NORWAY - BOYS ON WHEELS

By viceland


Jesper Odelberg has been a comedian for 15
years and a big part of his schtick is that he does a lot
of dirty jokes about people with cerebral palsy --
because he has it too. A regular on Norway’s favourite comedy
show Rikets Røst, Jesper recently debuted as the singer in a wheelchair-bound boy band called Boys On Wheels. We sat down with Jesper and asked him about the band.

Vice: The Boys On
Wheels videos have had more than one million views on YouTube and
people all over the world know about the band. Did you expect it would get this big?
Jesper: I don't understand how it got so hyped. I've been doing this
stuff for a long time and the fact that this has become the biggest
thing so far is weird. Everyone in Norway loves it, but
they’re about 15 years behind on comedy. Norwegians are
still really into gay jokes and nigger jokes. I guess joking around
about people with cerebral palsy fits in there too. I never use the word nigger
in my performance though. I have a lot of black friends and I would feel bad about making jokes about them. Still
though, Boys On Wheels was a big parody from the start. We even had a dance
choreographer to help us out, but I think they had a hard time. Doing dance moves for people in wheelchairs isn’t that common.

What's your favourite song?
"My Balls Are OK" is the only song that I
can stand up for -- because it’s true. "Making Love in the Handicap Toilet" is bad. I would never do
something like that. My girlfriend was
offended by it. The song is really disrespectful to women, which is
bad. I'm working on a few new songs with my brother. He is a musician.

How did you get into comedy in the first place?
It was after I saw Claes Malmberg [the Swedish comedian] for the
first time. I thought, "If he can do this, then so can I." He’s
really that bad. Kidding! But my other big motivation is trying to
challenge stereotypes about people with cerebral palsy. The worst
thing that could happen is that
people would think of it as a freak show instead of comedy.

PATRICK CROTTY

By viceland 4 years ago

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