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“Mensch Gottschalk”: Beni Thurnheer pays tribute to his professional colleague before the last “Wetten, dass..?” broadcast.
It took luck and skill. Thomas Gottschalk had both. He shaped the communicative aspect of radio. He quickly, probably even intuitively, realized that he was best received by people when he always remained himself.
This was easy for him because he led a contented, interesting and yes, decent life. There was no reason for him to pretend or artificially optimize things.
The time of the superstars
His luck was that he was in the right place at the right time and his type was in demand at exactly that time. Equipped with so much “being”, he then entered the stage of “appearance”, of television.
Again the timing was right. It was the heyday of pop music, the hit parades, the superstars from Tina Turner to Michael Jackson, which formed the soundtrack of the life of the baby boomer generation.
He was now allowed to appear in “Wetten,dass..?” exactly the singing celebrities he admired so much. received. The show, created by Frank Elstner, had already achieved a high status.
Advice and samples?
No other European television company paid such high fees for appearances. Gottschalk loved his guests, loved performing in front of a large audience and continued to love being himself.
He derived his success from the advice of others, which he did not follow. Rehearsals – a must for such a big Saturday night box – didn’t interest him; the directors had to be content with a minimum. The cameras and microphones should simply be directed towards him, not the other way around.
Missed opportunities
Life must have been even more hair-raising for the editors when they had to listen to the banal questions that Gottschalk asked his illustrious guests, unprepared and from the gut. What missed opportunities!
Nowadays, entire brainstorming groups come up with profound things that the showmaster should then please place. But there is another side here too.
Above all, Gottschalk wanted to create a feel-good atmosphere and never went too far with his curiosity. If he had bothered his guests with questions about politics or religion, they would probably simply have stopped coming or at least not been as open and friendly.
Authenticity!
Unforgettable Gottschalk’s request to Bill Gates: ‘Show us how much money you have in your wallet right now!’ Some found it brilliant, others found it subterranean. Just entertainment!
“Wetten,dass..?”: A barely rehearsed, improvised show with some good and some very shallow interview questions. Is this what a successful show looks like? Yes! Because these negative points were by far compensated for by the one crucial thing: authenticity!
pure nature
Gottschalk’s “Wetten,das..?” was always live. The show had an arc, its presenter had rough edges, something unusual could happen at any time, in real life and not staged. The show had an imperfect face, but that was precisely why it was alive. Gottschalk didn’t let any experts do the facelift; he always remained “pure nature”.
Such a Thomas Gottschalk career has become impossible. Today everything is styled and optimized. The show masters are similar, they all have to meet the same criteria.
So should you let her do more alone again? Many people don’t want that at all. Their personal success is more important to them than the success of the program; they say “I” more often than “we”.
Man Gottschalk, you were still a real… human being!