Corporate - 110% LAGOM - Blogs

Posts Tagged ‘Corporate’

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.

Report abuse »

Tags: Betnér, Comedy, Corporate, Gigs, Gothenburg, LinkÃ¶ping, plugs, Stand Up, Sweden
Posted in Comedy, Lagom, LinkÃ¶ping, Review, Stand Up | No comments »

Sleepless in Stockholm

Saturday, June 5th, 2010

Spent a sunny day in Stockholm on Thursday which was rounded off nicely with a gig at The Liffey. Afterwards, made my way across town to catch the 23.53 train back down south, only to discover that there IS no 23.53 train to Linköping. It was too late to disturb friends who live in Stockholm city centre (who have kids and proper jobs), so I decided to go to a Backpacker’s Hostel. The two I’ve used in the past were full, so I reluctantly accepted that I’d be staying in a hotel. First, I asked at the Scandic. Full. Then Northern Lights. Full. Radisson. Full. At The Queen’s Hotel (which was full), they told me that every bed in central Stockholm was taken thanks to the marathon and an AC/DC concert.

If you ran the marathon or went to watch AC/DC, I hope you enjoy the following story…

I went back to the station and worked out that I could get a bus to Skavsta at 3.30am and then get a bus on from there, so I had but a mere 3 hours to kill in central Stockholm. I wandered the streets of Gamla Stan and Östermalm, Drottningatan and Odenplan. By the end my feet were sore and I was falling asleep on my feet. Just as I was at my most dazed and confused a middle aged woman approached me and asked if I was looking for company. It took me a moment or two to realise that she was in fact a lady of the night, partly, because I have never been propositioned in Swedish, and partly because she looked more like a librarian than a seller of sexual services. Needless to say, I declined and stumbled my way to City Terminalen where I fell asleep in the loving arms of an airport bus.

Today has been super warm. In Stockholm some of the best comedians are performing at Skrattstock. I’d love to play there one day.. maybe next year…

Meanwhile, tonight I’m performing to over a hundred 19 year olds who have just finished gymnasium. I’m looking forward to it – It may not be Skrattstock, but it’s a home crowd, it’s well paid and it’s only a 15 minute walk home.

Report abuse »

Tags: Comedy, Corporate, Gigs, LinkÃ¶ping, Stand Up, Stockholm, Sweden
Posted in Comedy, Stand Up | No comments »

Late night politics

Friday, May 7th, 2010

Had a great gig last night at Konsert och Kongress in Linköping, performing to about 300 doctors, nurses and medical engineers. I’ve performed on that stage before and because of the distance between the stage and the audience plus the acoustics of the atrium, it’s sometimes difficult to gauge the reaction. I knew they had enjoyed the show (I did about 40 minutes) as they clapped spontaneously throughout, but it was a real bonus when people came up to me after to shake my hand and say how much they enjoyed it. One woman said that she usually hates stand up, but loved what I did. I must be doing something right.

I went home feeling pretty good about myself, the only disappointment was that I wasn’t offered any dessert by the Konsert and Kongress catering staff… maybe they are the real critics? Still, dessert aside, it was a great warm up for next week’s show at Sagateatern with Ankan Johansson from Anders och Måns. If you are in the Linköping area (and speak Swedish) please come along! More details here

Stayed up late to watch the UK election. I managed to stay up till about 2am, late enough to enjoy Paxman and Ken Clarke exchange banter on the BBC, but only late enough to watch a few seats in the North East stay predictably red. Not sure what result I wanted, but would have been nice if the Lib Dems had made enough of an impact to force political reform, instead of now facing politicians politicking over pieces of the same old pie. The only real pluses are that the Greens got a seat and that the BNP have reassumed their position in British politics as a joke party full of lunatics. If only the same could be said of Sverige Demokraterna in Sweden.

I took it easy today, apart from an interview with Corren about the show. Hopefully we’ll get the front cover of next Friday’s ‘Culture’ supplement. One week to wait to see if I should have combed my hair, held in my double chin or picked the broccoli out of my teeth. It’s all about image… maybe I should go into politics…

Report abuse »

Tags: Comedy, Corporate, Corren, Gigs, Stand Up
Posted in Comedy, LinkÃ¶ping, Stand Up | 2 comments »

Burns Night/Berns Night

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010

I was invited to a Burns Night at the British Embassy last week. I would have loved to have gone as I am quite partial to a plate of haggis, ‘neeps and tatties, especially when washed down with a single lowland malt. Oh to be in Scotland again….. the bagpipes, the haggis, the heroin and the knife fights… happy days.

Unfortunately, I had to turn them down as I had been booked in to perform at an altogether more Swedish Berns night at Berns Salonger, to be precise. I had been a bit reluctant to do the gig in the first place as it was a showcase night for an events company, but I had convinced myself it would be worth it despite all my instincts saying that it would not be an ideal night for stand up.

When I got there all my worst fears were confirmed. The plan was for acts to alternate between the large stage (musical acts) and the small stage (voice acts). All planned with great precision apart from that it made the assumption that the audience would also be up for switching every twenty minutes or so without getting distracted by the bar, each other or the stand that offered a chance to win a holiday to Thailand in the middle of the hall.

I watched with my heart in my mouth as my friend Zeid (who is one of the most accomplished comedians I know) was more or less ignored by the mingling audience. She seemed to take it in her stride and I thought oh well, may as well just go for it. As it happened, I was on a couple of hours after Zeid, so the audience had got more into the swing of the evening and had already had their fill of shiny holiday brochures. I hopped up at about 10pm and have to say that it went really well. I did a lot of interactive stuff with the audience to get them involved, but I had all the crowd with me throughout. Victory stolen from the maws of disaster.

I’m glad I chose Berns over Burns as it was a chance to meet a couple of new faces and while it remains to be seen whether I get any more gigs from the night, I think I have got a good lead for a couple of decent nights for me to put on in Linköping. One other thing was that my act was photographed professionally. Which means that (at some point) I should have some decent pictures of me playing at one of Stockholm’s top venues. Things seem to be going well with my plate full and my appetite keen… As Rabbie Burns would have said:

Some hae meat and canna eat,

And some wad eat that want it;

But we hae meat, and we can eat,

Sae let the Lord be thankit.

Report abuse »

Tags: Comedy, Corporate, Gigs, Stand Up, Stockholm, Sweden
Posted in Comedy, Stand Up | 2 comments »

Coffee with the King

Thursday, November 19th, 2009

Last night, I found myself having a bit of a reality check. Is what I do a proper job?

I had just come off stage after entertaining 100 guests at a conference for an international building consultant. As it was a corporate gig I was using tried and tested material (all ‘above the belt’) and the audience laughed along throughout. The person who had booked me had a big grin on her face and everybody seemed satisfied, happy and well entertained.

I was invited to stay and have a drink, which I did. I got chatting to one or two people, architects, city planners, policy makers, and they were all patting me on the back and telling me how much they enjoyed the show and how impressed they were. Now, this is a group of highly paid, highly qualified people who are paying me handsomely to talk and have fun for about half an hour and then stand around and have a drink with them. Not a bad day’s work but should I feel bad about not doing a nine to five job?

On the other hand, today, I’m running the club, which involves a lot more actual graft (lugging sound equipment, keeping the artists and venue happy) and I’ll walk away from there with less than a twentieth of what I got paid for the corporate job… if I’m lucky.

But to be honest, I wouldn’t have it any other way…. it would just be nice to have more corporate jobs, so without plugging myself too shamelessly – corporate bookers please feel free to contact me at www.speakup.se.

Also I can’t think of another context in which I would meet such a diverse bunch of people – architects last night, Stockholm intelligentsia on Saturday, Skånsk TV writers tonight… and on Tuesday I had coffee with the British Ambassador, who is, I’m pleased to report, one of the nicest, friendliest people you could hope to meet.

I had tried to explain to my four year old who the Ambassador was, by saying that Sweden has a King and the UK has a Queen and that the Ambassador is the Queen’s representative in Sweden. This somehow, got confused in his junior mind and he told the ladies at his nursery that I was on my way to meet the King of England.

Now, I wouldn’t be having coffee with the King, if I worked a ‘proper’ job.

Report abuse »

Tags: Comedy, Corporate, Gigs, LinkÃ¶ping, plugs, Stand Up
Posted in Comedy, LinkÃ¶ping, Stand Up | 4 comments »

Paid by the word

Monday, October 26th, 2009

Well… two words to be exact.

About a month ago, you may recall, I went up to Eskilstuna to make a short informational film for Volvo Wheel Loaders where I got to drive at high speeds round a top secret test track on the mother of all twenty-nine-tonne diggers like a fantastical mutation of Bob The Builder and Jeremy Clarkson (a dichotomy of an image that still fills me both with self-loathing and a degree of sexual arousal).

Up in Solna, they’ve been cutting the film and there were a couple of changes to be made. Literally.

So today, I met up with the director in Linköping, found a location with a similar sound quality to a test track and changed the word ‘four’ to ’several’ and ‘the’ to ‘a’. Job done. Or as Bob The Builder might say ‘Can We Fix It? Yes We Can!’

The working day over by half ten, I sauntered into town to meet Palle and David to talk about the radio project we have been trying to find a time to record. We met in a café (Or as Byggare Bob might say ‘Kan Vi Fika? Ja, Det Kan Vi!’) and in theory have found a date to record if the rest of the cast are free.

Off to Stockholm tomorrow night with Palle to perform at Komikaze which I’m looking forward to… will try out some newish material, catch up with a few people and see a couple of names I haven’t seen before. Fun fun fun.

Report abuse »

Tags: Comedy, Corporate, Film, Gigs, LinkÃ¶ping, radio, Stand Up, Stockholm
Posted in LinkÃ¶ping, Stand Up | No comments »

En Route to The Liffey

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

I’m writng this whizzing up to Stockholm on the X2000. I’m on my way to do a bit of writing on the sitcom and hopefully to get a half promised pitching slot tomorrow morning at a production company. But the main event is to test the waters at Stockholm’s new all English club in Gamla Stan: ‘Laughs At The Liffey’.

This morning at Linköping station, .. I thought to myself, ‘Let’s live dangerously’, and I splashed out the extra 15 kronor to travel on the express, which, according to the timetable, gets in at least half an hour earlier than the regional train. Just as the tickets whirred out of the machine, I looked at the departures board to find out which platform, only to see that the X2000 had been delayed by 40 minutes.

Still.. it’s a beautiful day and the scenery is spectacular in the golden sunlight.

I’ve done a couple of gigs in the last couple of days. On Tuesday it was a corporate gig at Mjärdevi Science Park in Linköping. A big computer company had had a training day and wanted me to raise a smile at the end of the day. I was booked for 6pm, which usually means I get to perform an hour or so later. I got there and the event was taking place in a big canteen . There were thirty or so tired looking computer people making quiet conversation with each other. The guy who booked me shook my hand and asked if I was ready to perform. I took my hat and coat off, grabbed a glass of water and I was off.

Things went well – I had a nice rapport with most of the audience, although there was the inevitable one or two who watched me stoney faced, unable to understand why this jolly English guy had been thrust unexpectedly upon them after a hard day’s training, when all they wanted to do was to go home. Still, you can’t please everyone and the rest of the audience were with me. I had a bit of fortune with my Ingmar Bergman routine as I had someone sitting in the front row that looked a lot like ‘Death’ from The Seventh Seal. It’s sometimes nice to use the audience for visual reference.

Last night’s gig was totally different. It was at the Skandia Teater in Norrköping and I was first up of four comedians. This was a proper comedy evening; the standard was high and the audience were up for it. Being first on can be a bit nerve-wracking, but they quickly warmed to me and I got a round of applause after my first set piece. I had moved a couple of things around in my set and I felt happy with the new streamlined order. I think the audience were too by the warmth of applause I got.

The other acts were excellent. First a young guy called Tobias Jacobsson, who has great stage presence and a squeaky clean image, that I can see appealed to the mostly middle-aged crowd. He was followed by Eric Löwenthal who has been in the game for number of years. Without being over the top, he has a great physical presence and every gesture was clear and illustrated the comedy. Then the headliner was good old Thomas Oredsson, the old man of Swedish comedy. Such a nice guy offstage who clearly has a wealth of experience and watching him on stage is an education.

So, onwards to The Liffey, where to be honest, I’m feeling the pressure. Most of the other comics are Swedes, doing what I normally do i.e. joking in a second language. I’m sure they will cut it in English… but the question is, can I?

Watch this space….

Report abuse »

Tags: Comedy, Corporate, Gigs, sitcom, Stand Up, Stockholm
Posted in Comedy, Stand Up | No comments »

The Best Job In The World

Wednesday, September 9th, 2009

If, like me, or if indeed, like my four year old, you see life through the eyes of a four year old, then today, I lived the dream. Just imagine, if you will, the biggest vehicle you could possibly think of, then imagine yourself at the wheel. That in a nutshell was what I did today. Somebody paid me to drive a Volvo wheel loader back and forth, round and round, lifting the scoop up and down. That’s a machine that weighs twenty nine (TWENTY NINE!!) tonnes!! The scoop at the front is bigger than the average car and the wheels were as tall as me. If you look closely at the picture below, I am the small object in the blue hat.

I was met at the train station in Eskilstuna and whisked away to a secret location, through some padlocked gates through some woods and into a clearing which was home to a massive test track. I was there to make a short informational film about a secret piece of Volvo Wheel Loader technology, that I cannot disclose here. Every so often another equally large machine would whizz past in the near distance and me and the camera crew were told in no uncertain terms that we had definitely not seen what we had just seen.

I’m not a huge fan of Clarkson and co, in fact, I think I fall more into the Stewart Lee school of Top Gear appreciation, however… when it comes to playing with a TWENTY NINE TONNE (!!) wheel loader at high speed round the track while recording pieces to camera, I think I was able to come to terms with my inner Hamster.

Report abuse »

Tags: Corporate, Film
Posted in Uncategorized | No comments »