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Since his final farewell from the TV spotlight, Thomas Gottschalk, who will turn 76 in mid-May, has been in well-deserved retirement. Nevertheless, even offscreen, he remains a topic in pop culture and the media scene.
For example, with the comedy character Atze Schröder, who has been up to mischief for three decades now – as a lovable chav from the Ruhr region. Hubertus Albers (60), his Christian name, who comes from Emsdetten in Münsterland, has personally experienced how humor and social sensibilities have changed over time.
In a conversation with Cologne WDR presenter Bettina Böttinger in the podcast “Between the Lines,” the perm comedian talked about how his generation is dealing with this change. He also targeted his colleague Thomas Gottschalk.
Albers, alias Schröder, explains that some older entertainers find it difficult to accept the current social tone. “Of course some people say that you are no longer allowed to say what you think. Among them is Thomas Gottschalk – where you then think for yourself: Maybe it’s because of what you think,” he said. He was referring to the numerous debates that “Tommy” had sparked in recent years, for example about “political correctness” or “social sensitivity”.
At the end of 2025, the Bavarian multi-entertainer withdrew from the public eye to concentrate on his recovery from complex cancer.
Conscious farewell to old material
The conversation with Böttinger also addressed the question of how Schröder himself prevented himself from becoming a symbol of the “old white man”. The comedian explained that he consciously moved away from some of his previous material.
“If I were to repeat all the old sayings like I did 25 or 30 years ago, then I would be the oldest white comedian there is,” he said. Although he never “bowed” to the spirit of the times, he always observed with interest: “And how uninteresting my job would be if I always carried on with the old ideas.”
Rough and sensitive at the same time
The two also talked about the current social tone. Böttinger noted that comedy today deals with topics more sensitively, while society as a whole seems harsher. Schröder formulated the tension as follows: “On the one hand it will be super rough, on the other side it will be very sensitive.”
For him as a comedian, that’s exactly part of the job: “I enjoy getting into things like that and keeping my finger in the wind about how society works at the moment.”
Looking back, Schröder admitted that his former sitcom “Alles Atze” was basically yesterday’s RTL news. “In some scenes today I would also say: I won’t do that,” he explained. Some sketches “would cause an outcry – rightly so”.
At the same time, he emphasized that his mischievous stage character had always consciously worked with clichés: “That’s what my public figure was always about, that I wanted to make fun of all sorts of things.”
Other industry voices have also recently been critical of Gottschalk’s handling of social debates. Moderator Barbara Schöneberger said of the long-time showmaster that he was “not well advised” in some situations.
