From 1982 to 1987, Gottschalk hosted the show "Na sowas" on ZDF and was awarded the Goldene Kamera (golden camera) for his performance on that show in 1985. During that period he also starred in several German comedies with actor Mike Krüger. Gottschalk occasionally works as an actor until today, taking roles in the Hollywood movies "Trabbi goes to Hollywood" (1991) and "Zookeeper" (2011). In 1993, Gottschalk starred in "" (1993) as a consequence of leading actress Whoopi Goldberg losing a bet in Gottschalk's gameshow "Wetten, dass..?". He plays the sausage-obsessed German cook, Father Wolfgang.