I want to show you one of my favourite PR stunts ever. You n..
Published: March 23rd 2023, 12:39:01 pm
I want to show you one of my favourite PR stunts ever. You need some background information, for it to make sense.
The guy in the poster on the left is called Anders Matthesen. He is the most famous Danish stand-up comedian. He is Denmark's Jimmy Carr, Michael McIntyre, Ricky Gervais, you get the gist.
Within the stand-up world, he is seen as a bit arrogant. He never comes to the open mics, he never 'hangs out' with fellow comedians, he doesn't even show up to collect the comedy awards he keeps winning. Yeah, actually, Ricky Gervais was a good comparison.
Most importantly: He has a nickname. Anden. A shorter version of his name 'Anders' - and it means 'The Duck'. And is duck. AndEN is The Duck.
To the right is Christian Fuhlendorff. Arguably one of the best Danish comedians. He rose to fame when he did a double-header show with comedian Brian Mørk who's now only famous for being a massive misogynist troll; quite the shame of Danish comedy. In this double header, Fuhlendorff was the new comedian gracefully invited to do a little set before the big headliner was to come on and smash it.
But Fuhlendorff's set was one of the best comedy sets Denmark had ever seen. So funny that the headliner Brian Mørk couldn't compete with it. And suddenly Fuhlendorff was the headliner. He had been one of the most hardworking comedians, exploring his voice, taking risks, doing all the shows he could get. He had the respect of his fellow comedians.
A note about Christian Fuhlendorff is that he gets the nickname Fuhlen. Fuhlen is pronounced the same as Fuglen, which means... The Bird.
Cut to: Anders Matthesen announces his new show 'Anders'. It's a beige poster where he's bald and shaved and he is picking one lone feather off his neck. It's a great poster - a show all about how he's now rebranding. No more 'The Duck'. He's now just Anders. It's a poster that takes itself very seriously. And it's hung up around Copenhagen. You couldn't turn a corner without seeing his face.
Until a few days later, when Christian Fuhlendorff fake-announces his fake new show with his fake new poster, with his nickname Fuhlen (the Bird) as the title. The poster is him with his mouth full of feathers and his hand lines up perfectly with Anders Matthesen's poster, making it look like he is the one picking the feathers off of him.
The poster was hung all around Copenhagen, right next to Anders Matthesen's.
As I've gotten older, I'm now quite cynical and I wonder if this was pre-planned. If it was part of a big PR stunt. But it doesn't really matter - it's still very, very funny.
It's also a brilliant example of a joke that only works with a bunch of context. Or, that, at least, works better with a bunch of context. If I had just said 'two rivalling comedians, the one on the left put out his poster first' it may have had the same effect. But the details - the background information, the translation of their nicknames (The Duck and The Bird), the power dynamic... Just makes it so much better and so much funnier.
And isn't it amazing that unless you're Danish, you've most likely never seen this? And it's just a funny moment that happened somewhere.
I love it.