Posts Tagged ‘Sweden’
Saturday, March 26th, 2011
***To win tickets for the Stockholm show click here***
Tonight’s show is in Gothenburg at Sinnet
Sitting in the Falun youth hostel at 6.30am looking out of the window at the beautiful view. The skies are blues and the air has a special clarity that is inspiring. The last thing I want to do is to head down to Gothenburg… but that’s the way it goes..
Last night’s gig at Arenan in Falun was weird and wonderful. It was about three quarters full and mostly teenagers who were really up for it (apart from one or two Emo kids who were too cool for skool). The night started off in an absolutely hilarious way. My friend Isak who runs the night (and in my opinion is the funniest comedian in Sweden) also works as a director on the TV programme Pensionärjävlar (Fucking pensioners) which is a hidden camera programme where pensioners set up members of the public. It is very funny.
Last night they set up a scenario where an elderly couple came to the club and started heckling the first comedian. Thomas Eriksson, who is a very good actor and comedian was in on it, but the audience had no idea. I was rolling around laughing as Britt, a grey haired, smartly dressed septagenarian stood up and shouted “Say something funny! Or show us your balls!”
We performed – my act went really well and I brought the pensioners into my set a little bit I was only disappointed they didn’t heckle me (I was all ready to show my balls). Danny did about 45 minutes and got the audience dancing away – apart from the two Emo kids, one of whom had green cat eye contact lenses in and had an aloof look throughout.
I liked Falun – even though we will have spent less than 24 hours here. People have always talked about the beauty of Dalarna and although I can’t quite put my finger on what the difference is, it does seem to have a quality that other place in Sweden don’t seem to have. That said, the temperature here is still well into the minuses and the snow is still thick on the ground. At least Gothenburg has already entered the spring.
And so it is that Danny and I must hit the road for tonight’s gig in GBG at Sinnet. See you there perhaps?
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Tags: Comedy, DJ Danny, Falun, Gigs, Gothenburg, Stand Up, Sweden
Posted in Comedy, Lagom, Stand Up, Tour 2011 | No comments »
Friday, March 25th, 2011
Me and Danny have just arrived at the hostel in Falun and it’s a great looking hostel so far. My memory of youth hostelling in the Lake District was that they always smelled of damp socks and banana sandwiches. Here in Falun the hostel is all tastefully decorated without a German backpacker in sight.
Anyway… The Local has been kind enough to announce that we are giving away a couple of tickets to the show at the Boulevard Teater in Stockholm this Wednesday. For a chance to win, just answer the following question:
DJ Danny wants to be a superstar DJ. Which island is famous for its DJ scene?
a. Gotland
b. Ibiza
c. Fantasy Island
Email your answer to ben@lkpghaha.se. The winner will be randomly selected and contacted on Tuesday. Otherwise you can buy your tickets for the Stockholm gig via Ticnet
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Tags: Comedy, DJ Danny, Gigs, Lagom, Stand Up, Stockholm, Sweden
Posted in Comedy, Lagom, Stand Up, Tour 2011 | 2 comments »
Friday, March 25th, 2011
Just about to hit the road for Falun. Seems a bit nuts to leave this nice spring weather for the frozen tundra of Dalarna. I’ve also just looked at the map again and realised quite how long Sweden is and quite how far it is from one venue to another on this tour. I find myself asking the question again and again, which idiot was it that organised this crazy schedule of dates and venues? And then I realise that I am that idiot.
Next time I organise a national tour, I’m going to make sure that the nation in question is somewhere small and manageable, like Lichtenstein, for example.
So, the car is getting warmed up for today’s 5 hour trip to Falun. I realise that our carbon footprint for this tour is probably the equivalent to a small town in Eastern Europe. I am also made to feel even more guitly about this as I realise that our gig tomorrow in Gothenburg clashes almost exactly with Earth Hour. Along with our large carbon footprint, I guess we are not a show that will appeal to the environmentally conscious. Perhaps we can make a concession and perform without sound or lights… It’s an idea…
Time to stab in and steer and point the car northwards in Falun. See you there tonight at Arenan or if you are sensible and live in Gothenburg, see you at Sinnet on Saturday night.
Time to hit the road!
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Tags: Comedy, DJ Danny, Gigs, Gothenburg, Lagom, Linköping, Stand Up, Sweden
Posted in Comedy, Lagom, Stand Up, Tour 2011 | 1 comment »
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
Posted in Comedy, Lagom, Stand Up, Tour 2011 | No comments »
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 »
Saturday, March 12th, 2011
Just back from a few days in Gothenburg. There’s one thing about the city which is so predictable. The weather. Having left the east of Sweden with blue skies and a thaw on the way, it was disheartening to drive towards black clouds that were spewing rain sleet and snow with no regard for the fact that it is already March and that we are all sick of the winter weather.
I was in town to check out the venue where I am on tour later this month with DJ Danny. We’re playing in a place called Sinnet and having now been down there, met the people who run it and seen the stage, I think the gig will be great. I’ll be blogging about the whole tour with Danny here and The Local should be running an article with a ticket giveaway in the next week or so. But in short, the tour starts on the 23rd March in Malmö and ends on April 1st in Lund. We also take in Stockholm, Gothenburg, Falun and Linköping. There’s a Facebook page for Danny on the go here
While I was in Gothenburg, I also had a fab gig at The Dubliner suporting the potty mouthed Canadian Jason Rouse. We had a great crowd of Swedes and non-Swedes and the atmosphere, as always at The Dubliner was tip top.
One more thing I should mention is that I stayed with an American friend Kurt Lightner who is a very talented printmaker. As a gesture of thanks for the use of his sofa – and also because I think his work is great – Here’s a link to his Etsy site. Enjoy (and why not buy!) his work.
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Tags: Comedy, DJ Danny, Gigs, Gothenburg, Malmö, plugs, Stand Up, Sweden
Posted in Comedy, Stand Up | No comments »
Thursday, December 2nd, 2010
While the students of the UK have been busy smashing things up and getting bonked on the head by the Boys in Blue, I had contact with 200 Erasmus students in Örebro. The gig was in the ultra space age Kårhuset on Örebro Campus. It looked like a bar from the future with tastefully uplit bottles of spirits and fancy beers. There were comfy sofas and lots of chrome. Wasted on students getting wasted.
The event was an international buffet where every nationality had to cook something special from their country. I was hugely disappointed by the English students’ contribution who had decided to try and make Cornish pasties with filo pastry. What’s wrong with traditional British student food? Was a Pot Noodle and a packet of Hob Nobs beyond them?
The idea of these events is to create a sense of unity amongst different nationalities, but often they just serve to reinforce stereotypes. The Germans made plates and plates of sausages (which encroached on the Polish part of the table), the French and Italian food was sublime and was snaffled up quick time. The Czech and Polish food was also great and, no joke, the Americans made peanut butter sandwiches. The weirdest was the Swiss contribution which was a large sandwich box filled with some kind of yellow gluttonous slime. Not one person touched it.
As I looked at the long tables filled with food, none of which involved pasta and tomato ketchup, I felt that these students from all over the world had come together and would be united in the shared experience of dealing with food poisoning the next day. It was beautiful.
The dessert to this culinary extravaganza was myself and Malmö based comedian Joe Eagan. There was plenty of room for silliness and I had a great time including showing off my stripy long johns. I was enjoying the pats on the back and international adulation after the gig when a Ukrainian student approached me and pulled me up about a routine I do about visiting a female Ukrainian doctor with big hands. He told me in no uncertain terms that the doctor in question could not have had big hands as Ukrainian women do not have big hands, as Ukrainian women are the most beautiful in the world. I apologised, as for all I know Ukrainian women are the most beautiful in the world.
The irony was that I normally do that routine and make the doctor Serbian, who may well also be the most beautiful women in the world. I just don’t know. I have never been one to judge beauty based on the size of a woman’s hand. If any readers have any suggestions as to which nationality in the world has the most beautiful women in relation to the size of their hands, I would appreciate this for future gigs.
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Tags: Comedy, Gigs, Lagom, Stand Up, students, Sweden
Posted in Comedy, Stand Up | 1 comment »
Monday, November 22nd, 2010
I got booked for a gig at Globen on Saturday night.
In my head, I was half way to Stockholm, picturing myself performing in front of 15000 people and meeting Sweden’s elite hockey ‘A Lag’… The illusion was shattered when I found out that it was actually Globen Linköping, a small hall in town run by the Temperence movement NBV. I readied myself for a much smaller audience and a totally different ‘A Lag’.
The event was a theatre festival where participants could try out different styles of performance. I ran a workshop in the morning and performed a 30 minute set in the evening. There was a party atmosphere and although the NBV venue is, by definition, ‘alcohol and drug free’, I couldn’t help but see the irony as the teenage contingent ran around with eyes like saucers, high on soft drinks, chocolate and sweets. They would have all been a lot calmer with a stiff drink or a toke on a joint inside them. I worry for the youth of Sweden when I think about their future dealing with obesity and rotten teeth having been exposed to so much sugar at such a young age. Kids in the UK and US are offered a much wider range of stimulants.
Before the gig I looked around the venue a bit to find out about what NBV do. From what I could gather they offer clean activities as an alternative to drink and drugs. However, one activity on offer struck me as wholly inappropriate. If I were a recovering addict, the last thing that would take my mind off my previous addictions would be ‘line dancing’. Not only would you have the instructor barking on about ‘having a couple of lines’ before you could enjoy the dancing, which to me gives a mixed message, but also, having already memorised twelve steps it would be a bit much to deal with any more steps.
The gig went well and I even got asked for my autograph. I’m gonna be big amongst the sugar-crazed youth of Linköping.
In other news, I had my first article in Swedish published. Had some help with the translation of course, and as usual, it’s just me moaning about the lack of culture in Linköping. But it is in Swedish. In a Swedish quality newspaper. And even if I say so myself, I feel quite proud about it. You can read it here in Corren
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Tags: Comedy, Corren, Gigs, Linköping, politics, Press, Stand Up, Sweden
Posted in Comedy, Linköping, Stand Up | 1 comment »
Thursday, October 21st, 2010
To put on a live comedy show, there are a few essentials: microphone, sound equipment, lights, audience etc, etc. Most important of all however, is the presence of the headline act.
I’m currently promoting a mini tour of Sweden, with the weird and wonderful Paul Foot. Last night was the first night of the tour in my home town of Linköping. Paul was due to arrive on the afternoon flight, jump on a bus and get to town in good time for the show. Clockwork. What could possibly go wrong? Answer: Ryanair.
Ryanair, who are always trumpeting about how their flights usually arrive early, were delayed. By an hour. Meaning that Paul missed the bus that got him in in good time…. Cue an hour or two of sweaty palmed worry as Paul’s progress from Skavsta was tracked via text message and frantic phoning.
In true style Paul arrived just before the break and was welcomed by the audience and comedians and myself who was able to finally breathe a sigh of relief. Thirty minutes later Paul was onstage with the audience in the palm of his hand, recounting tales of moist cakes and verbose car signage. Paul was brilliant live and again reinforced the fact that nothing beats live comedy as the experience was unique to that time and that place.
Tonight I am compering a gig with Paul in Märsta (wherever that is!?), then we’ve got our all English shows at Kafé Klavér on Saturday and Sunday. If you want to see one of the UK’s most interesting comedians before he gets big (and he is getting more well known by the day with his first appearance on Buzzcocks tonight), then come down to Klavér at the weekend.
You’ll get to see the author of this blog perform too! See you at Klavér!
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Tags: Comedy, Gigs, Linköping, plugs, Stand Up, Sweden
Posted in Comedy, Linköping, Stand Up | 2 comments »
Wednesday, October 13th, 2010
The strangest thing happened to me today at Linköping library, where apparently the staff have the right to take the piss out of members of the public.
I’ve been working hard plugging next week’s show at Café M with cult British comedian Paul Foot (link here, plug over) and found myself at the main library. I was a bit disappointed to see that the poster I’d left with them last month wasn’t on the wall, so naturally, I asked what had happened to it. Being polite but forthright, I complained to a woman at the info desk who was helpful, if a little defensive. Suddenly from out of the blue another member of staff at another desk started to aggressively wade in. Until this point, the whole conversation had been very civilly conducted in Swedish; he finished off his little diatribe by saying something sarcastic in English.
I switched to English and asked him if he would prefer to speak in English. He replied to me in Swedish by putting on a mock English accent (“för att du prata så här”). I told him that I have no problem speaking in either Swedish or English, but would like to know why he was being so rude to me. I pointed out that I had been talking to his colleague, not him, and asked him again why he was being so rude. I was a bit taken aback by the whole ‘funny foreigner’ accent he had done.
Eventually, I spoke to his boss and I asked if he did that to all foreigners or just to English people. She assured me that he wasn’t xenophobic as he does that to ‘everyone’, although I hadn’t heard him mimicking any Swedes at the library while I was there. Presumably, if you dare to complain, you will be treated to his funny voices regardless of whether you are Chinese, speak with a stutter or come from Skåne. What a relief! What a success story for Linköping’s public relations!
Am I being petty? Or is doing the funny voice of complainants really the way that staff working at a public library should be dealing with the public?
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Tags: Animals, Comedy, Lagom, Linköping, moans, plugs, Stand Up, Sweden
Posted in Comedy, Linköping, Stand Up | 29 comments »
