”Why is he writing this in English?”
”He isn’t.”
”Huh?”
”It’s Swenglish. The real original one. Not the fake version that so called comedians try to pass off as humour.”
”Oh…but why is he writing in Swenglish then? Isn’t that a bit big-headed of him?”
”You could say that. Or you could argue that he is doing it because almost 40 percent of his followers on Twitter are non-Scandinavians.”
”I get it. Nice initiative then.”
”Yes. Or not.”
***
The first big boost for my comedy self-esteem was a gig in 2015 in London, where I performed together with among others Sol Bernstein and Simon Munnery. I did 20+, and afterwards both of them gave me compliments on my material. Especially the words from Sol made me realise that I AM funny, and write good material. That was a wake-up call for me, and made me realise that what I want to do is those types of gigs, where I can do my own style and not having to compromise.
So in 2016 I started to focus on doing fewer but longer gigs. Instead of doing 6-8 minutes every now and then at every club in Stockholm, I focused on supporting established comedians or even headlining myself. And to top it off I did my own show-for the first time in Swedish. I have done shows in Edinburgh and Brighton, but never in my own language in my own country.
The person to ”blame” for me finally doing a show in Swedish is my friend and ex-colleague Mats Betnér. We met the first time in 2011, and I started to work for him and his brother with sales and booking of gigs. We worked really good together and quite soon I was a partowner of the company. When Mats got ill I jumped in as manager for his brother for 10 months until we went separate ways.
Ever since then Mats has been a real friend and also a big fan of my comedy. He was one of the first not only to say that I have a unique style, but also that I must take my standup out from the open mic scene. With his moral support I have done that, and found a style all of my own that is appreciated not only among my comedyfriends in Scandinavia and elsewhere, but also has found an audience around the Swedish countryside.
When I look back at 2016 I see three distinkt phases:
1. Winter and spring in the countryside
2. Slowing down for a normal job
3. From warmup to main act
(To be continued)
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