Iikka Kivi (born 1986 in

Ylivieska Ylivieska () is a town and municipality of Northern Ostrobothnia region, Finland. It has a population of (), and it serves as the administrative centre for Kalajokilaakso and Pyhäjokilaakso, an area with a population of about 90,000 inhabitant ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

Seppänen, Arttu
Stand up -koomikko Iikka Kivi katuu höyrähtämistään Halla-ahon ajatuksiin – ei voi olla "vähän kuin ilta- tai viikonloppunatsi"
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Helsingin Sanomat ''Helsingin Sanomat'', abbreviated ''HS'' and colloquially known as , is the largest subscription newspaper in Finland and the Nordic countries, owned by Sanoma. Except after certain holidays, it is published daily. Its name derives from that of ...

'' 25 June 2017. Accessed on 23 April 2018.) is a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

stand up comedian Stand-up comedy is a comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up. Stand-up comedy consists of one-liners, stories, ...

and

scriptwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. T ...

. Currently living in

Oulu Oulu ( , ; sv, Uleåborg ) is a city, municipality and a seaside resort of about 210,000 inhabitants in the region of North Ostrobothnia, Finland. It is the most populous city in northern Finland and the fifth most populous in the country after: ...

, Kivi has worked as a stand up comedian since 2012. He rose to national publicity in 2014 after winning the '' Naurun tasapaino'' competition organised by

YLE TV2 Yle TV2 ( fi, Yle TV Kaksi; sv, Yle TV Två) is a Finnish television channel owned and operated by Yle. TV2 was launched in 1965 as the successor to the former television channels TES-TV (Tesvisio) and Tamvisio, and broadcasts public service p ...

. Kivi has later worked as a producer of stand up comedy festivals and wrote scripts for the satire shows '' Noin viikon uutiset'' and '' Yle Leaks''. He is also known as a provocative communal speaker. On his gigs, Kivi almost never makes jokes about communal matters, but instead spreads political jokes on

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

.Viljanen, Kaisa
Koomikko Iikka Kivi oli ahdistunut vihankylväjä, joka louhi verkosta todisteita maahanmuuttajien pahuudesta – Nyt hän kertoo, miksi purki pahan olonsa viattomiin
''

'' 22 November 2018. Accessed on 24 November 2018. Iikka Kivi spent his childhood in Ylivieska and has graduated as a medianomist from the

Oulu University of Applied Sciences Oulu University of Applied Sciences (OAMK) (in Finnish: ''Oulun ammattikorkeakoulu'' (Oamk)) is a university of applied sciences in Oulu, Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic ...

. Before his career as a comedian, he had worked as columnist and a literary critic. According to Kivi, he was bullied in primary school and had later suffered from depression and burn-out at work. He has said he had previously been a racist supporter of

Jussi Halla-aho Jussi Kristian Halla-aho (born 27 April 1971) is a Finnish politician who has served as a member of the Parliament of Finland from 2011 to 2014 and again since 2019, and as the leader of the Finns Party from 10 June 2017Finns Party The Finns Party, formerly known as the True Finns ( fi, Perussuomalaiset, PS, sv, Sannfinländarna, Sannf.), is a right-wing populist political party in Finland. It was founded in 1995 following the dissolution of the Finnish Rural Party. The ...

, spreading anti-immigrant hatred on the Internet. According to Kivi, he left the movement for good in June 2015, when Member of Parliament

Olli Immonen Olli Immonen (born 12 February 1986) is a member of the Finnish Parliament for the Finns Party and a former chairman of the nationalist organization Suomen Sisu. Immonen was born in Nivala, and received national attention in July 2015 after writ ...

, whom he had voted for, appeared in a photograph together with members of the Neo-Nazi organisation

Finnish Resistance Movement The Nordic Resistance Movement; Norwegian: nb, Nordiske motstandsbevegelsen, NMB; nn, Nordiske motstandsrørsla NMR; fi, Pohjoismainen Vastarintaliike, PVL; is, Norræna mótstöðuhreyfingin, NMH; da, Den nordiske modstandsbevægelse, ...

. Kivi has also said he had felt guilt for the rise of the Finns Party and anti-immigration sentiment. In connection with the

Me Too movement #MeToo is a social movement against sexual abuse, sexual harassment, and rape culture, in which people publicize their experiences of sexual abuse or sexual harassment. The phrase "Me Too" was initially used in this context on social media in ...

in autumn 2017 Kivi told he had been guilty of sexual harassment in his childhood and youth. On the sixth grade (last grade of the lower stage) in primary school, it had been a gang of boys squeezing the bottoms of girls, and later verbal abuse during his youth. Currently Kivi identifies as a

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

. In 2017 he left the ''Vuosisadan suomalainen'' stand up tour because no women participated in it. As a controversy arose from the matter, the tour was joined by four female comedians and one transsexual one, after which Kivi rejoined the tour. In 2018 Kivi published a book called ''Menisit ennemmin terapiaan'', parodying

coping Coping refers to conscious strategies used to reduce unpleasant emotions. Coping strategies can be cognitions or behaviours and can be individual or social. Theories of coping Hundreds of coping strategies have been proposed in an attempt to ...

guides. In spring 2019 Iikka Kivi started as a columnist in ''

''. In September the same year Kivi quit his job as a columnist as a protest against a propaganda advertisement of the Chinese government published on the front page. The advertisement was clearly separate of the editorial content but still raised a great deal of discussion both for it and against it.Kokosivun Hongkong-ilmoitus HS:ssä herättää ihmetystä – Mediaprofessori: Kökköä, mutta rehellistä mainontaa
''Yle Uutiset''. Accessed on 14 October 2019.

Bibliography

* ''Menisit ennemmin terapiaan: rehellinen self help -kirja''. Helsinki: Kosmos, 2018. .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kivi, Iikka Finnish stand-up comedians 1986 births Living people