Andrack
(known as "chief dramatic adviser"), who sat at a desk next to Schmidt's, and, like Letterman, also included his staff in the show, for instance, his band leader Helmut Zerlett and his cue card girl Suzana Novinscak (both omitted in the new show). After a few new shows, Schmidt celebrated the return of French woman Nathalie Licard. Previously Schmidt's reporter in the old show, she sat on a stool, opposite Manuel Andrack, in front of the band. On occasion, she was involved in the goings-on (like dressing up as Eliza Doolittle
in front of the audience, helping Schmidt to bring people from the audience who were chosen to form an impromptu choir etc.).
imitations in his show (in one of these he as Hitler warned young people not to vote for racist and nationalistic parties). However, especially Schmidts more unorthodox and politically incorrect jokes have garnered the show a reputation as cult television and his supporters accused critics of being incapable of understanding satire
.
, the Grimme Award, the Golden Camera and the Golden Lion
as best showmaster.
known as "fgsfds."
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, comedian
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
and television entertainer best known as host of two popular German late-night shows.
Early life
As son of refugees who fled from South Moravia (now Czech RepublicCzech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
) in 1945, Schmidt spent his youth in Swabia
Swabia
Swabia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany.-Geography:Like many cultural regions of Europe, Swabia's borders are not clearly defined...
n Nürtingen
Nürtingen
Nürtingen is a town in the district of Esslingen in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is located on the river Neckar.-History:The following events occurred, by year:*1046 : First mention of Niuritingin in the document of Speyer...
, where he went to grammar school. Due to his strict Catholic upbringing he devoted time to the Roman Catholic church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
, serving as choirmaster and playing the organ.
At the age of 21, Schmidt went to Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
to attend drama school for three years. After that, he gained on-stage experience at Städtische Bühne (Municipal Stage) in Augsburg
Augsburg
Augsburg is a city in the south-west of Bavaria, Germany. It is a university town and home of the Regierungsbezirk Schwaben and the Bezirk Schwaben. Augsburg is an urban district and home to the institutions of the Landkreis Augsburg. It is, as of 2008, the third-largest city in Bavaria with a...
. His first role was that of the 2nd Mamaluke in Lessing's Nathan the Wise
Nathan der Weise
Nathan the Wise is a play by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, published in 1779. It is a fervent plea for religious tolerance...
. In 1984, Harald Schmidt became a text writer for the cabaret Kom(m)ödchen
Kom(m)ödchen
The Komödchen is a cabaret stage in Düsseldorf.The Komödchen was created in 1947 as a political-literary cabaret by Kay and Lore Lorentz. Other participants in the initial program "Positiv dagegen", which had its premiere on March 29, 1947, were Werner Vielhaber, Bernd Nesselhut, Hans Walter...
in Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
and in 1986, was honoured as "Best Newcomer cabaret artist" and toured through Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
with his own show.
Television
Before long, TV noticed the talented young comedian and in 1988 Schmidt began to host his first TV show, MAZ ab. This was followed by shows like Psst! and Schmidteinander, but the biggest boost to his career occurred in 1992, when he started hosting the popular Saturday night show, Verstehen Sie Spaß? (a variation of Candid CameraCandid Camera
Candid Camera is a hidden camera/practical joke reality television series created and produced by Allen Funt, which initially began on radio as Candid Microphone June 28, 1947...
). Schmidt was awarded Germany's most important TV award, "Adolf-Grimme-Preis", which would be followed by many others. Just one year later, he was honoured as the "Entertainer of the year" and awarded the famous Bambi
Bambi (prize)
The Bambi - Deutschlands Wichtigster Medienpreis, often simply called Bambi Awards and stylized as BAMBI, are presented annually by Hubert Burda Media to recognize excellence in international media and television "with vision and creativity who affected and inspired the German public that year",...
award and the Golden Camera.
In 1995, Schmidt changed from the publicly funded TV station ARD to the privately owned channel Sat.1
Sat.1
Sat.1 is a privately owned German television broadcasting station. Sat.1 was the first privately owned television broadcasting station in Germany, having started one day before RTL Television....
and started the late night talk and variety show, Die Harald Schmidt Show. From 30 June 2003 the show was broadcast five days a week, including Monday evening. On the 8th December 2003, Schmidt suddenly announced the end of the show, following a change of management of Sat.1. The last show was aired on the 23rd December 2003.
"Creative break" and show relaunch
In 2004, Schmidt toured through Germany with a live comedy show, featuring his former late night show sidekick Manuel AndrackManuel Andrack
Manuel Andrack is a German journalist, television show editor, television host and author. He is most well known for his role as the "sidekick" of the popular Harald Schmidt Show.-Early years:...
. On December 23 of the same year, the new show Harald Schmidt began featuring Andrack, back on ARD, where Schmidt had begun his television career 16 years earlier.
In October 2005, his daughter Amelie was born.
Harald Schmidt resides in Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
with his partner Ellen Hantsch, a school teacher, and five children, the eldest being from a former relationship. Little is known about the children and their two mothers as Schmidt shields them from the public. In interviews he hardly talks about them.
Harald Schmidt Show (Sat.1)
Schmidt is host of the German late night show comparable to Late Night with Conan O'BrienLate Night with Conan O'Brien
Late Night with Conan O'Brien is an American late-night talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien that aired 2,725 episodes on NBC between 1993 and 2009. The show featured varied comedic material, celebrity interviews, and musical and comedy performances. Late Night aired weeknights at 12:37 am...
or Late Night with David Letterman
Late Night with David Letterman
Late Night with David Letterman is a nightly hour-long comedy talk show on NBC that was created and hosted by David Letterman. It premiered in 1982 as the first incarnation of the Late Night franchise and went off the air in 1993, after Letterman left NBC and moved to Late Show on CBS. Late Night...
, which has now begun a second run after a year-long "creative break". The original show, named Die Harald Schmidt Show and shown on German television network
Television network
A television network is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, whereby a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay TV providers. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small...
Sat.1
Sat.1
Sat.1 is a privately owned German television broadcasting station. Sat.1 was the first privately owned television broadcasting station in Germany, having started one day before RTL Television....
, featured stand-up comedy as well as famous national and international guests.
In its later years, the show became a critics' favourite due to Schmidt's "intellectual" sense of humour. For example, he hosted one show completely in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
. On another occasion, the screen was blacked for half of the show making it into a "radio broadcast
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
". Another time, he disproved a critic who had written that it is impossible to spend several minutes on TV just cracking nuts.
Harald Schmidt (ARD)
Schmidt began a second run with a new showHarald Schmidt (ARD)
Harald Schmidt is a late night television show which was broadcast on ARD and hosted by Harald Schmidt from 23 December 2004 until 14 June 2007...
on publicly funded ARD, this time without "celebrity" interviews and with even more discussion of current events in a rather freely associative manner. As the German entertainer Thomas Gottschalk
Thomas Gottschalk
Thomas Johannes Gottschalk is a German TV host. He is best-known for hosting the popular show Wetten, dass..?, which he has led to a huge success in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and South Tyrol.-Early life:...
recently quipped, Schmidt will always attract the student and intellectual crowd, Gottschalk himself will take care of the rest.
On his first show after the break Schmidt appeared with long hair and a fluffy full beard (which looked kind of grey-white-blond-yellowish and reminiscent of Ernest Hemingway and made it to the newspaper headlines the next morning) making fun of his long absence from the public. Although he claimed right on: "I swear, I shaved this morning!". After summer break in 2005 the "celebrity guest" segment was reintroduced.
Schmidt & Pocher (ARD)
Late in 2007, Manuel Andrack was replaced by Comedian Oliver PocherOliver Pocher
Oliver Pocher is a German actor, stand-up comedian and television host.- Early life and professional training :...
, who had a more active part than his predecessor, and some other elements changed as well. The broadcast's title was changed to "Schmidt & Pocher", trying to attract a younger audience. Oliver Pocher was less educated and "less intellectual", a fact that caused some criticism among Harald Schmidt's core audience and broadsheet newspaper comments in Germany.
Harald Schmidt (Das Erste)
As of 2011, Schmidt hosts a live show for Das ErsteDas Erste
Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen , marketed as Das Erste , is the principal publicly owned television channel in Germany...
each week.
Return to Sat. 1 as Harald Schmidt Show again
On September 15th 2011 Schmiddt returned to his former network Sat.1 picking up is former show name of Die Harald Schmidt Show again.Concept/crew
The self-proclaimed hypochondriaHypochondria
Hypochondriasis or hypochondria refers to excessive preoccupation or worry about having a serious illness. This debilitating condition is the result of an inaccurate perception of the body’s condition despite the absence of an actual medication condition...
c became popular for his cynical jokes, cruel remarks and wry intellectual wit. (Even though he is obsessed with health he was able to lampoon this weak spot in a self ironic TV commercial for a medicine curing colds.) Schmidt models himself after people like Johnny Carson
Johnny Carson
John William "Johnny" Carson was an American television host and comedian, known as host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for 30 years . Carson received six Emmy Awards including the Governor Award and a 1985 Peabody Award; he was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987...
and Conan O'Brien
Conan O'Brien
Conan Christopher O'Brien is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer and performer. Since November 2010 he has hosted Conan, a late-night talk show that airs on the American cable television station TBS....
, but adds important factors and qualities to his show that neither of these models has.
He engaged in long, seemingly boring conversations with his "supervising producer" Manuel Andrack
Manuel Andrack
Manuel Andrack is a German journalist, television show editor, television host and author. He is most well known for his role as the "sidekick" of the popular Harald Schmidt Show.-Early years:...
(known as "chief dramatic adviser"), who sat at a desk next to Schmidt's, and, like Letterman, also included his staff in the show, for instance, his band leader Helmut Zerlett and his cue card girl Suzana Novinscak (both omitted in the new show). After a few new shows, Schmidt celebrated the return of French woman Nathalie Licard. Previously Schmidt's reporter in the old show, she sat on a stool, opposite Manuel Andrack, in front of the band. On occasion, she was involved in the goings-on (like dressing up as Eliza Doolittle
Pygmalion (play)
Pygmalion: A Romance in Five Acts is a play by Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw. Professor of phonetics Henry Higgins makes a bet that he can train a bedraggled Cockney flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, to pass for a duchess at an ambassador's garden party by teaching her to assume a veneer of...
in front of the audience, helping Schmidt to bring people from the audience who were chosen to form an impromptu choir etc.).
Criticism
Especially during the first years of Die Harald Schmidt Show, Schmidt was sometimes criticised for making fun of minorities like foreigners or gays. He also did some Adolf HitlerAdolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
imitations in his show (in one of these he as Hitler warned young people not to vote for racist and nationalistic parties). However, especially Schmidts more unorthodox and politically incorrect jokes have garnered the show a reputation as cult television and his supporters accused critics of being incapable of understanding satire
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
.
Awards
Awards include three German Television Awards, the viewers choice award BambiBambi (prize)
The Bambi - Deutschlands Wichtigster Medienpreis, often simply called Bambi Awards and stylized as BAMBI, are presented annually by Hubert Burda Media to recognize excellence in international media and television "with vision and creativity who affected and inspired the German public that year",...
, the Grimme Award, the Golden Camera and the Golden Lion
Golden Lion
Il Leone d’Oro is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is now regarded as one of the film industry's most distinguished prizes...
as best showmaster.
Related meme
A picture of Schmidt, with a beard and long hair, holding up his index finger, is the basis of an Internet memeInternet meme
The term Internet meme is used to describe a concept that spreads via the Internet. The term is a reference to the concept of memes, although the latter concept refers to a much broader category of cultural information.-Description:...
known as "fgsfds."