Otto Jespersen (comedian)

Otto Jespersen (born 21 July 1954) is a controversial Norwegian comedian, actor and television personality.

Biography

At the age of 19 Jespersen became a Marxist-Leninist, and was for a short period of time a member of the Communist organization Red Youth.^[1] Working in a local radio station, Radio Nova in Oslo, in 1988 Jespersen and collaborators Stig Holmer and Charlo Halvorsen launched the magazine program Revolvermagasinet on Norwegian national radio. This nighttime show featured satire and unusual interviews. In 1992, the three again teamed up for The Show - storbymoro for enslige i Utkant-Norge on national television. The Show became the Norwegian candidate for the Rose d'Or in 1993,^{[citation needed]} but several judges left the theatre before the program was over.^{[citation needed]}

During the 1994 Winter Olympics, Jespersen was hired as stunt reporter for Norwegian national television.^{[citation needed]} This led to the first of the four O.J. series, in which Jespersen interviewed celebrities and later created such characters as Tårnfrid, Wirrum, Den ensomme rytter, Baron Blod, Nazi-Per, and Birger as well as Friskusen.^{[citation needed]} He has also made two seasons of Trotto Libre with Trond Kirkvaag.

In 2002 he joined fellow comedians Silje Stang and Thomas Gjertsen to host the weekly comedy show Torsdagsklubben, gaining a reputation^{[citation needed]} for his scathing closing monologue. Stang and Giertsen had formerly run the same show concept under the name Mandagsklubben.^{[citation needed]}

In the fall of 2002, Jespersen's closing monologue targeted the Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik, ridiculing the man's medication use and his unpopularity. He finished the program by encouraging "all good forces'" to invite Christer Pettersson, a suspect in the murder of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme, to Oslo. Bondevik denounced the monologue in an interview calling it cowardly and distasteful, sparking debate about the monologue in Norway. In the wake of the controversy, Jespersen received a number of death threats.^[2]

He satirically burned an American flag on the air to protest the coming 2003 invasion of Iraq.^[3]

His television show Rikets Røst premiereed in early 2005. Among the show's recurring contributors are and were Zahid Ali, a Norwegian-Pakistani comedian; Pia Haraldsen; and Espen Eckbo, an actor. In spring 2006, while shooting a satirical stunt for the show in the city of Ålesund, Jespersen and Mayor Arve Tonning lit a bonfire in the center of town and burned some Norwegian books and paper money. To the mayor's consternation, Jespersen then added several pages from the Bible's Old Testament, leading to national press coverage.^[3]

In 2008, when Jespersen satirically mourned the fleas and lice on Holocaust victims, a Jerusalem Post opinion article decried TV2's defense of this incident, using it as an example of growing anti-Semitism and anti-Israelism in Norway.^[4]

He starred in the title role of the 2010 movie The Troll Hunter.

References

1. ^ Holtvedt, Tarje (27 September 2003). "Landeplageren". Dagbladet Magasinet. http://www.dagbladet.no/magasinet/2003/09/27/379450.html. 
2. ^ Comedian hit with death threats Aftenposten November 1, 2002
3. ^ ^{a b} "Comedian burns Bible as cameras roll", Aftenposten, March 28, 2006
4. ^ Norway a paradigm for anti-semitism Jerusalem Post, December 13, 2008

External links

• Otto Jespersen at the Internet Movie Database

Persondata
Name	Jespersen, Otto
Alternative names
Short description	Norwegian comedian
Date of birth	21 July 1954
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death