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Tour blog#3: The palace of tango

Thursday, March 24th, 2011

So, it’s the morning after the night before and I’m sitting in bed in the hostel in Malmö. I feel well rested after our first proper gig and Danny is in the bed opposite sleeping like a baby. Not sure if he is tired because of last night’s show or whether it’s because I kept him up all night with my snoring.

Anyway, the first show of our tour was a success. The club, Oslipat, is run by a couple of guys called Marcus and Fritte and it takes place at a venue called Tangopalatset. We found out about 2 days before the gig that there was an ongoing Internet campaign to boycott the venue by a group of militant Malmö revolutionaries who were taking a stand for an ex-employee at the venue. Unwittingly, we found ourselves in the middle of a political struggle – Not what we needed. Despite this, about 50 people turned up, mostly Swedes, but a few English people as well as a few Danes and Finns (By Danes and Finns, I mean the nationalities, not members of an Irish boyband).

Marcus had been very worried about sound checking nice and early…. which was lucky as all the equipment matched with their PA system… almost. With the clock ticking we cobbled together an elaborate web of cables that ran from one amplifier to another bypassing a set of speakers and somehow getting the mic to work via a headphone input… which still didn’t work…. then we found the right lead and everything worked like a dream. It’s always the way..

The show was fun. The crowd got really into it and there was plenty of audience participation and despite being Swedish they weren’t too reserved. What’s nice about the Danny’s show is that it uses the audience in such a nice way. Everyone is part of it without being picked on or singled out. And it was so nice to hear a strong applause at the end of the night.

So, the tour is under way. I haven’t quite lost that slightly sick feeling of worry about whether or not we’ll get an audience in Gothenburg and Stockholm, but it feels good to be back on the road. We’re heading north today, for a gig in Falun on Friday – It seems a shame to leave the spring in Skåne behind, but we’ll be back next week.

Danny has just woken up. He sat up, looked at me and said ‘You snored all night’, then rolled over and went back to sleep.

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Tags: Comedy, DJ Danny, Gigs, Malmö, Stand Up, Sweden
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Tour blog#2: Spring is sprung in Malmö

Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011

So, I’ve successfully met up with Danny in Malmö and we are now both sitting opposite each other on our respective computers avoiding eye contact. He has already complained (through a closed door) that I made too much noise when I went to the toilet and I’ve noticed that he has managed to get the best bed in the hostel room, which he has claimed by spreading out his dirty underpants. We’re only minutes into the tour and things don’t bode well. … …

The journey down was quite pleasant. I listened to some SRP2 which had a whole load of stuff from choral singing to trad jazz. I only switched off when they started the weekly Persian broadcast – Nothing against Persian, I should add…. just it’s not very condusive to driving down the E4.

Once I arrived in Skåne I stopped for a coffee in a roadside cafe/country club… I know I speak Swedish with a weird accent having learnt in Östergötland, but skånsk really does take the biscuit – I wasn’t sure if the lady was speaking to me or having some kind of choking fit.

We’re off to sound check in about 20 minutes, which means I have to jump back in the car… just what I need after 5 hours behind the wheel. Really looking forward to the gig tonight which takes place at Tangopalatset (more info here) . There are still tickets available, so come along and say hi (just try not to do it with a Skåne accent).

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Tags: Blogging, Comedy, Gigs, Malmö, plugs, Stand Up, Sweden, tour
Posted in Comedy, Lagom, Stand Up, Tour 2011 | No comments »

Twenty Eleven is GO!

Sunday, January 9th, 2011

After New Years Eve’s resolution fest and blind optimism, the reality of the year’s first week can be a bit of an anti-climax. At least it has been that way for me in the past. This year, I’ve played it a bit different – No resolutions, no inflated expectations or declarations of forthcoming success as the bells struck twelve. And for a change, I’ve hit the first week of the new year running.

I started the week working the newsdesk of this esteemed organ and found myself in conversation with the head of media relations at Volvo – Not how I had predicted my year would start. I’ll be working a bit more for The Local over the coming months, so my name may pop up here and there under (hopefully typo free) copy.

The rest of the week continued apace with a voice over – I’m now the voice of the soon to be launched Windows 7 user guide. I also had an inspiring gig for a fascinating collection of people who were like a cross between a secret society and a club for aesthetes. It was an invitation only dinner where select guests who were all accomplished performers, singers, dancers and musicians, performed a turn on the theme of satire. Typically, someone would sing brilliantly, then be congratulated on having just got the lead in the latest production at Stockholm’s Folkopera. The acts ranged from Tango to Baroque dance, from Shostakovich to Chopin, from Hasse and Tage to Monty Python. I performed a routine about Swedish politics which went down well, although coming onstage following a virtuoso cellist who performed Shostakovitch with tears in her eyes was a hard act to follow. The evening ended with an ‘Allsong’ of Auld Lang Syne, topped off with a bagpipe accompaniment.

Otherwise, I’ve been working hard on promoting Linköping’s new venue, Bastiljen, which opens on the 3rd of February with my stand up club, LKPG HA HA! The headliner is Marika Carlsson who caused controversy earlier in the year with her show ‘En Negers Uppväxt’. I’m really looking forward to it.

I’ve also got a few English language acts coming over later in the season, including the Scottish Comedian of the Year, Ro Campbell and Maureen Younger who runs Laughing Cows in London, Birmingham and Berlin. PLUS, I’m organsing a national tour of Sweden in March with Danny Robins’ brilliant persona DJ Danny who hilariously attempts to make it as a superstar DJ. So far, I’ve got dates confirmed in Malmö, Gothenburg, Falun, Linköping and at Boulevard Teater in Stockholm with a couple more dates hopefully to be confirmed next week.

Twenty Eleven is GO!

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Tags: Bastiljen, Comedy, DJ Danny, Gigs, LinkÃ¶ping, plugs, Stand Up, Stockholm
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Tuesday to Tuesday

Wednesday, October 6th, 2010

My gigs over the last seven days, Tuesday to Tuesday, couldn’t have been more different and I’ve loved them all.

First off, a week ago, I was asked to support Magnus Betnér in Vingåker. Betnér is one of Sweden’s biggest comedians and Vingåker is one of Sweden’s smallest small towns. The gig took place in the the old wooden cinema, which is apparently the oldest standing cinema in Sweden. I’m not sure if it’s still standing because of its historical value or because nobody has yet got round to letting the people of Vingåker in on all the wonders of the 21st Century. The cinema is run by the local Temperance Society, which meant we had all the orangeade and sparkling water we could handle. Backstage was freezing cold and the food was from the local kebab shop. Glamorous? No. But this was one of the best gigs I have done. The size of the town meant that the audience were buzzing; and Magnus, who once lived in the town, had the audience hanging on his every word. The backstage atmosphere added to the camaraderie and even the guys from the Temperance Society were nice blokes. The secret behind Vingåker’s club is a young guy called Henrik Källman who has a passion for stand up. The night was reviewed here.

Thursday night was the regular club night at Café M. I hadn’t really gone overboard on advertising the night as I just hadn’t had time over September. However, it seems that the club has finally made an impact on the cultural subconscious of Linköping as there was standing room only by quarter to seven. By five-to we had to stop letting people in. The show was pretty good too with all the comedians delivering great sets. Hopefully similiar numbers will turn up next time on the 28th October and also on Wednesday 20th when I am putting on the cult British comedian Paul Foot (link here). I’m also putting him on in Stockholm (link) on the 23rd and 24th October. (These shows are all in English)

Finally, last night was a business gig in Gothenburg in the atrium of the Radisson Blu under a piece of very strange modern art that resembled a broken umbrella. The audience, attending a conference on simulation software, were a cheerful mix of Scandinavians, French, British and at least one American. The gig was a version of my ‘crash course on Sweden’ and it went down a storm, especially with the Danes who seem to take extra pleasure in laughing at the Swedes. Compared to my night at Vingåker cinema, I was fed well and invited to join the delegates for their creme brulee and coffee. Accommodation was at the hotel where I indulged in the fantasy that I had a proper job. And no, I didn’t steal the towels, despite being tempted.

All three gigs were an adventure and I wouldn’t change a thing about any of them. Next week I’m back on the road to Gothenburg – This time to play Musikens Hus. I’ll be staying on a friend’s floor and eating kebab. I’ll be lucky if he even offers me a towel to steal.

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Tags: Betnér, Comedy, Corporate, Gigs, Gothenburg, LinkÃ¶ping, plugs, Stand Up, Sweden
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Election 2010 – Who’s laughing now?

Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010

Votes cast, election over and, as we all know, the headlines have been grabbed by the far right Sweden Democrats (SD).

All the party leaders seem to be floundering around not quite knowing what to say or do; including SD’s Jimmie Åkesson, who looks like a stunned teenager who’s just been handed the keys to a Ferrari… It’s just a matter of time before he loses control crashes it into a wall.

However the results are analysed, the truth remains that there are almost 6% of the population who are dissatisfied, alienated, frightened, confused and feel rejected by the conventional political parties. They wanted their voices to be heard and to them, the only ones who listened were the Sweden Democrats. Needless to say, the SD’s solution is hollow, based on frail and erroneous, fear mongering rhetoric. But when only the SD addressed that 6%’s anxieties, then the other political parties only have themselves to blame.

While politicians have been afraid to take on the subjects of immigration, integration and political correctness, I’m glad to say that Sweden’s comedians are getting stuck in. Soran Ismail, who is one of Sweden’s most popular comedians and presenters wants to take the debate to the SD, asking for their voters to be shown respect and to explain why they have been sold a lie. Appeasement? Maybe, but it has to be more effective than Vänsterpartiet’s Lars Ohly’s ‘heroic’ stand of avoiding Jimmie Åkesson, minutes after a tub thumping speech about how he would ‘fight’ fascism. After all, it is a perceived rejection that has gifted SD so much support.

At the same time, it is comedy that is taking on the white elephant of political correctness. I did a gig last week with the brilliant Tobias Persson and Marika Carlsson. Tobias tackled issues such as teachers in burqas, segregation of language classes and respect for religion versus respect for equality. Marika is about to start a show in Stockholm called ‘En Negers Uppväxt’ (A Nigger’s Upbringing) which asks questions about Swedish identity, race and integration. And they are not alone, with the likes of Magnus Betnér, Aron Flam, Agneta Wallin and Lasse Nilsson working in small live settings, taking on topics that politicians and TV stations are too afraid to touch.

With their rise to 6%, far right politics is no longer a joke in Sweden. What better time to start laughing?

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Tags: Betnér, Comedy, Gigs, plugs, politics, Stand Up, Sweden
Posted in Comedy, Lagom, Stand Up | 7 comments »

Similar to a pub….

Saturday, August 28th, 2010

Yesterday was the autumn premiere at LKPG HA HA! And it was nice to get the ball rolling again. The audience seemed excited and up for it and the comedians delivered, including a charismatic set from west Sweden’s funniest man and voice of Gothenburg’s trams (it’s true!) Martin Krantz

I was happy with my performance – I tested a new routine about a simian blood donor, which to all intents and purposes worked well, bar the complete lack of punchline. I think I’ve worked it out now…..

Had some nice audience banter involving a girl in the front row whose name was pronounced ’similar’ (no idea how you spelt it)…I asked if her friend’s name was ‘The Same’.. thus tricking them into the Grelling-Nelson paradox! (i.e. if her name was ‘the same’, it would be ’similar’ and therefore not ‘the same’. If it was ’similar’ it would be ‘the same’ and not ’similar’)… Does it get any more high brow than that? Luckily, the blood donor routine was childishly rude.

After the show we went to an English style pub called Pitcher’s … They had leather books on the wall, you know, just like a real English pub? As I was driving, I asked for a half of Guinness (don’t judge me for drinking halves). When the barmaid pulled out a pint glass, I thought she must have misheard me, so I told her again that I just wanted a half. She looked at me like I was some kind of idiot (an idiot who knows the Grelling-Nelson paradox, no less) and told me that she was only going to fill it half way. Note to Swedish publicans… it takes more than a few leather books to make a pub authentically English.

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Tags: Comedy, Gigs, Lagom, LinkÃ¶ping, Stand Up, Sweden
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Happy Shiny Linköping?

Sunday, August 22nd, 2010

I’m back in Linköping and the strangest thing has happenened. Linköping has become cool. In the month we were away it seems to have transformed from a negative, nay-saying, conservative town to a funky, happening city where stuff goes on.

I’m still suspect that we may have misread the map and ended up in a different country, or that somebody slipped something in my drink and these are just hallucinatory side effects, or that aliens landed and replaced the entire population with happy, shiny versions of the former inhabitants, who now have the added ability to say ‘YES!’ and have fun.

This weekend was Linköpings Stadsfest with fairgrounds, children’s activities, live music on several stages, including a huge stage featuring some of Sweden’s best bands. The streets were abuzz, and while it was no Spanish fiesta or Notting Hill Carnival, it was certainly a step in the right direction. Hats off to Linköping, it really feels like a corner has been turned.

I managed to get somewhere near the thick of it as I was asked to co-host a live broadcast on the local channel 24Corren. I did two shows as sidekick to regular presenter Anna Lindberg, where we interviewed local candidates who are standing for the local kommun. My role was to play a sort of idiot-savant (naturally) and ask the stupid questions that no-one dare ask. The idea was to throw the politicians off their guard with a dumb question from a dumb foriegner and then follow it up with a a more cutting attack. I’ll be honest – with the combination of live broadcast and politics, I was slightly nervous.

The first broadcast went much better, partly because the politicians (V, MP, F and KD) we were talking to were too ensconced in ‘the party line’ to realise that I was playing with them. I got in a few nice shots at each of the parties but I was most proud of a line asking the Christian Democrat candidate which party he thought God was in… My suggestion was that God was a Social Democrat, as whenever Mona Sahlin appears on TV everyone screams ‘Oh God!’.

The next programme was a lot harder as the three politicians (C, S and M) interviewed were all fantastic, coherent speakers who all seemed to care passionately about the city and their politics on a personal and philosophical level. To be honest, I’d be happy with any of the three of them in power regardless of their political colours. I tried to niggle Muharrem Demirok about his comparison of Linköping with Barcelona, which two months ago seemed hilarious. In the light of his eloquent defence of the statement and the ongoing stadsfest I can sort of see his point.

On the whole, I am happy with broadcasts. These things are all about finding your feet so I’m going to pitch a couple of ideas to expand upon this ‘naive’ character as I think I could expand upon it quite a bit in another format. Watch this space.

The stand up club leaps into action next week (Thursday 26/8) at Café M with Gothenburg genius Martin Krantz as the headline act. I’m only going to run it once a month over the autumn, but the good news is that I am talking to some big players about taking it to a bigger better venue with bigger better acts at the beginning of 2011. In the meantime, if you are in Linköping, come along on Thursday!

One last thing… I’ve finally got meself a smart phone, so will spend hours trying to come up with witty and amusing Tweets. If you want to follow me, I can be found at 110percentlagom

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Tags: Comedy, Gigs, Gothenburg, LinkÃ¶ping, Stand Up
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Dog Days and Showboats

Tuesday, July 13th, 2010

The summer rolls on and the lazy days of a dormant Sweden are a joy, albeit a sweaty joy. Everything I need to do is based on how it can be tied in with a camping trip, a day out or a swim in a lake. I was in Stockholm last week to talk to Radio Sweden about Svengelska (link to programme later in the week) which took about an hour. The rest of the day, I spent as a tourist. Next week I’ve got a gig in Gothenburg – and babysitters permitting, this will turn into a romantic two day trip on the west coast.

But last night, I finally found my Swedish idyll. The Sweden that you dream of, that Julie’s Nordic Island lives, the Sweden of isolation, forests, lakes and wilderness.

My old mucker Palle took me out on his boat. It was a small plastic thing with an outboard motor from 1976 that sat very low on the water. A luxury yacht it was not, but it was boat enough to take me, Palle and two kids out to a beach that was only accessible from the water. We swam, chatted, identified trees and birds and failed to catch any fish. I have caught a glimpse of heaven and I want to see more.

As a result I am more than a little jealous of the crazy antics of Johan Pettersson, who is attempting to row much of the Göta Canal in an inflatable rubber dinghy (including navigating lake Roxen). His aim is to get to Motala in time for the premiere of ‘Showboat’ where he’s performing a small role. So it’s a publicity stunt, but it’s also in the spirit of the likes of Thor Heyerdahl, the kind of adventurer that the modern world needs more of, prepared to follow a dream, however irrational. I’ve met Johan a couple of times (he is a theatre ‘apa’ from Norrköping) and he’s a nice guy so I can only wish him the best of luck. You can find out more on his blog – windyseglen.

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Tags: Animals, Blogging, Comedy, Gigs, Gothenburg, Motala, NorrkÃ¶ping, radio, Stand Up, Stockholm, Sweden
Posted in Lagom, LinkÃ¶ping, Stand Up | 1 comment »

Ain’t no party like a civic street party

Monday, June 21st, 2010

Yawn. Royal wedding. yawn.

I was emotionally blackmailed by my sambo and kids to head into town to see what delights Linköping had laid on for the royal tying of the royal knot. The kids had spent the morning making little silver crowns out of aluminium foil and glitter, so everything that had come within a 2 metre radius of a child glittered regally. Once the kids had worked out how to fit their crowns over their cycle helmets, we headed into town, a trail of red, green and blue glitter in our wake.

A giant stage had been erected in the corner of Storatorget and around it were little stands promoting wedding related businesses such as cake makers, chocolate makers, local car dealerships. My first impression was that there was a danger that the wedding would get in the way of the marketing. Just to give the whole thing a slightly detached atmosphere, they had decided that they would use a giant TV screen as a backdrop, broadcasting SVT’s coverage regardless of what was going on onstage. Luckily for SVT what was going on onstage was mainly a boring middle aged man with a microphone sucking all life and vitality from the day. He managed to commentate on a troupe of local cheerleaders with the effect that most of the audience were stunned into boredom and forgot to applaud their acrobatic antics.

For me the highlight was the magician. And not just a magician, but a close up magician. Picture the scene, if you will – A large stage, big enough for a decent brass section and backing singers, a moving background showing fast moving trailers for the summer season on SVT and in the middle a magician saying ‘In my left hand you will see a one krona coin’. Brilliant.

We didn’t stick around for the whole thing. We half heartedly queued up for some free giveaways from Cloetta, even though I believe using excesses of chocolate to celebrate the wedding of someone who has a history of eating disorders is in poor taste. We gave up when we realised quite how long the queue was.

I felt honoured to have seen the people of Linköping gripped in such patriotic fervour, even if most of the people in the square were there for the freebies or to catch a glimpse of that monobrowed Norwegian who won the Eurovision song contest a couple of years ago.

So what did I get from Sweden’s special day? Memories and little bits of glitter over everything I own.

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Tags: Comedy, LinkÃ¶ping, Royaly, Stand Up, Sweden
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Why is ‘ja’ the hardest word to say?

Thursday, May 20th, 2010

According to Elton John, ‘Sorry’ is the hardest words to say. Not so for the pen pushers of Linköpings Kommun, as I was reminded yet again today when I was met with a flurry of ‘Njaa’, ‘jo’, ‘njoo’ and even a Portuguese sounding ‘njao’.

I was phoning with a simple enquiry about hiring a room owned by the kommun. A school hall in fact. When I got through to the person in charge of hiring rooms at the culture department, I could tell immediately by the tone of her voice, she was not the kind of person who would stand up with a smile on her face, punching the air and shouting ‘Never mind the obstacles, let’s do it!’

Instead, as has happened so often before, she blarted out negative after negative. ‘Is it possible to hire the hall?’ ‘Njao… when do you want it?’ ‘Just a general enquiry to check availability and cost’ ‘You can’t hire it on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday or Saturday.’ ‘So I could hire it on a Sunday?’ ‘Njäää’

And so it went on, with me filtering the positives from her negatives…

As it happens, I am trying to put on a comedy night in the ‘ghetto’ of Skäggetorp in Linköping, an area that local politicians admit that they find hard to reach and make contact with the community. I’m not saying that what I plan to do will bring any form of social cohesion, but if my middle class frustrations are anything to go by, no wonder the people who actually live there feel disenfranchised when making contact with the kommun is like having your teeth pulled out one by one.

Is it too much to ask that civil servants, paid for by our tax money, might display a little enthusiasm for new ideas that may just break the status quo? They could at least start by trying out the hardest of all words: ‘Yes’

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