plugs - 110% LAGOM - Blogs

Posts Tagged ‘plugs’

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?

Report abuse »

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

If the glass slipper fits

Tuesday, March 16th, 2010

I’ve just performed in a ballet. Prokofiev’s Cinderella to be precise. Picture the scene if you will, 136 dancers aged between 4 and 25, all of whom were light on their feet, dainty, proficient, elegant… and then myself, playing Cinderella’s drunk father. Luckily the part involved mostly stumbling and goofing in a tailcoat, with only the hint of a pas de deux … it was a part I was born to play. I got a nice mention in Corren’s review too, which you can read here.

It was a great experience to be in a ballet; I feel filled with moral superiority, like I’ve eaten a cultural green salad rather than populist hamburger. But it’s not all glamour… Backstage at the first performance, the entire cast was waiting in the wings for their first entrance. All ages, all sizes, the tension was tangible, nerves were in the air. I was in the wings by a group of five year olds who were playing snowflakes in the winter scene and as the music started we heard a loud SPLOSH! from behind the wing curtain. I assumed someone had knocked over a bucket of water and one of the five year olds asked me if someone had done a wee wee….. And then the smell hit us. A six year old mouse, who had tried to cope with the nerves of appearing onstage for the first time by filling herself with crisps, sweets and Coca Cola could literally not contain her nerves and vomited over a fellow mouse. There was a danger that backstage could end up like a scene from a Hieronymous Bosch painting, but the show must go on.

The performance went without a glitch (minus two mice) and the grace onstage belied the frantic mopping and nose holding behind the scenes. I enjoyed it so much, I’m going to start practising my pliés with a view to a part in the next one.

Meanwhile, I’ve been busy selling tickets for the Al Pitcher show at Sagateatern on Friday. Over half the tickets have already gone, so looks like there will be a fantastic atmosphere. If you are in Linköping, get your tickets NOW!

Report abuse »

Tags: Comedy, LinkÃ¶ping, plugs, Press, Review, Stand Up, Sweden
Posted in Comedy, LinkÃ¶ping, Review, Stand Up | No comments »

Close to the knuckle

Saturday, March 6th, 2010

It’s been a busy week. Writing, running a presentation workshop for one of Linköping’s biggest companies plus gigs at home and gigs away.

On Tuesday night, I found myself in Uppsala at a student venue. It was an English language gig organised by Joe the guy behind the Wisecrackers nights that are popping up all over southern Sweden and Denmark. I had a nice gig and it was cool to hang out with a mixed bag of English speaking students and comedians. The headliner was a Canadian called Jason Rouse, who is big in the US, Canada and the UK and his act is something unique. He is known essentially for taking bad taste to extremes that most people’s constitutions have never even contemplated. I won’t try and describe his routine here in too much detail, as I’m worried my keyboard might break under the stress of typing such material. Instead, take a look at his website… but be warned: It’s close to the knuckle.

Thursday, I was back at Palatset in Linköping with a nice line up of Swedes with not a tattoo or a piercing between us. Worth mentioning is the headliner, Isak Jansson, who once again showed his comedy skills are plentiful. I really believe it’s just a matter of time before we see him on the telly here in Sweden. He is also pretty good in English and hopefully he will start playing London soon.

This week, I’ve got plenty to do: A couple of gigs, but also I need to start the real hard marketing for the big show at Sagteatern in Linköping, where I’m putting on one of the best live stand up acts in the world: Al Pitcher. So, (the hard sell starts here) if you are in Linköping, book your tickets now! (Link to FB event)

Report abuse »

Tags: Comedy, Gigs, plugs, Stand Up, Sweden
Posted in Comedy, Stand Up | No comments »

Population: 4362

Sunday, February 28th, 2010

I found myself in a place called Vingåker last night. It’s not the biggest place in Sweden, but it’s got a comedy night whose reputation is growing bigger and bigger. Playing in a small town can go either way and you never quite know what to expect, so I had done a bit of research about the town before the gig. When I say research, naturally, I mean I typed the name of the town into Wikipedia. This is what I learnt: That Vingåker is the birth place of ex-Prime Minister Göran Persson and that that the town has a train station that was closed between 1971 and 2003. Those two facts were all that was of great enough importance to make it on to Wikipedia.

I arrived in good time and found the venue ‘Vingåker Hotell’ which can be found, serendipitously, opposite the famous station. I assume that business at the hotel has picked up since the trains started running again and Göran Persson lost power. I took a little wander round town to see if I could get a handle on what kind of town it was. Prominent were the offices of Miljöpartiet (Greens), Vänsterpartiet (Communist) and Social Democraterna (Social Democrats)… with the governing Alliansen parties nowhere to be seen. There were hairdressers, pizza/kebab ‘restaurants’ and the ubiquitous COOP and ICA. In other words, a typical Swedish town. I thought I was blending in when suddenly, on the high street, a very drunk middle aged woman approached me, grabbed me by the waist, breathed 60% proof and smoke into my face and rasped “You’re not from here, are you?”. I’m still not sure if I should have felt scared or warmly welcomed.

The line up for the gig was slightly odd. The headliner was Kristoffer Appelquist. However, he was using the night to try out his show KRIG (war) which premieres next week at Boulevard Teatern in Stockholm. He decided to perform it in the first half and then the other three (me, Sara Andersson and Sven Brundin) would perform after the break. The bottom line is that a Saturday night audience in small town Sweden is not the crowd for a thoughtful show about the nature of war and about a quarter of the audience found it hard to keep up. That said, I can say that the show will be a real success when it’s performed at the theatre to a dedicated audience. It’s a show that is intelligent, personal and very funny.

When it was our turn to perform, the audience were up for some laughs that didn’t involve profound thought and I think the three of us gave them what they wanted. I had a ball onstage and the audience were great. I stayed the night and other than having a chance to chat to Kristoffer and Henrik who runs the night, it was also great to watch legless Vingåkerians letting rip on a Saturday night.

The final word is to recommend the hotel, run by a witty, charming Bosnian family. So if ever you’re in Vingåker look up the Hotel. It’s opposite the station.

Report abuse »

Tags: Comedy, Gigs, plugs, Stand Up, Sweden
Posted in Comedy, Stand Up | No comments »

A night at The Palace

Friday, February 5th, 2010

Last night was the first night at Palatset (translates to The Palace). Why the place is called Palatstet, I have no idea. It must be a very sorry monarch who lives in a palace that boasts 5 pool tables, a golf simulator and Falcon on tap. Still, I had put together a royal evening of comedy for the venue who want to try out a few nights and see what the response is.

There were a couple of hiccups in the afternoon as I tested the sound. Not least because it turned out that neither of the guys who ran the place knew how the sound worked. It also turned out that the amp had some kind of safety mechanism to protect people’s ears which meant that music could not be turned louder than a tinny tinkle in the background. So much for the thumping tune to come onstage. But these were all minor details.

The landlords had worked hard to fill the place and although with some clever table placing we could get another 20 or so in next time, every seat was occupied. The audience were new (to me). In other words it is an audience independent of my nights at Café M, which means that the two nights should be able to work in tandem.

The night kicked off well, I did some old stuff and worked the audience a bit. I did a bit of banter with people on either side of the audience. It’s always good to have a couple of victims/allies in the audience that you can refer to when a joke goes well or badly. I even managed to get a little bit of whooping laughter in the first 5 minutes, so I felt that I made a connection with the crowd. I even got a big wet sloppy kiss on the cheek from one lady in the audience.

First on was Danny, introduced as ‘Motala’s Biggest Comedian’, which in terms of size, he definitely is. And in terms of material he’s a strong contender. When Danny is good he is brilliant and last night was one of those nights. He came on and owned the stage. The audience were literally crying with laughter, wiping tears from their eyes as he described his ‘romantic’ experiences on the Finland Crossing.

Next up was Palle, who didn’t quite hit the mark, but was good nonetheless. I think his act has become a bit too clumsy recently and he needs to sharpen it up again.. but he’ll be back on form soon enough.

After the break, Emil released his all new character on the audience. Emil is another local guy who took a break from comedy for a few months, had a good think about what he was doing and has come back with all guns blazing. Last night he blew the audience away and had them howling with laughter before he even said a word. I’m looking forward to see how this new character develops.

Finally Zeid headlined and was great. She did some stuff that I haven’t seen before, particularly a few more cabaret style bits and pieces. The stand up purist would say that you shouldn’t rely on props and gimmicks, but actually, I think that Zeid read the audience well and that they responded well to (for example) her Pippi rap (replete with pigtails and flashing glasses). Zeid’s act finishes with the best showstopper of all: A singalong to the tune of ‘Ha Va Nagila’ with the lyrics replaced with ‘Oh Min Vagina’. Classic.

So the future at Palatset looks bright. I’ve got two weeks to get them to sort out their music before we are back. In the meantime, back to promoting my other nights at Café M and Sagateatern… just waiting for the postman to turn up with the printed tickets for Kiwi comedian Al Pitcher at Sagateatern on 19th March (plug. plug. Pay attention, people of Linköping)

Report abuse »

Tags: Comedy, Gigs, LinkÃ¶ping, Motala, plugs, Stand Up, Sweden
Posted in Comedy, LinkÃ¶ping, Stand Up | 1 comment »

Love, Sex and Funny Business

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

A friend of mine, an up and coming Swedish comedian called Tomas Ahlbeck, has written a book. In English. Well, he co-wrote it with an English bloke, but he’s still written it in a second language. Clever bastard.

Now, what’s the point in having a blog if you can’t shamelessly promote friends’ books on the internet? At least that was the veiled implication, when he sent me a copy for Xmas. As I unwrapped it I noticed it had a very small blood stain on it… I haven’t asked Tomas whether this was deliberate or not… or what would happen to me if I didn’t plug the book here…

Last week, I had a couple of hours to kill in Copenhagen Airport, and having got the book through security, I began reading.

It’s called, ‘Love, Sex and Funny Business’, although it should be added, you don’t get these in equal measure as it leans much more to the funny business than the sex. In a nutshell, it is 100 pages of uninhibited silliness, an unexpurgated ride on a stream of absurd consciousness from the collective minds of Tomas and John.

They deliberately avoid any plot. Or is the plot in fact, the story of Tomas and John’s collaboration? Influences are worn on the sleeve: The Goons, The Mighty Boosh and comedian Paul Foot, through whom the two writers met.

If you fancy an hour or so (you are instructed to take a fika halfway through), of rough at the edges Milliganesque humour then buy this book. Available here from Lulu.

I’ll see Tomas tonight at Komikaze’s 100^th show…… maybe I should ask him about that bloodstain.

Report abuse »

Tags: Blogging, Comedy, plugs, Review, Stand Up, Sweden
Posted in Comedy, Review, Stand Up | No 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 »

Angry Ballerinas

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009

The hypocrisy continues.

Not only do I allow myself to be wined and dined by the Social Democrats on a monthly basis, but I am also now indirectly working for the Swedish Church. Sweden’s moral guardians in Östergötland have decided that October is the month to put on a balletic representation of the Stations of the Cross at St Lars Kyrka in Linköping. For those readers not up on their dramatic representations of The Passion – this is part of the Bible traditionally performed on Good Friday by Catholics and not, as is the case in Linköping, by Lutherans, in October on a random Saturday…. but still, why be tied down by tradition?

I’m helping out with the dramatic elements of the production but I am always impressed by ballet dancers as they are able to use their bodies in ways that would cause most of us pain; and they do so with the greatest of ease.

At the last rehearsal I was working with ‘The Mob’, the crowd who would jeer and spit at Jesus. I was trying to whip up these very passive girls who moved with such grace into an angry furore. This was no easy task and while I’m not bold enough to say that I created a band of angry Margot Fonteyns, I think they will unsettle the audience once they combine the dancing and the acting.

Meanwhile, back in post biblical secular reality, I am trying to get a crowd to come and see my shows in Norrköping, Linköping and Stockholm, where I promise no ballet and no religion. Sending out press releases, contacting papers and punters and updating the Facebook Group.

Tomorrow morning, I am off to Gothenburg to pitch a sitcom idea to SVT. A long drive for a short pitch. I hope it’s worth it.

Report abuse »

Tags: Comedy, LinkÃ¶ping, plugs, sitcom
Posted in Comedy, LinkÃ¶ping | No comments »

Full Fart in Stockholm

Saturday, September 19th, 2009

Nothing beats Stockholm in the sunshine; the water glistens and the buildings seem to absorb the light creating a golden glow.

Sucking up the diesel and trying to blend in with the beautiful people who were out in force, was yours truly. And with places to go, people to see – I was full fart, to use a Swedishism. As I was busy, I treated myself to the X2000 and stepped onto the platform of Centralen just after ten thirty in the morning. Then tramped my way over to Södermalm to get some flyers for my show up at some of the funkier joints of Gamla Stan and Söder. Less funky (unless you find Heinz spaghetti hoops hip) was The English Shop who were kind enough to clear a big space for my flyer…. apologies to any English speaking yogis, babysitters or netballers whose small ads got shifted.

Then it was off to Östermalm for more postering – again, weirdly, people were unusually kind and friendly… must have been the weather – and a visit to the Playhouse Teater, where I am performing on the 11th October. Had a chat to the technical guy and dropped off a few posters. I spoke to a very theatrical husky voiced actress outside the theatre who had popped out for a fag. Oh the drama, the drama…

Next stop was to look at a pub where my friend Louis is going to start a comedy night soon. Can’t say much more at this point, but I think it will work well.

Then on to meet Bisse for a late lunch and some intensive work on Scene One of the sitcom that we are pitching to SVT next week. Squeezed in a few extra gags and tidied up one of the characters a bit. Very funny indeed… at least we think so – it remains to be seen what SVT think.

Then, well saturated with tea and biscuits, I headed back to the Playhouse to see ‘The Al Pitcher Picture Show’ – There was a huge crowd for the show which was absolutely brilliant. Henrik Elmér who is headlining at my club next week was the support act. He was great of course. A woman in front of me had complete hysterics at some of his references and oddly, another woman a few seats away kept giving her these really disapproving looks as though laughing was not the done thing at a comedy night.

The main show was fantastic and Al lived up to all expectations. Hilarious. Go and see the show if you get the chance. I’d love to see the show again as it is based on photos taken on the day of the show, so it is completely different every time.

After the show, I jumped backstage for a quick chat to Al and to slag off a few UK cities (especially Wolverhampton) then hotfooted it to the station to get the midnight rattler back to Linköping where I duly fell asleep and nearly ended up in Malmö by mistake.

Report abuse »

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

Suicide Prevention Day

Thursday, September 3rd, 2009

My club starts the autumn season a week today, so I’ve been working hard on the PR campaign. Posters have been printed and are starting to appear in shop windows and on noticeboards. The local newspapers and magazines are being as unpredictable as ever (I understand that riveting stories which cover crochet, big sunflowers or dog gymnastics take priority over my piddling little efforts to bring comedy to the people of Linköping) but I should get a few column inches. The Internet is all abuzz (er….there’s a Facebook group) and word of mouth is spreading it about like chlamydia on a student korridor.

Back in July, you may recall, I had a bit of a run in with the wing of the local kommun that is responsible for spreading the word about culture in town. I had missed the deadline for their printed events brochure (distribution 35,000) by half a day. The deadline was 5pm on Friday, I found out on Saturday morning, and 9.30am on the Monday was too late. Rules is Rules.

Let us consider it a victory for bureaucratic efficiency then, that if you happen to pick up a copy of ‘På Gång i Linköping’ and look what is going on in town on Thursday 10th September, you will find no mention of the innovative comedy club LKPG HA HA! that premieres at Café M. According to the brochure, the only cultural event going on in Linköping, Sweden’s 5th biggest city, is a Suicide Prevention Day. Sounds like a right giggle.

Report abuse »

Tags: Comedy, Gigs, LinkÃ¶ping, moans, plugs, Press, Stand Up
Posted in Comedy, LinkÃ¶ping, Stand Up | 2 comments »