In Bochum, he first became known to a wider audience in Germany around 1996 as a regular cast member of the comedy show Die Wochenshow (engl.: The Weekly Show), essentially a mock news program. His trademarks included quirky, off-beat characters such as Fruity sex talk show host Brisko Schneider and Ottmar Zittlau, an unemployed, sweatsuit-wearing dimwit.
Pastewka went on to star in various German comedy films, most notably Der WiXXer (2004) and Neues vom WiXXer (2007), a spoof on 1960s Edgar Wallace crime dramas. He has also worked as a voice-over actor for numerous animated films, such as Madagascar. Since September 2005 Pastewka has been playing himself in the sitcom Pastewka, shown by the German television broadcasting station Sat.1.
