''Die Harald Schmidt Show'' ("The Harald Schmidt Show") was a German late-night talk show hosted on

Sky Deutschland Sky Deutschland GmbH, branded as Sky, is a German media company that operates a direct broadcast satellite Pay TV platform in Germany, Austria and Switzerland (through Sky Switzerland). It provides a collection of basic and premium digital sub ...

by comedian

Harald Schmidt Harald Franz Schmidt (born 18 August 1957) is a German actor, comedian, television presenter and writer best known as the host of two popular German late-night shows. Early and private life A son of refugees who fled from Sudetenland (now C ...

. The show first aired from 5 December 1995 to 23 December 2003 on

Sat.1 Sat.1 is a German free-to-air television channel that is a part of the ProSiebenSat.1 Media Group. It is considered the first privately owned television network in Germany, having been launched in January 1984 as ''PKS'' ''(Programmgesellschaf ...

. Schmidt then moved his show to

Das Erste Das Erste (; "The First") is the flagship national television channel of the ARD association of public broadcasting corporations in Germany. ''Das Erste'' is jointly operated by the nine regional public broadcasting corporations that are member ...

as ''

'' and ''

Schmidt & Pocher ''Schmidt & Pocher'' was a German late-night talk show hosted on Das Erste by comedians Harald Schmidt and Oliver Pocher in the Thursday 10:45 pm time slot from 25 October 2007 to 16 April 2009. It was the successor of ''Harald Schmidt'' on the sa ...

'', but he returned to

on 13 September 2011. After cancellation on Sat.1, the show continued on

in September 2012. Schmidt retired from television in 2014.

Writers

* Peter Rütten *

Manuel Andrack Manuel Andrack (born 23 June 1965) is a German journalist, television presenter, and author. He is best known as the sidekick of the ''Harald Schmidt Show''. Early years Andrack was born on 23 June 1965 in Cologne, where he has also lived most of ...

* Suzana Novinščak * Nathalie Licard * Ralf Kabelka * Katrin Bauerfeind

Music

The house band is led by Helmut Zerlett * Helmut Zerlett – keyboards * Axel Heilhecker - guitars *

Rosko Gee Rosko Gee is a Jamaican bassist, who has played with the English band Traffic on their albums ''When the Eagle Flies'' (1974) and ''The Last Great Traffic Jam'' (2005); with Go featuring Stomu Yamashta, Steve Winwood, Michael Shrieve, Klaus Sch ...

- bass * Antoine Fillon - drums * Jürgen Dahmen - piano *

Thomas Heberer Thomas Heberer (born 13 November 1947 in Offenbach/Main, Germany) is a Senior Professor of Chinese Politics & Society at the University Duisburg-Essen, Germany. Education Thomas Heberer studied Social Anthropology (major), Philosophy, Politica ...

- trumpets *

Mel Collins Melvyn Desmond Collins (born 5 September 1947, Isle of Man) is a British saxophonist, flautist and session musician. Collins has played in several progressive rock groups, having been a member of King Crimson on two occasions (the first from ...

- saxophone

History

The first incarnation of the show aired from 5 December 1995 in the Tuesday-Saturday 11:15 pm time slot. The shows from Tuesday to Friday were live on tape, and the Saturday shows were live. Over time, the Saturday shows were phased out. From 30 June 2003 until the end of its first run on 23 December 2003, it also aired Monday shows. Schmidt then moved to Das Erste with his band leader Helmut Zerlett, but without his sidekick Manuel Andrack. Schmidt moved back to Sat.1 beginning from 13 September 2011, hosting two shows a week every Tuesday and Wednesday at 11:15 pm. Sat.1 canceled the show after one season due to low viewer levels. Since 4 September 2012 new episodes are shown on Sky Hits HD and Sky Atlantic HD, two channels of the German Pay-TV network

. The format of the show is similar to American late night talk shows, with a monologue in the beginning, followed by comedy skits, interviews, and a musical guest.

Polish joke controversy

Schmidt was criticized for multiple usage of

Polish joke A "Polish joke" is an English-language ethnic joke deriding Polish people, based on derogatory stereotypes. The "Polish joke" belongs in the category of conditional jokes, whose full understanding requires the audience to have prior knowledge of wh ...

s in his show. In his interview, Schmidt stated that he was surprised with the reaction. He mentioned that nobody makes much fuss about jokes involving Japanese or Germans. However, when he became aware of the reception, he stopped using these kinds of jokes.

Awards

List of episodes in 2011 (abridgement)

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harald Schmidt Show, Die German television talk shows German satirical television shows Anti-Polish sentiment in Europe Sat.1 original programming 1995 German television series debuts 2000s German television series 2010s German television series Television shows set in Cologne German-language television shows