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 Czech Republic) in 1945, Schmidt spent his youth in Swabian Nürtingen. 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, Schmidt became a lyricist 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.

In October 2005, his daughter Amelie was born. Schmidt resides in Cologne with his partner Ellen Hantsch, a school teacher, and their five children, the eldest being from a previous 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.

Television career

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''. The biggest boost to his career occurred in 1992, when Schmidt started hosting the popular Saturday night show ''Verstehen Sie Spaß?'' (a variation of ''Candid Camera''). Schmidt was awarded Germany's most important TV award, the Adolf-Grimme-Preis, as well as the Golden Camera.

In 2004, Schmidt toured through Germany with a live comedy show, featuring his former late night show sidekick Manuel Andrack.

''Harald Schmidt Show''

In 1995, Schmidt changed from the publicly funded TV station ARD to the privately owned German television network Sat.1 in order to host a late night show similar to ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' and ''Late Show with David Letterman''. The show, named ''Die Harald Schmidt Show'', featured stand-up comedy as well as famous national and international guests. From 30 June 2003, the show was broadcast five days a week, including Monday evening. On 8 December 2003, Schmidt suddenly announced the end of the show, following a change of management of Sat.1. The last show was aired on 23 December 2003. The following suspension of the TV format lasted until 2011, when the show returned to Sat.1.

''Harald Schmidt''

In 2004, Schmidt began a second run with a new show named ''Harald Schmidt'' on publicly funded ARD, where he had begun his television career 16 years earlier. The show no longer featured "celebrity" interviews but dealt even more with the discussion of current events in a rather freely associative manner. Manuel Andrack returned as his sidekick.

On his first show after the break, Schmidt appeared with long hair and a full beard, making fun of his long absence from the public. After summer break in 2005 the "celebrity guest" segment was reintroduced.

''Schmidt & Pocher''

Late in 2007, Manuel Andrack was replaced by comedian Oliver Pocher, 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. Pocher appeared "less intellectual", a fact that caused some criticism among Schmidt's core audience and broadsheet newspaper comments in Germany.

''Harald Schmidt''

After the termination of ''Schmidt & Pocher'', Schmidt again hosted the show under its former title ''Harald Schmidt'', this time without any sidekick.

Relaunch of the ''Harald Schmidt Show''

On 15 September 2011, Schmidt returned to his former network Sat.1, picking up its former name of ''Die Harald Schmidt Show'' again. However, Sat.1 cancelled the show after one season due to low ratings. Starting 4 September 2012, new episodes were shown on Sky Hits HD and Sky Atlantic HD, two channels of the German Pay-TV network Sky Deutschland. Schmidt hosted his very last show on 13 March 2014. He announced he would not return to TV. SKY published the last show on video-sharing website YouTube.

Concept and personalities

upSchmidt in 2007
The self-proclaimed hypochondriac 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 factors and qualities to his show himself.

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 until 2005, and, like David Letterman, also included his staff in the show, for instance, his cue card girl Suzana Novinscak and his band leader Helmut Zerlett. Schmidt celebrated the return of French woman Nathalie Licard in his ARD era (like Zerlett she is still part of Schmidt's team). In Schmidt's original ''Harald Schmidt Show'' (1995–2003), Licard was involved in the goings-on in front of the audience too.

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 Adolf Hitler imitations in his show (in one of these he as Hitler warned young people not to vote for racist and nationalistic parties). Schmidt's 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.

In the later years of its first run on Sat.1 (circa 2001–2003), the ''Harald Schmidt Show'' became a critics' favourite due to Schmidt's "intellectual" sense of humour, especially for incorporating many references to high culture (be it literature, theater, classical music, painting, or cinema), history, and philosophy. Another recurring item were forays into surrealism and absurdity that were pretty much anathema to commercial or "mainstream" interest: For example, Schmidt hosted one show completely in French (re-broadcast a few days later on Franco-German channel Arte, this ''Show en Francais'' episode gained glowing reviews from French critics). On another occasion, the screen was blacked for half of the show making it into a "radio broadcast". Another time, Schmidt disproved a critic who had written that it is impossible to spend several minutes on TV just cracking nuts without anybody saying anything. The show's reviews and renown among critics gradually worsened during the years of its ARD run (2004–2010), especially because Schmidt's choice of Oliver Pocher as a new sidekick was considered a mistake that diminished the entire show's quality.

Other activities

Schmidt's first book, ''Tränen im Aquarium'', was published in 1993, the second, ''Mulatten in gelben Sesseln'', in 2005.

1994–2013 H. Schmidt worked as a columnist for one of the major German weekly news magazines, ''Focus''. Many of his articles were assembled and released as books. The first of these, ''Warum?'' ("Why?"), was published in 1997; another nine books followed.

Schmidt also voiced an audiobook, ''Jerry Cotton – Mein erster Fall beim FBI'' (2003).

Awards

Schmidt at the Romy TV awards in 2011
Schmidt has won more than 30 television, comedy and theatrical awards, including three German Television Awards, the viewers choice award Bambi, the Grimme Award

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