There’s stand up comedy club in Greenwich, London called ‘Up The Creek’ which was started by the one and only Malcolm Hardee (not so much the father of alternative comedy in the UK, more the crazed drunken uncle who had shaken off his probation officer). In its early days, Malcolm Hardee’s club was infamous: the chairs and tables were nailed to the floor and drink was served in plastic glasses… all for the safety of the comedians brave enough to stand on stage.
Legend has it that there was once a Swede who took to the stage and was promptly booed off. The apocryphal story goes that it was a tap dancing act on a carpeted floor. However, in the years that followed, any act that was not appreciated by the audience would be heckled by the baying crowd, shouting in unison “Bring back the Swede! Bring back the Swede!” as though to suggest that the act on stage was so bad it made the Swede look good.
On Thursday, I had my club, LKPG HA HA! and was chatting away to one of the comedians, Pontus Ströbaek. We started talking about the difference between the club scene here and in London and he starts telling me that about twenty years ago, he tried his luck in London at a club called ‘Up The Creek’ which was one of the most frightening experiences of his life. I ask him how it went.. all those years ago… “terrible” he says “they booed me off”… I put two and two together and realised that I was sitting opposite ‘The Swede’… a small unwitting part of British comedy history. I knew this was going to be a special night in Linköping.
The night kicked off with Niklas Folkegård, a very animated performer who brings his jokes to life. Then straight in with the first act’s headliner, Pontus ‘The Swede’ Ströbaek. Thankfully, he has used the intervening 20 years since his 5 minutes at Up The Creek to create a hilarious, largely improvised, stand up act, that unlike many Swedish acts, has a real sense of anarchy and danger.
After the break, Kjell Nyholm took the stage with a short set in his local dialect Kisamål. Then it was time for one of my favourite Swedish comedians, Henrik Elmér, who blew the audience away. It’s the second time in a week I’ve watched Henrik perform and both times there has been at least one person in uncontrollable hysterics. You can’t ask for more than that from a comedian..
I was pleased with my compèring. I tried out some new stuff about trying to make Linköping more of a Hip Hop town. It worked, mainly because the local crowd (myself included) are so un-Hip Hop. Linköping ain’t no Brap Brap town. I was most pleased that the night was consistently funny and that the crowd left happy (apart from one lady who complained it was too loud… but you can’t please all of the people all of the time….). Of course, don’t take my word for it – you can read it in Linköping’s very own Pravda Corren, who sent a reviewer with such exceptional good taste, he gave the night CCCC (top marks) with the headline ‘världsklass’. Read it here:
The first time i was at “Up the creek” the audience loved me. I did 5 min and the story is that every comedian that went up after me, that night, got heckled of by the audience shouting “Bring back the Swede”.
Malcolm wanted me back half a year later for 2 nights in a row… I got there and went realy bad, they booed me off. The day after I went there and met Malcolm, who allready was drunk, he said: “I didn´t think U would come”… I went up at “Up the creek” for my third time and I went well. Malcolm paid me by saying: “that had to be a strange experience for U…”
So thats the sober story…
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Pontus. I stand corrected.
My source for the story was Malcolm Hardee’s brilliant autobiography ‘I stole Freddie Mercury’s Birthday Cake’ which is a fantastic read. However, as I’m sure you’ll agree, and as Malcolm Hardee admitted himself… is far from being accurate or reliable… I trust your version of events much more.
Thanks again for a great evening
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The story I told is true… And according to ‘I stole Freddie Mercury’s Birthday Cake’ (got it now) The Swede performed at the Tunnel.
So I´m “the diffrent Swede”
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Hi Pontus… Never let the facts get in the way of a good story…
I think much like the Bible or the teachings of Confucious, ‘I Stole Freddie Mercury’s Birthday Cake’ is open to interpretation. Besides, Malcolm Hardee would readily admit, that he was probably drunk on the night, he probably got the venue wrong and he probably made up the bit about the tap dancing…
For me it seems like too much of a coincidence – How many Swedes were trying out 5 minute slots in London in the early nineties? And if it wasn’t you… then who is The Swede?
I feel a piece of investigative journalism coming on…
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