Comedy Festival

December sees the third instalment of the Stockholm Comedy Festival, which has grown into a two-day laugh-in at Södra Teatern featuring everyone who is anyone in Swedish stand-up – plus a few new acts who hope to be someone soon.
We called up the festival mastermind and main attraction,  Özz Nûjen, to find out a bit more.

Why do you think Stockholm needs a comedy festival?

We all need to laugh, and especially during testing times such as those we are living in – which at the time of the festival will have been made worse by the strain of Christmas shopping.

Stockholm needs to have a proper comedy festival and we are really happy to get to do this.

What’s your opinion of the state of Swedish stand-up?

From an international perspective, it is of a very high standard and it gets better all the time. A lot of new great names are coming through and the humour has both become sharper and smarter.
More people are doing it and one thing that’s great with stand-up, but  also a bit cruel, is that it is self-filtering – if you don’t make people laugh, you disappear from the scene.
Apart from the excellent Al Pitcher, you don’t really have any international comedians, do you?

We’re actually going to do an international between Sweden and Norway. A battle between three comedians from each country that like always will end up in argy-bargy. They come with their flags and all that – but have to go back home in sorrow.
What’s the funniest thing you know?

That’s when children put grown-ups in trouble and create a bad vibe. Like when a child is with their mum on a full train and loudly asks why the man beside them is bald or tells her he’s looking at her breasts.

Gimme Five – Özz Nûjen’s five festival highlights

The opening Show
Kodjo Akolor, Soran Ismail och Klungan will have a great show on the big stage.

The Big Five
Can I nominate myself? It’s me, Henrik Schyffert, Babben, Johan Glans och Marika Carlsson – the female stand-up of the year.

Mårten Andersson
He’s trying his new full-length show for the first time. It’s very personal, tragic and comical. It’s so him, he’s a very tragi-comical person, it’ll be about venereal diseases and struggles with women and booze.

Karin Adelskiöld
It’s all about the family, where kids square up to their parents. I expect it to be very funny and raw, but full of warmth at the same time.

Best of the Fest – the Grand Finale
One thing I know will be in this is Kristoffer Appelqvist. He won the male comedian of the year award and is probably the best stand-up in Sweden right now.