August 2009 - 110% LAGOM - Blogs

Archive for August, 2009

From train station to radio station

Monday, August 31st, 2009

There are two kinds of pub that compete for the title of ‘Worst Pub in the World’. The so called ’sports bars’ and pubs in stations. Imagine then, the reservations I had when I agreed to meet a couple of fellow comedians in the O’Leary’s bar in Stockholm Central Station. The coffee was awful, the football screens were omnipresent but the company was charming (or at least as charming as a Canadian and an Australian can be).

On Saturday, I met up with Joe Eagan, a Canadian comedian from Malmö and Louis Zezeran, an Aussie improviser who has just moved to Stockholm. Joe’s train arrived at 3pm and mine left at 4pm… so we had little choice but to meet in the least appealing venue in Stockholm. Louis looked strangely at home.

It was good to meet the two of them and we had a chance to discuss some possible collaborations in the future. Joe’s got some big plans afoot in Skåne which I will post here in the near future. Watch this space.

Wizzed home on the x2000 and went more or less straight to my evening gig which was a 30th birthday party for about 100 guests. The gig went well apart from a little bit of a tussle with the PA system which decided to feedback once or twice. I managed to get in a plug for my club and also to get the audience singing Happy Birthday in English.

I stuck around for a drink after the gig and got chatting to a couple who lived in Stockholm, one of whom works for one of the big commercial radio stations. He uttered the words…’ oh funnily enough we’re looking for a person who speaks Swedish with an English accent…’ and I thought, it just goes to show, for all the networking that you try and do in Stockholm, it’s the local gigs that pay off.

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Tags: Comedy, Gigs, Networking, Stand Up, Stockholm
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A bunch of Blattes at Boulevard

Saturday, August 29th, 2009

The Stockholm Comedy Festival has well and truly kicked off with a host of names froom Sweden and abroad playing at Södra Teatern and Boulevard Teatern. I was very much bottom of the bill (but at least I made it onto the bill) on the opening night at the Boulevard, which showed the diversity of Sweden’s stand up scene. There was Jewish, Kurdish, Black and Persian comedy through the evening (I’ll let you guess which bill I was on) each attracting different audiences and different atmospheres. My only question is: where were the Saami? Discrimination, I call it.

The night was hosted by Janne Westerlund, who even though I’ve compered him in Linköping before, managed to introduce me as ’Ben from Enköping’… I didn’t have too much stage time so it was hard to get into a rhythm and I was feeling really tired after wandering round a very humid Stockholm during the day. That said, I think the gig went better than it felt as the audience laughed in all the right places. This was also my first time at the Boulevard and it feels like a step in the right direction to play such a big venue in the heart of the capital.

It was good to catch up with a few of the other comedians – Aron Flam and his depressive demeanour, Kadir Meral from Gothenburg, who I met when I first started and who oozes positivity and Janne Westerlund who is known by some as Mr. Stand Up. It was also cool to see a couple of acts that I haven’t seen live before such as Soran Ismael, who had a brilliant routine about flying in the Middle East, and Kodjo Akolor who is such a versatile performer.

The highlight of the evening was the Black comedy night, not only because my friend Isak Jansson (who is whiter than white) guested as Sweden’s third blackest comedian and did some very funny material about Usain Bolt, but also as it was a chance to see Ahmed Berhan who I have spoken to on the phone a couple of times but never met. Ahmed is a tall, thin, dreadlocked East African and was like a fluid ball of energy onstage. His routine poured out of him as though he had so many funny things to say and that there simply wasn’t enough time to tell the audience everything that he needed. My favourite stuff was him hypothesising on what would happen if he married into the Swedish royal family. Fantastic imagery. He performs in English too and is becoming a regular on the scene in London. Check him out.

All in all a good day. I skipped the afterparty as I was too tired and went for a quiet beer with my friend Bisse. We had had our meeting earlier with a production company to do an initial pitch for the sitcom idea. We both agree that we’ve got lots of work still to do, but that the Stockholm meeting was good preparation for the pitching session next month in Gothenburg.

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Tags: Comedy, Gigs, sitcom, Stand Up, Stockholm
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The Swedish Stand Up Awards

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009

Ok. So I wasn’t there. So this post is a bit like live football commentary where the commentators are watching the game on telly. However, I can report that according to the prizes, the best Swedish male comedian is Peter Wahlbeck and the best Swedish female comedian is Petra Mede. The full list can be found here at Komikaze. So there you have it.

It seems a little bit contrived to make something as subjective as humour/comedy the subject of a competition as it kind of suggests that there is a set amount of laughter that we should all be striving for and that the prizewinning comedians go furthest in fulfilling that quota. To say that one comedian is funnier than another is a bit like saying that apples are better than oranges, when in truth, somedays you fancy an apple and another day, you fancy an orange. And on occasion only a banana will do. Of course, if I am ever nominated for an award, my opinion will change completely and I will write that awards are the best thing in the world.

I’m very happy also for Aron Flam and Jonatan Unge who also won prizes. I met them both about a year ago and they are two of the cleverest, most erudite performers in Sweden. I’m happy to say that I’m doing ten minutes on the same bill as them this Friday at the Boulevard Teater when the Stockholm Comedy Festival is gettin’ Yiddy with it.

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Tags: Comedy, Gigs, Stand Up, Stockholm
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Drum and Bass and Tage D.

Saturday, August 22nd, 2009

Although she hasn’t dropped the ‘Desperately’ from Desperately Seeking Sweden, now that Christine has ‘done’ Linköping, there is a lot less desperation about her. Much as Gauguin found Tahiti, so Christine has found the real Sweden.

Linköping’s motto is ‘Där Idéer Blir Verklighet’ or ‘Where Ideas Become Reality’ and indeed ideas did become reality for Christine, assuming of course that her ideas were: Go to a Drum and Bass night and watch badly dressed teenagers pretending to be black. I could tell she was impressed by the way she kept laughing and pointing and saying ‘I can’t believe this! Look at THAT bloke dance!’. Also beer was only 25 kronor.

Having established that Christine was a slave to the sounds of the wickedness, there was only one place to go on the second night – A musical tribute to Linköping’s most famous son, Tage Danielsson. The show, put on by the Tage Danielsson Appreciation Society, was performed at, and attended by, Gamla (old) Linköping. We were the youngest there even with our ages combined but the show was a hoot.

I’ve been meaning to find out more about Tage Danielsson for a while as he’s a character that everyone in Linköping knows and loves. Watching the show was a great introduction to him and although I think I’d have got more from it if I had known the songs and sketches, I had a really good time. If you are in Linköping and you want to watch the show, they are doing a couple more dates towards the end of August. Details here under ‘Mera Tage!’.

Meanwhile, I’ve had a couple of articles published this week. One about The Best Paid Worst Job In The World and another on Stand Up for Sweden.se – credit to them for linking to Magnus Betnér’s video in English, which probably won’t be appreciated in America’s Bible Belt.

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Tags: Blogging, Comedy, LinkÃ¶ping, music, plugs, Stand Up
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A Local simulcast

Thursday, August 20th, 2009

In the 1920s, during the heyday of radio, an ambitious experimental broadcast was attempted where a number of organ recitals around the world were performed and broadcast simultaneously. The simultaneous broadcast, which started at Blackpool Tower, became known as a simulcast.

Over the next few days, me and fellow Local blogger Christine will attempt the same thing using the 21st century phenomenon of blogging. Yes, like a fool, I have agreed to play host to Desperately Seeking Sweden and show her Linköping. We will both blog about the same things and it will be interesting to see the different perspectives on the same events.

I’ve met Christine once before when she heckled me mercilessly at a show in both Swedish and English. As a result, I think we should be ready to read between the lines of her blog. So as a guide to her writing, I would like to inform you of the code that I think she is using… Where she writes ‘Tourist Office’ she means ‘Lap dancing club’, ‘Fika’ is clearly ‘Opium den’ and there are no words suitable to describe what she means by ‘buying a souvenir’. You have been warned.

In the meantime, talking of experimental radio, we had a dry run of the radio pilot last night to try and discover any potential technical problems and to iron out the script a bit. The studio was one microphone short for the final scene, so I took along the mike that I ‘borrowed’ from the BBC in 1998. It still works well and the label which reads ‘BBC World Service. DO NOT REMOVE FROM BUSH HOUSE’ has maintained its stickiness as though it was put on yesterday. God Bless the Beeb.

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Tags: Blogging, LinkÃ¶ping, radio
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A meeting with tea, a meeting with beer

Tuesday, August 18th, 2009

And why not? First a very pleasant meeting with Jossan from Café M to discuss the forthcoming club night, where we sat in a café on the main square and drank Earl Grey. Then later a meeting with David the sound engineer who is going to record the radio pilot. Two ice cold bottles of Mariestad, thank you very much.

Drinking isn’t all I did yesterday, granted. But it seems to have punctuated my day rather nicely.

Just so you don’t think I’m completely lazy, I also finished off a (long overdue) article for the Swedish Institute, pitched another article (successfully) to Scan magazine and found time to take a trailer load of garden waste to the dump with the kids in tow (which also meant changing a pair of wet knickers because two and a half year olds can’t be trusted when asked ‘do you need a wee before we go to the dump?’)

So yesterday was physically, intellectually, economically and paternally edifying.

Right. Back to surfing Facebook.

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Tags: Gigs, LinkÃ¶ping, radio
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Generation Gap

Saturday, August 15th, 2009

Isak Jansson faces the usual dilemma of which comedian to sleep with after the gig (Foto:Motala24.se)

The last of the summer gigs in Motala was punctuated by the heaviest rain and hailstorm you could imagine, so an inside gig it was. We had a decent crowd who seemed to be pretty up for it, or at least as up for it as a Thursday night crowd gets in Motala. The comedians on the bill were some of the brightest freshest talent in Sweden, who went down well with all the audience apart from a table of 16 retired female accountants. They did not get the jokes about hip hop, from Isak Jansson or the internet references from Behrad Rouzbeh and greeted any sexual reference with a disapproving silence.

The comedians were not bad, the rest of the crowd were laughing away enjoying the routines… it was just a bit hard to ignore such a large segment of the audience.Sometimes it’s hard to bridge the generation gap. That said, Martin Lagos, who I saw perform for the first time, blew everyone away, even the oldies. But then again he is a cheeky charming Chilean.

Thursday also saw the three minute debut for a guy called Martin Johansson who first got in touch with me about a year ago. He has put off his debut for so long not through nerves but because his day job is as an Able Seaman and so planning a date on dry land at a comedy club has been largely dependent on whether his ship will get back from some far flung corner of the globe on time. He’s obviously got some stories to tell, but it was interesting to see the difference between telling a traveller’s anecdote and hitting punchlines. That said, he did brilliantly for a first timer and I’m sure he’ll find his feet. Worth looking at his blog to get a taste of the nerves, excitement and intrepidation he was feeling about standing onstage for the first time.

Pictures from the night can be seen at Motala24

Other stuff that’s been going on this week that I’m rather pleased about…. Managed to wangle myself a ten minute spot at the Stockholm Comedy Festival, which I’m very excited about. Also got a phone call from out of the blue from a company in Eskilstuna asking me to appear in a promotional film. They had found me via You Tube by searching for ‘Snus’ and found this video. I’ve got to find out more about the project, but I’m still amazed that the internet works in such mysterious ways.

The sitcom pitching saga rolls positively on and I got a result much more positive than I could ever have hoped for: Rather than getting a 15 minute slot next week as part of a pitching competition, I’ve got an proper appointment next month with SVT in Gothenburg plus a meeting in Stockholm next week with a top production company…. I feel like the first step of the next stage in my Swedish career has been taken.

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Tags: Blogging, Comedy, Gigs, Motala
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Top of the Claes

Wednesday, August 12th, 2009

I was hired to sugar the pill for teachers returning to school today and provide a comic interlude on their pupil free admin day. I can only assume that the school in Norrköping has had problems in the past with teachers running away on their first day back after the holidays.

One of the things that I love about stand up is the unpredictability; every audience and performance throws up unexpected scenarios. Today’s was one of the best yet. In my routine, I chat a little with the audience and as chance would have it the teacher I picked to talk to was called Claes. What a perfect name for a teacher… can you imagine his day?

“Morning, class”

“Morning, Claes” they respond.

I took great pleasure in saying “Claes dismissed” once I’d finished talking to him. It was PUNderful

The rest of the day went well. Had a couple of meetings about future projects and taking my one man show to the Kulturkammaren in Norrköping. I got home, pleased as pudding about having a date at the theatre, checked my emails and found that I had been offered a well paid job on exactly the same night (at the Moderaternas conference, no less). Luckily, it’s not too late to pick another date and now that week is going to be a rollercoaster week with gigs every night. Oh yes, Rock and Roll….

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Tags: Comedy, Gigs, NorrkÃ¶ping
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Vinyl Graveyard

Monday, August 10th, 2009

It’s been a party weekend.

Saturday night out in the countryside, my friend Palle had set up a small PA system in his garden. We had been asked to dust off our old vinyl and bring along a choice track to play. My meagre vinyl collection never made it to Sweden, so Palle invited me to go through his discs to choose a suitable track. Palle is about 10 years older than me, from near Gävle and claims to have hung around in the same hardcore circles as punk turned hippie ‘visonary’ Thomas Di Leva. As a result he owns hundreds of obscure punk records most of whom I had never heard of. Given the selection, there was only one choice of record for me to play – All Quiet On The Eastern Front, by The Stranglers, inspired by lead singer Hugh Cornwell’s time at Lund University.

The party reminded me a bit of a British stand up act I saw years ago called Woody Bop Murray who asks the audience to vote on which of his records to keep or to smash – Palle’s party would have been more complete with a golden hammer to smash the more embarrassing records, like the Carola stuff that slipped through the net.

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Tags: music
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Beachlife/Parklife

Friday, August 7th, 2009

Did yesterday really happen? I hope so as I’m not sure how else to explain my tan and the wonderful sense of well-being that I’ve got today.

Here’s how it panned out. Beach. Swim. Park. Gig. What a day.

Along with what seemed like 99% of the population of Östergötland, we headed out to the beach at Varamon, near Motala. Apparently there are miles of golden sand, although it was difficult to see as any available flat space was covered by semi naked Swedish flesh, desperately trying to make up for a rainy summer and catch some rays.

The three types of Swedish skin were on view. The blue/white pale of newly exposed skin, the lobster red of uncreamed bodies that have spent over half an hour in direct sunlight and the leather brown wrinkled skin which serves as a testimony to decades spent under the sunbed. Of course, it would be fickle to see beauty as only skin deep and using my powers of observation I am happy to report that the majority of Swedish bodies are very pleasing on the eye. (This is just an observation… I’m sure they have great personalities too). Not that I spent the whole day lying on the beach staring at naked flesh. I stared at naked flesh from the water too.

I’m not generally a fan of crowded beaches, but it was so good to be amongst hundreds of Swedes who were relaxing and enjoying themselves. Most nationalities behave completely differently abroad and it was nice to see a glimpse of the blonde and beautiful Sweden that the rest of the world meets on the beaches of Spain, Brazil and Thailand.

In the evening I had been booked in to perform at Linköping’s Trädgårdsföreningen (longwinded, posh name for the park) . Nolltretton magazine had arranged a small stage for local bands to play. LKPG HA HA! had been asked to do some short stand up spots between the bands. Stand Up doesn’t usually work to a music audience as people engage with music in a totally different way to someone speaking. It is possible to listen to music passively – chat to friends, drink, not watch directly etc, but stand up requires an active audience that interacts and relates with the performer.

I decided to do my more interactive stuff where I chat and improvise with the audience a bit. I managed to pick a very hairy beardy man who was game for coming up onstage. I was able to refer to him later as I did my routine about the Linköping man with the world’s biggest beard.

The show went well – The audience were a bit too relaxed and spread out, but I had the majority of them laughing and they applauded in the right places. I was hoping to finish with a little routine about the alcoholics in the park and to use the fact that they are less reserved than most Swedes, but for some reason, they had all disappeared before I came on stage. Guess I’ll never be big amongst the homeless.

There was one surreal moment when a bald man with many piercings wandered onto the stage and (very good naturedly) tried to get in on the act. At first I thought he was the roadie, telling me that my time was up, but he just wanted his 15 seconds of Trädgårdsföreningen limelight.

It was a lovely evening to be out in the park and to catch up with a few people… almost like a proper summer evening.

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Tags: Comedy, Gigs, LinkÃ¶ping, Stand Up
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