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Posts Tagged ‘Review’

Weird Shit at STOFF

Thursday, August 25th, 2011

I’ve just got back from watching some weird shit at the VIP opening of STOFF, The Stockholm Fringe Festival. Just to clarify, by ‘weird shit’ I mean a naked Mexican opera singer with a beard but no penis. Incidentally, I feel I am qualified to describe this as weird shit as I have a degree in drama – I know how to academically analyse theatre, from Grotowski to Boal… and, trust me, the opera performance definitely comes under the category ‘weird shit’.

But how cool it was to be in the thick of it. Surrounded by theatre types doing weird and wonderful performances that the audience may or may not have understood. Having spent so long in small town Linköping recently, where mainstream is the order of the day, it was such a pleasure to hang out with performers for whom profound and pretentious were words that could be found tattooed on their inner lip.

The festival goes on at Kulturhuset for the next few days and there are performers from all over the world. Go along and maybe you can check out some equally weird shit. I spoke to a group from the UK called ‘Fools Play‘ who had just graduated from E15 drama school. I don’t think their shit is the weirdest at the festival, but it sounded like a pretty good option to go and watch. Their show is called ‘Go Solo’ and they are playing at Kulturhuset’s Hörsalen at 12.30 on 26/8 and Dramalabbet at 4pm on 27/8.

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Tags: Lagom, LinkÃ¶ping, plugs, Review, Stockholm, STOFF, students, Sweden
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Tack så mycket, Baby.

Friday, October 29th, 2010

So Paul Foot’s mini tour of Sweden drew to an end last Sunday and he left audiences either in hysterics or totally confused or both. He’s the kind of comedian that you either love or hate and I definitely fall into the love side. Watching him was an education for me, as he stretched the boundaries of the genre and also of the imagination. I was nothing but impressed by his ability to draw 20 minutes on subjects as benign as Shire horses and vans. He also made me laugh a lot.

I’m not sure what the highlight of his tour was. I am split between the experience of wiping tears from my eyes at Big Ben and looking at the audience, who had not come specifically to see Paul, and their reaction which ranged from one or two giggling uncontrollably, to many laughing without quite knowing why, to confusion, to looks of outright contempt. (Give me a comedian that splits the crowd, anytime.) Alternatively, my other highlight was watching him do a short guest spot at RAW on Saturday where he finished his set off with the immortal words ‘Tack så mycket, baby.’

Got a nice little write up too in The Velvet Onion, the place on the Internet where all Boosh related things can be found.

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Tags: Comedy, Gigs, Review, Stand Up, Stockholm
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Football 0 – 1 Comedy

Monday, June 14th, 2010

On Friday, I got a call from an English friend who said that he had been wrestling with his conscience and could not bring himself to miss England’s opening game against the USA, despite the fact that he really wanted to come to Saturday’s show. Well, more fool him and everyone else who decided to stay home and watch a mediocre match with no winner, marred and marked by a schoolboy goalkeeping error.

At the Sagateatern, we weren’t thinking about football, well not too much anyway. There was a decent crowd, although disappointingly nowhere near a sell out, and the atmosphere was fantastic. Other than Magnus Betnér, the support acts were Aron Flam and Lasse Nilsen. I’ve known Aron for a little while and I love his intelligent, dark, deadpan delivery. Lovely to see a comedian making people laugh without actually cracking a smile himself…. rumour has it that the requisite smile muscles have been surgically removed from Aron’s face.

Lasse’s style, on and off stage, could not be more different. He is a physical, expressive storyteller whose narratives take weird and unexpected twists along the way. Lasse leaves the stage sweating, whereas Aron is cool as ice. From my point of view, as the MC, it’s always a pleasure to introduce acts that deliver and the audience show their appreciation through peals of laughter. It’ll be interesting to see how they both go down at the Edinburgh festival. Check them out if you find yourself in Edinburgh this summer.

And then it was time for the main attraction. Magnus Betnér took the stage to massive applause. He is, after all, one of the biggest names in Swedish comedy. The purpose of this show was to give his Edinburgh hour a full run, before taking it to the UK (where he is doing more previews). The atmosphere was perhaps a little false as when he plays at the festival and at other UK venues, the crowds will be curious, unaware of his star status, probably more cynical and potentially hostile.

I think Magnus will make an impact on this year’s Edinburgh festival, because he is more than just a teller of jokes. He is shockingly honest and honestly shocked by the hypocrisies of the world. He has a razor insight into the double standards of personal, local and global politics. And above all he is driven by a need to communicate his analysis of the world in which we live. And he’s a nice bloke offstage too. His UK/Edinburgh dates are on his website.

So that’s what I did instead of watch England draw against the USA. I think I had the better Saturday night. From here on in though, it’s England all the way and the sound of the vuvuzela drone.

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Tags: Betnér, Comedy, Gigs, LinkÃ¶ping, Review, Saga, Stand Up, Sweden
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A CCCC review!

Monday, May 17th, 2010

Saturday night was showtime. Anders ‘Ankan’ Johansson, Linköping’s second most famous comedian (after Tage Danielsson) was back on home turf with the LKPG HA HA! gang in support.

I found the build up to the night quite stressful as this would be the first time Ankan had performed live in Linköping and the press had become interested. (When I say ‘the press’ I don’t include Linköpings Posten, whose editor asked ‘Who is Anders Johansson?’ …. Bear in mind Anders is so big he has an Östgötatrafiken bus named after him! Out of interest, Linköpings Posten lead this week with an article about the new manager of Biltema – That’s real news!)

The night was a success and Anders was not only a nice bloke through and through but was also brilliantly funny onstage, his act comprising of offhand observations turning banality into hilarity. His big finish was an inspired ten minutes about a battery operated, remote controlled bird he had bought from Netto – A ridiculous purchase made funnier and funnier as he added layer upon layer of humour.

Well, the night got a nice review – a CCCC in Corren. The CCCC was for the whole night and not just the headline act, which serves as a stamp of approval for all the work that I and the rest of the gang have done. Have a read, but be warned, I did a routine about how Corren’s reviewer gave Big Comedy an extra ‘C’ because Johan Rheborg took off his clothes and I was willing to do the same for a good review. For some reason they used that picture – It’s not the main pic online, but it made the front cover of the printed paper. Read the review here

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Tags: Comedy, Corren, Gigs, LinkÃ¶ping, Review, Saga, Stand Up
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Result!

Sunday, March 21st, 2010

Friday night was the first night for LKPG HA HA! at Sagateatern…. and, sigh of relief, it worked.

Putting on shows is probably more stressful than performing as there are so many other balls to keep up in the air. But I love it.

I won’t wax lyrical at how bloody good the show was as the review in Corren says it all. If you read Swedish, this CCCC review is as good as it gets, if not the picture of the crowd speaks a thousand words…

Now onwards and upwards to try and sell tickets for Offroad Comedy on the 10th of April… Roll Up! Roll Up!

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Tags: Comedy, Gigs, LinkÃ¶ping, Review, Saga, Stand Up, Sweden
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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!

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Tags: Comedy, LinkÃ¶ping, plugs, Press, Review, Stand Up, Sweden
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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.

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Tags: Blogging, Comedy, plugs, Review, Stand Up, Sweden
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Negers, Red Injuns and political correctness

Saturday, October 31st, 2009

A recent post on Urbanlife.se, which covers all things Afro-Caribbean in Sweden, was about an overtly black stereotype on Bolibompa, SVT’s flagship kids’ programme. The still image showed a puppet with thick lips, dopey eyes, gold chain and flat nose … taken out of context it wasn’t so far removed from Amos and Andy.. .. but then I was looking at it out of context – for all I knew, the character may have been one of many black characters on the show and was a neat foil for the black policemen, professors, politicians and other positive characters… perhaps the editors of Urban Life are overly sensitive to such things and they just don’t appreciate a funny character who just happens to be black.

What I do know is that from my experience of performing comedy and listening to other performers, Sweden often seems about 30 years behind the UK and US in terms of political correctness. One good example is the use of the word ‘Neger’, which although, as defensive Swedes are keen to point out, is not the equivalent of ‘Nigger’, sets off alarm bells when I hear it.

I should add here that I’m against censorship of words, and in humour, which should be about breaking down taboos, there is a place for everything. In fact, I use the word ‘Neger’ in my own routine to illustrate the outdated flippancy with which it is used in Sweden, which, to me is the point: context. I’ve cringed watching routines here which are either racist, homophobic or misogynist with no justification or where the only ‘laughter point’ is the stereotype. It’s a two dimensional joke that says laugh at the Neger, the Queer, the Slut or the Spaz simply because they are black, gay, female or disabled.

And then I came across this advert for a local opticians in Linköping. I’m not offended by it in a way that many people in the US probably would be, but more shocked that at some point down the line they thought this would be a good idea. There’s a very weak play on words (Bågar means ‘frames’ and ‘bows’) but that’s about it. My comedian reflex wanted to make a joke about needing to make a Reservation at the optician’s, but I was overwhelmed by the thought: ‘What were they thinking?’. Ugh! indeed, Ögat, ugh! indeed… a very short sighted advert.

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Tags: Blogging, Comedy, LinkÃ¶ping, Review, Stand Up, Sweden
Posted in Comedy, LinkÃ¶ping, Stand Up | 2 comments »

Pablo Francisco – Who You Foolin’?

Monday, September 28th, 2009

27th September, Konsert och Kongress, Linköping

Pablo Francisco was introduced to the stage last night as ‘The Greatest Comedian in The World’. After the understatement and irony free hour that unfolded, I am curious what the criteria for the title are.

OK. It wasn’t really my cup of tea, but then again, I am ready to acknowledge that I was in the minority in the 1200 strong crowd who had paid upwards of 400 kronor to be there. Pablo Francisco is a superstar in Sweden and it is easy to understand why. Not only is he an incredible performer, physically and vocally versatile, with an onstage energy that is astounding, but his subject matter is broad enough for the MTV watching, X-Box playing, Subway eating EuroSwede crowd to get… and even if they don’t, there are sound effects to hammer home the joke… and hammer it home he did… Perhaps it’s cultural and I come from the wrong side of the Atlantic, but it just wasn’t my thing. Personally, I cringe when a comic says ‘I love you guys’

There were some nice routines – I found his Smart Car routine very, er, smart, but it naturally boiled down to what it would be like getting a blow job in a Smart Car. This having followed routines about … James Bond having sex, why don’t X Box make Porn Hero instead of Guitar Hero, what does Jackie Chan look like having sex, what does Arnold Schwarzenegger look like having sex, phone sex, etc etc… you get the picture. In fact the subject matter of the entire show, including the support acts, can probably be summarised in the following five words: Fucking, Weed, Wanking, Chinese and Gays.

The ‘Who You Foolin’? tour is heading north and continues until the 17th October. If you’re American or a US lovin’ Swede, you’ll probably enjoy it. Otherwise, just spend some time with a hyperactive teenager instead, the experience is fairly similar.

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Tags: Comedy, LinkÃ¶ping, Review, Stand Up
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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.

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Tags: Comedy, Gigs, plugs, Review, sitcom, Stand Up, Stockholm
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