Northern Lights

Why does British comedy work so well across the North Sea?

Is there any more iconic character in British comedy than the Norwegian Blue? The eponymous star of Monty Python's Dead Parrot Sketch - arguably the best sketch ever - doesn't have any dialogue, but definitely does get some action, as John Cleese smashes him across the pet shop counter. That smashing gets more dramatic depending on which version you see, too: Cleese took great delight in trying to make Michael Palin corpse during their live shows, by really walloping poor Polly as hard as he could.

That sketch probably goes down pretty well in Scandinavia, too. When we look at the Nordic region we tend to think of dramas these days, as there have been a good few of them on British TV in recent years, from The Bridge to The Valhalla Murders; we really love the comfy jumpers. And it's a fair exchange, as they love our comedy, from classic sketch shows like Python to our current stand-ups.

Now you may wonder why our comedy travels so well there. There are so many other things our Nordic cousins could do instead, after all, like gambling a few Krona of virtual cash on the Ilmaiskierroksia ('free spins', in Finnish). Or playing a bit of poker or bridge with family and friends, depending on how the rules are working in those particular nations now. Or watching interesting-looking Americans play high-stakes chess in Netflix's Queen's Gambit, presuming that's as popular there as it is everywhere else.

There are a couple of reasons why such a wide range of our comedy translates well in those nations though (as opposed to just Mr Bean, which works everywhere). Firstly it's language. Most Scandinavians speak such perfect English that the UK TV shows can be shown as they were intended - not dubbed - with Nordic subtitles underneath. So the nuances of language still work, which they wouldn't if they were translated into a different one.

In Germany they tend to dub everything, for example, even though English is very common nowadays. Although there are a couple of famous Monty Python specials - they called it Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus - made specially for German TV by the legendary troupe. The first one was actually recorded in German, the team having to learn each sketch that way, but the second was made in English then dubbed into German. They're available on Netflix now, although you wouldn't be surprised if lots of people watch original English and US stuff on there now too.

The second reason, though, is the mentality. Scandinavians and Brits just have a lot in common, notably the climate and our responses to it. Why gamble on going outside in the dark and drizzle when you could stay in and make dark jokes about it instead? You can't do that sort of humour in, say, California, where the weather is a lot less gloomy.

There was even a Swedish version of one of our most popular exploits, QI, called Intresseklubben, from 2012-2105. But you don't really need that, when you've got the original. Indeed, when Stephen Fry left, who did they replace him with? Denmark's own Sandi Toksvig. Someone from LA would just have been odd.