Thomas Gottschalk: Gottschalk ought to have been spared this final present – Jauch was capable of save the exit | EUROtoday

It was executed at 10:13 p.m. Thomas Gottschalk, the uncrowned king of Saturday night leisure in Germany, retired from TV together with his head held excessive. Uncertain, however and not using a supporting hand. With pretty agency steps. In his personal opinion, he even went voluntarily: “That rarely happens on television!” he remarked. It was a remaining joke, then Gottschalk stepped up – “Thank you! Thank you very much!” – muttering up the slim present stairs. Went previous his followers who stood for the final time with cardboard indicators (“TV God!”, “Legend”). His spouse Karina was ready for him upstairs, visibly relieved. She had accompanied him to the studio in Cologne on this tough and, even when he himself wished to say goodbye, tragic night for a very long time and had shared the joy.

The quarter-hour earlier than the departure have been the minutes that have been price watching. Who had dignity. Günther Jauch interviewed his outdated buddy and colleague – the studio was darkened, Barbara Schöneberger crouched close by – on the subject that everybody: “Thomas, how are you?”. Gottschalk: “I’m doing well. I’m doing great. I had the best time on television. I’m now looking forward to retirement!” Said it after which thanked his viewers for the various years of at all times supporting him.

The 75-year-old then talked about his most cancers, how his spouse virtually pressured him to go to the physician, and concerning the operations on his ureters and bladder. A muscle in his thigh additionally needed to be severed, he stated, which nonetheless causes him issues to this present day. But Gottschalk additionally reported that the newest values ​​have been good and that he had hope of getting properly once more: “I am a positive person.”

In some moments of the dialog, which appeared open, direct and sincere, the outdated “Thommy” even briefly flashed by, the person with wit and attraction and an easy-going saying in all conditions. At least slightly.

But all the things about this “show” earlier than this dialog was slightly surprising. It was the silent testimony of a decline, of an virtually extinction, a minimum of of the leisure warhorse Thomas Gottschalk, as tens of millions of individuals beloved it. The man who felt like you can wake him up at three within the morning and put him on any present stage. The man standing there within the studio in Cologne did not know which digital camera to look into more often than not, was virtually immobile and even speechless. Thomas Gottschalk wasn’t disoriented like he was on the Bambi and Romy awards ceremonies, the occasions that pressured him to disclose his most cancers and the related remedy with its uncomfortable side effects.

Thomas Gottschalk was current, however not there till the dialog with Jauch.

For everybody who does not know the present: “Because they don’t know what’s happening” is an RTL Saturday night recreation present, truly stay, this time broadcast barely delayed with a view to shield Gottschalk from eventualities.

Gottschalk has been internet hosting it for a minimum of seven years, largely inconspicuously, along with Günther Jauch and Barbara Schöneberger. The three share the moderation, one may take a look at it slightly evilly as a type of semi-retirement. One of the three at all times moderates a recreation, the opposite two compete towards a competing crew consisting of two celebrities. Every present to this point has had an overarching theme, most lately “Las Vegas” or “Fairy Tale”. The video games are innocent, typically foolish, generally absurd, simply as we all know from “Schlag den Raab” and comparable codecs.

Yesterday’s broadcast, which was additionally the final of this present for Jauch and Schöneberger, had no motto. It was about Gottschalk himself, a minimum of till his departure. Until then it was all about wanting again, growing older, saying goodbye.

The “opposing” crew consisted of skilled Saturday night present presenters Jörg Pilawa and Giovanni Zarrella. In the primary recreation you needed to guess whether or not Gottschalk or Queen Camilla is youthful, Gottschalk or the East Sandman or Gottschalk the curry sausage (reply: principally Gottschalk). “Supernose” Mike Krüger, who was apparently unavoidable for a Gottschalk farewell, additionally took half (he had already pushed him out of the studio throughout “Wetten Dass..?”). Krüger sang his basic for “Thommy” proper earlier than he left at an artwork campfire, however rewritten it as: “My God, Thomas!”

This is not purported to be an obituary, it is nonetheless far too early for that – hopefully, regardless of the aggressive most cancers. But please do not keep in mind this RTL night, which appeared significantly tragic at first, because the final one if you keep in mind the entertainer Thomas Gottschalk. Because he was not capable of actually take part. At the start he stated virtually nothing, hardly took half within the video games as a result of he clearly could not do it anymore, and did not even say his typical sayings.

When the overarching “game manager” Thorsten, who publicizes the video games and, like a contemporary electrical blanket salesman, nonetheless has to encourage viewers to name for an RTL competitors (“100,000 €! SMS with the keyword: money”), sooner or later as a cliffhanger earlier than the following business break, Günther Jauch would later speak to Gottschalk about how he was doing…

Yes, the farewell present threatened to lastly flip into undignified. But fortunately there was Günther Jauch – and the surprisingly early departure of Gottschalk.

The large with the free mouth

But solely in hint components was one thing of the magic with which Gottschalk was capable of enchant audiences for thus a few years nonetheless noticeable.

“I always shook everything out of my sleeve,” he as soon as stated in an interview with Jauch. There isn’t any different method to say what got here out of this sleeve formed the German present panorama for many years. Made Thomas Gottschalk the measure of all issues as showmaster.

Gottschalk has, as has been virtually forgotten lately (of which he was not harmless), made tv leisure in German-speaking international locations way more colourful (not simply modern), way more relaxed (not simply by his sayings) and likewise significantly better. It performs a job that shouldn’t be underestimated in dispelling the considerably musty coziness that beforehand prevailed on tv. Jauch reminded us that he was in some methods similar to what Franz Beckenbauer was for soccer.

The “tall blonde” from Kulmbach in Upper Franconia made a reputation for himself early on, first on the radio in Munich, then on tv and infrequently along with Günther Jauch, for having the ability to correctly ventilate an ossified store in an unconventional manner. Gottschalk was by no means a revolutionary, however slightly a modernizer and not using a concrete plan. He made reveals higher. Made them look brisker just because he made them the best way it suited him.

When he broadcast “Wetten Dass..?” on September 26, 1987 from Hof ​​in Bavaria. took over from inventor Frank Elstner, he boarded a profitable present that he made much more profitable. Not as a result of he modified it considerably, however as a result of the “new guy” added his persona and thus an anarchic ingredient to the present.

You have to recollect this once more: 1987 was additionally the 12 months through which the competitors from ARD retired its huge Saturday night present with Hans-Joachim Kulenkampff referred to as “EWG – One Will Win”. A present through which “Kuli”, a consultant of the old fashioned of entertainers, at all times strolled onto the present stage in a coat and high hat after the Eurovision anthem had light, with a view to hand each issues over as a set ritual to his “butler”, a person named Martin Jente. A 12 months later, RTL bought its broadcasting license in North Rhine-Westphalia, adopted by reveals like “Alles Nicht Oder?”, through which Hella von Sinnen and Hugo Egon Balder threw desserts at one another – and Balder peeled off fruit late within the night in “Tutti Frutti”.

Instead of watching the utterly botched Bambi efficiency from November on YouTube once more (“Cher, Cher, nothing is as difficult as Cher”), it is best to slightly watch a “Best of Wetten Dass..?” that can be seen there. Priceless, for instance, is the dumbfounded look of Rod Steward on the present sofa, as “his betting candidate” alone by the rhythmic twitching of the chest muscle tissues of his two buddies, songs like “Born to Be Wild” by Steppenwolf or “Another one bites the dust” by Queen – moderated by Gottschalk as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

Or how the showmaster got a world star like Jamie Foxx to yodel to Melissa Etheridge’s guitar as a stake for his lost bet in Basel (and not bad at all!).

Incidentally, this didn’t happen in the distant past, as one might think, but in October 2007 during the broadcast for Gottschalk’s 20th anniversary. 11.2 million viewers. Nobody had more in their prime time. And no one managed to give ordinary people (betting candidates) the feeling for a short time that they were on a par with real world stars. And at the same time, courting the stars, but not taking them more seriously than the next gag that Gottschalk offered in conversation.

What Gottschalk had at his best and also showed in good moments later was his unerring sense of timing, his quick wit and his wit. A special feeling for the right saying at the right moment. You could say: for the zeitgeist. Because he was able to rely on this gift for a long time, Gottschalk was never afraid of saying something wrong, even live in front of the largest possible audience.

You can’t learn that. Just acknowledge. And often simply: admire.

This gift does not remain forever reliable, even for the most talented. Some of his late performances showed that. That the entertainer seemed increasingly thin-skinned, sometimes even bitter, especially in interviews and also in the second part of his memoirs, which were called “Herstblond” (2015) and “Herbstbunt” (2020). The latter book had the telling subtitle “Anyone who only gets old but doesn’t get any wiser is pretty stupid.”

Gottschalk showed more and more often how much the manners on social media irritated him and how little interest he has in dealing with influencers who are increasingly taking the place of stars in television shows.

Nobody will reverse this development. One can only hope that his withdrawal from the public, which is not as voluntary as he tried to portray in his last show, really gives Thomas Gottschalk health and inner peace.

It’s true what was written on one of the cardboard signs that a woman held up in the studio in Cologne: “Bet we miss Thommy!”