Archive
Comedy Camp.
Here is a short clip from a gay club i worked a couple of days ago. Some of it is old, especially to Swedes, but I figured it would work fine in that setting and it is really hard to do something that makes sense in 7 minutes, so I did it again. Plus some new stuff never posted before. I really need to get better at writing new stuff in english though. In swedish I guess I write at least 2-3 hours a year. I’ve been serious about doing comedy in English a little over a year now and I don’t think I’ve written more than 20 minutes that isn’t either very topical or old stuff translated from swedish. That has to change. That is also one reason why I can’t sleep right now. Another is that I have to be up in 7 hours.
February 21st, 2010Slow day.
Had a slow day today. Slept late, breakfast, coffee and then to the casino. Should have been working, but I didn’t feel like it. I know I should have someting on Brown for tonight while it’s still topical, but unless I can think of something in the car to Up The Creek I won’t.
Had a really great first gig yesterday. Almost only men in the audience, and that is usually not good. I was already nervous and feeling rusty as hell before i knew that and I felt no better when I saw the crowd. Turned out all my fears was unjustified as I had a great gig with a really nice crowd. After that i went to one of my favourite clubs called the Hob, where I was the headliner. Crowd was extremely laid back and seemed kind of tired. Normally suits me fine, but yesterday I wouldn’t have minded a more lively audience. Anyway, the gig went reasonably well and I hope to be back at the Hob soon. Now, off to another of my favourite rooms. Up The Creek. I think I’m on for 20 minutes, so there should be room for some new stuff. Not that I have written any…
February 20th, 2010Back in London.
Time to go to my first two gigs of this trip. I think I’m headlining one place and have a nice long spot at the other one too. Problem is I don’t have a single thing to say. I don’t remember the stuff I did in english before christmas, and the stuff I do remember feels hopelessly dated. Fritzl? Michael Jackson? Swineflu? C’mon… I can’t do that shit. I have no idea what to do, but I suppose it will work itself out. Usually does.
Anyway, info about the gigs (5 of them this time) in the calendar. If in London, come check out how I solved it. Probably by doing even older stuff…
December 19th, 2009Clip from The International.
Small part of what I did in Dublin:
Tonight I have a show in Stockholm. 1200 seats and there isn’t a single ticket left. Great way to end the first portion of that tour! Tomorrow I’m off for two gigs in Amsterdam. Details in the calendar.
December 12th, 2009The International.
I wasn’t feeling well at all before the gig yesterday. Think I got some sort of anxiety attack. All of a sudden I couldn’t breathe and I got dizzy. It was all fine before it was time to get on stage though. The tiny room was absolutely packed. From stage it felt as if people were litteraly climbing the walls. I had 12 minutes to do my thing. That is not much. It’s also really hard to work without a microphone. For one thing it alters your timing. You have to keep quiet if the audience laughs and applauds, whereas with a mic you can go to the next bit without waiting for the laughter to die out. I really don’t like it at all. Also it’s really tough on your voice if your technique is bad. And mine is.
Even so, I had a great time with the amazing audience in that room. I really felt the love up there! Will try to get back there as soon as I can. Tonight I’m doing my last spot in Ireland. Bankers bar, in Dublin.
December 11th, 2009Some great gigs!
Galway was fantastic. Both the city and the actual club. The Roisin Dubh was the name of the club and the audience of a little more than 200 was great. It was one of those nights where some partying would have been in order, but I just couldn’t do it. I needed sleep. 11 hours of it. After that i felt a lot better and after a walk through Galway with Helena it was time to head back to Dublin.
Yesterday i did two gigs and they were both real good. Tried a lot of new stuff that worked fine and generally felt relaxed and good. I love it here. Absolutely love it. I just might stay.
Tonight it’s time for what I understand to be the most renowned club in Ireland. It’s tiny, without a microphone and I’m only doing 12 minutes, but they all say this is where you need to be in this country. So I am. Wish me luck.
December 9th, 2009Lost my Dublin virginity.
The interview yesterday was pretty good. They said it would be availible as a podcast, but I can’t find it. Maybe it’s not up yet. Anyway, here is where you look: http://dublincityfm.ie/
The first gig yesterday got cancelled. No people showed up. Aparently the recession has hit the Dublin comedy scene hard and many of them are struggling to even get an audience. Not so at my second gig. It had a decent crowd in a nice little room and I was headlining with a 20 minute set. Felt really good, even though I was tired enough to almost fall down. I still managed to pull it off reasonably well and I did a lot of new and improvised stuff.
In about 30 minutes my manager will pick med and Helena up to drive us to Galway. The scenery on the way there is suposed to be fantastic. Looking forward to it.
December 8th, 2009The Pogues.
We came to Dublin sunday night and just happened walk past a theatre where The Pogues was playing. What better way to get to know a bit of Irish culture than to see them? We did. It was awesome. But also tragic. I mean, I know he’s a drunk. But I had no idea it was that bad. He had to be led on and off stage. He left several times when other guys was doing the lead singing to go backstage. I would have wanted to see what went on back there. But given the fact that he had to use the microphonestand for a crutch most of the time and slurted a lot of the words i guess it was not pretty. Even so, a great show with a lot of mixed feelings. I was enjoying myself most of the time, but once in a while i felt “Hey, I’m actually helping killing this man. This is no good.”
My computer broke down yesterday and on top of that i left my notebook with all my english stuff at home, so right now I don’t have a single line written down that I can use tonight. And that’s a after spending a couple of week trying to supress old stuff in favour of new. Somehow I have to reverse that… 2 gigs tonight. And a radio interview in about an hour.
Leaving for Galway tomorrow and hopefully my computer will be fixed by then. Right now there won’t be much e-mailing or facebooking at all. Twitter might get updated, but that’s just about it.
December 5th, 2009Gearing up for Dublin!
Tonight is the last gig of this leg of my huge tour in Scandinavia. It’s been absolutely great. Large sold-out venues and great audiences and I’ve had a fantastic time. Even so, it’s gonna be nice with a little break to work some more on my stuff in english. Dublin and Galway all next week. Looking forward to it!
Found this interview from Denmark, if anyone is interested. They shot it after me, Dag Sørås from norway and Yannis Pappas from New York did a gig there a couple of months ago:
November 4th, 2009Yesterday will be hard to beat.
Was at the Pipeline Bar yesterday and it turned out to be a scandinavian bar. Probably 80% of the audience was swedish. In some sense I do regard it as cheating to go to London and perform in front of mainly swedes, but i still enjoyed it. A lot. Gave me an opportunity to see how much material I have produced (translated old stuff and newly written) in english this year. It turned out I hadn’t even done all of it when I left the stage after over 50 minutes. Felt great!
In english I do a fair share of stuff that I no longer do in sweden. Partly because most people here never heard of me and partly because I think some of my stuff is more relevant here than it is in Sweden. I am however gonna try to write more new stuff in english for my trips over here next year. I was talking to David Mullholland about it before the show and I think that if you go see a headliner do 40 minutes once a month, 10 of those minutes should be new. That’s about the pace i keep in Sweden and that’s the pace I’m gonna try to keep in the UK now that I’ve achieved the goal i set for my self when I first went to New York early this year. I wanted to have a solid 40-minute set and feel relaxed and comfortable working in english, even if something out of the ordinary happens in the audience. I’m very happy to say that I’m there now. Time to reach next goal. A solid onehour show for Edinburgh next year.
Helena went home this morning so I will probably spend most of my day in the casino playing poker. After that I have two gigs tonight and then I leave for Gothenburg tomorrow.