Parlamentet
Swedish humoristic improvisation Game Show satirizing political debate in which two teams (called "parties", in keeping with the politics theme) have battles of wit against each other throughout different conditions. The teams are the red party and the blue party, consisting of two comedians (usually different every episode) each, and at the end, the audience votes on whoever they thought were the funniest. In other words, hilarity simply MUST ensue.
The Game Show Host (called "speaker", in keeping with the...yeah) has changed throughout the history of the show -- the current one is Anders S. Nilsson.
The different conditions (or simply rounds) have changed over the show, some being lost to the sands of time, but the four most notable are:
- Aktuella Händelser ("Present Events"): Relevant news stories that the comedians have been told about beforehand and have been able to prepare jokes about.
- Tips Från Coachen ("Hints From The Coach" -- no, that title doesn't make sense to me either): The host asks fairly regular questions to one or more of the comedians. However, instructions from a teleprompter flash past for the comedians, causing them to behave anything but regularly, for instance "You are drunk" or "You are a spoiled brat". Arguably the most famous round.
- Ja & Nej ("Yes And No"): In this round (usually introduced by a reading of the rules, and metaphors), the host asks typical yes-or-no questions to the competitors...who aren't allowed to answer "yes", "no", "what", or hesitate. Johan Glans and Johan Ulvesson are infamously bad at this.
- Klart Man Hänger Med ("Of Course One Keeps Up"): In this round (usually comes after "Tips Från Coachen", and also usually introduced by a series of puns), the host asks a series of pretty ordinary questions. The comedians usually respond with a spectacularly wrong answer or pun or weirdly logical (yet still wrong) response, because it's funnier that way.
- Subverted once, when Kristoffer Appelquist suddenly answered a question correctly. The audience broke out in astonished laughter, and an extremely smug Kristoffer got awarded one point.
Anders: "What [thing] makes it simpler when boiling eggs?"
Competitor: "Eggs."
- This Troper's personal favorite (based on the belief that lots of rowan berries means a cold winter):
Speaker: "What does one usually say about a year with a lot of rowan berries?"
Contestant: "Wow, what a lot of rowan berries!"
André: "But what not many people know is that I used to be in a rock band." (audience chuckles) "It's true -- in the late 80s, back home in Finland. We were called --(throws up the horns, growls ominously, gets a crazy look in his eyes) RUOKAKERMA."
Anders (suppressing chuckles): "Ruokakerm..."
André: "Yeah. (doing the same thing) "RUOKAKERMA."
Anders: "And, what -- what does that mean, in Swedish?"
André: "Cream."
- Funny Foreigner: Quite literally with André Wickström. He simply happens to be a foreigner who's a comedian. And he is quite funny.
- Ho Yay: Understandable, as there are a lot of situations where a kiss would provoke the largest audience response or be the funniest punchline. It just so happens that most of the comedians are male. Ho Yay has been showcased three times, although this Troper could only find a video of two of them:
- With André Wickström and Johan Glans.
- With Soran Ismail and Magnus Betnér.
- With Henrik Dorsin and Magnus Betnér.
- It Makes Sense in Context: The teleprompter text scrolling past the screen quite quickly and the instructions being followed for quite a long time has led many a confused Swede to tune in to a comedian acting like, for example, a sceptical junkie, before the next instructions scrolling past cleared things up. Although then again, the amount of randomness that Parlamentet is known for might make this less common than it should be.
- That Came Out Wrong: Invoked by André Wickström, while boasting about his sex-texts. (It Makes Sense in Context. But not much.)
André: "Oooh, heh heh heh..."Thanks for yesterday night, it was nice"...well, (typing) "You're welcome"! ... Oh, and look at this one..."Wish you were home"! ...no, wait, that was from my mother..."