A son of refugees who fled from Sudetenland (now Czech Republic) in 1945, Schmidt spent his youth in Swabian Nürtingen.

Schmidt resides in Cologne with his partner Ellen Hantsch, a school teacher, and their five children, the eldest being from a previous relationship.

The biggest boost to his career occurred in 1992, when Schmidt started hosting the popular Saturday night show Verstehen Sie Spaß?

The show no longer featured "celebrity" interviews but dealt even more with the discussion of current events in a rather freely associative manner.

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.

Pocher appeared "less intellectual", a fact that caused some criticism among Schmidt's core audience and broadsheet newspaper comments in Germany.

(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'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.

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).

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.