''Áramótaskaupið'' ("The New Year's Lampoon") is an annual

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

ic television comedy special, broadcast on

New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve, also known as Old Year's Day or Saint Sylvester's Day in many countries, is the evening or the entire day of the last day of the year, on 31 December. The last day of the year is commonly referred to ...

by the state public service broadcaster

RÚV Ríkisútvarpið (RÚV) (pronounced or ) ( en, 'The Icelandic National Broadcasting Service') is Iceland's national public-service broadcasting organization. Operating from studios in the country's capital, Reykjavík, as well as regional cent ...

. Initially aired on radio, and later moving to television, it features sketches satirizing the news events of the past year. It is often the highest-rated television broadcast of the year in Iceland. In 2002, it was reported that the special had been seen by 95.5%; CEO

Páll Magnússon Páll Magnússon (born 17 June 1954) is the former director of RÚV, the National Icelandic Broadcasting Service. He has worked in the media for many years and was formerly executive news editor and president of Stöð 2. He was also one of Sjón ...

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

stated that this was most likely a record in the

Western world The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and state (polity), states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania.

. Due to its high

viewership Audience measurement measures how many people are in an audience, usually in relation to radio listenership and television viewership, but also in relation to newspaper and magazine readership and, increasingly, web traffic on websites. Somet ...

, advertising time during ''Áramótaskaupið'' is the most expensive on Icelandic television. The show ends just before midnight, and those Icelanders who shoot off fireworks usually do so after ''Áramótaskaupið'' ends. Some of its sketches have become well known in Icelandic culture, such as its portrayal of

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson (; born 14 May 1943) is an Icelandic politician who was the fifth president of Iceland from 1996 to 2016.Official CV. He was previously a member of the Icelandic Parliament for the People's Alliance and served as Minist ...

as the

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...

parody "Skattmann" ("Taxman"). In 2009, the show featured a sketch about the

protests A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration or remonstrance) is a public expression of objection, disapproval or dissent towards an idea or action, typically a political one. Protests can be thought of as acts of coopera ...

following the

2008 Icelandic financial crisis 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of t ...

, in which

Jón Gnarr Jón Gnarr (; born 2 January 1967)This is an Icelandic name. ''Kristinsson'' is the patronymic, but he is properly referred to as ''Jón Gnarr'' as he had it legally removed. is an Icelandic actor, comedian, and politician who served as the Ma ...

played a strait-laced middle-aged protester shouting " Helvítis fokking fokk!!". The phrase swiftly became widely used in Iceland in relation to the crisis.

Directors

*2001:

Óskar Jónasson Óskar Jónasson (born 30 June 1963) is an Icelandic film director and screenwriter. His film ''Remote Control'' was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival. His most recent film ''Reykjavík-Rotterdam'' won f ...

*2002: Óskar Jónasson *2003:

Ágúst Guðmundsson Ágúst Guðmundsson (born 29 June 1947) is an Icelandic film director and screenwriter. He studied French, Icelandic in Reykjavík and filmmaking at the National Film School in London. He has made many popular Icelandic films that have also bee ...

*2004:

Sigurður Sigurjónsson Sigurður Sigurjónsson, commonly referred to as Siggi Sigurjóns, is an Icelandic actor, comedian and screenwriter, best known as a member of the comedy group Spaugstofan. He has starred in a number of films and television series since the l ...

*2005: Edda Björgvinsdóttir *2006: Reynir Lyngdal *2007:

Ragnar Bragason Ragnar Bragason (born 15 September 1971) is an Icelandic film director, screenwriter and producer. Life and career Droplaug was born in Súðavík, Iceland. He is best known for his films '' Börn'' (''Children'') and '' Foreldrar'' (''Paren ...

*2008:

Silja Hauksdóttir Silja Hauksdóttir (born ) is an Icelandic writer and film director. After studying philosophy at the University of Iceland, Silja took courses in screenwriting, directing and cinematography at FAMU in Prague and Binger Filmlab in Amsterdam. ...

*2009: Gunnar Björn Guðmundsson *2010: Gunnar Björn Guðmundsson *2011: Gunnar Björn Guðmundsson *2012: Gunnar Björn Guðmundsson *2013: Kristófer Dignus *2014: Silja Hauksdóttir *2015: Kristófer Dignus *2016: Jón Gnarr *2017: Arnór Pálmi Arnarsson *2018: Arnór Pálmi Arnarsson *2019: Reynir Lyngdal *2020: Reynir Lyngdal *2021: Reynir Lyngdal *2022: Dóra Jóhannsdóttir

References

Icelandic comedy television series 1966 Icelandic television series debuts 1960s Icelandic television series 1970s Icelandic television series 1980s Icelandic television series 1990s Icelandic television series 2000s Icelandic television series 2010s Icelandic television series 2020s Icelandic television series {{Iceland-tv-prog-stub