Magnus Lennarth Betnér (born 16 August 1974 in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

) is a Swedish comedian,

social critic Social criticism is a form of academic or journalistic criticism focusing on social issues in contemporary society, in respect to perceived injustices and power relations in general. Social criticism of the Enlightenment The origin of modern ...

and television host. His material largely consists of discussing society, religion and politics such as feminism and liberalism. He has been acting in Swedish comedy shows such as ''

Parlamentet ''Parlamentet'' () is a satirical panel gameshow on TV4 (Sweden), TV4, which parodies Sweden, Swedish political debate. It was first broadcast in 1999 and is currently in its 23rd series. The current presenter is Anders S. Nilsson, who has hoste ...

'', ''100%'', '' Veckans nyheter'', ''Extra! Extra!'', ''Stockholm live'' and in 2008 he made his own show called '' I ditt ansikte'' (In your Face). He has focused on his own 90-minute stand-up shows since then, with his 4th big tour playing over the winter 2011/2012. He is the only Swedish comedian to be awarded the "Swedish comedian of the year" award twice, in 2005 and 2010. With the 2010 award he was recognized as "the greatest in Sweden and on his way to becoming great in the United Kingdom". Betnér has been performing increasingly in English, in the US, UK and Ireland. In August 2010 Betnér performed a complete run of hour-length shows in English at

The Stand Comedy Club The Stand Comedy Club is a chain of three stand-up comedy venues in the cities of Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Newcastle upon Tyne. History The Stand hosted its first regular club night on Thursday, 21 September 1995, in the small basement of W.J. Ch ...

during the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

, receiving praise in mostly four star reviews. In 2012, Betnér hosted his own show on Kanal 5 called '' Betnér Direkt'', which was inspired by shows like ''

Real Time with Bill Maher ''Real Time with Bill Maher'' is an American television talk show that airs weekly on HBO, hosted by stand-up comedy, comedian and political satire, political satirist Bill Maher. Much like his previous series ''Politically Incorrect'' on Comedy ...

'' and ''

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

'' where Betnér discussed current events with a panel and a guest.

Early life

Betnér was born in Stockholm, son of Lennarth Betnér, then pastor in the Swedish Mission Church and mother, Susanne Betnér née Bergman, then a housewife, now works at HSB. Because of his father's work Betnér moved around lot when he grew up. He lived in

Idre Idre is a locality and ski resort situated in Älvdalen Municipality, Dalarna County, Sweden with 794 inhabitants in 2010. It was also a historical parish and former municipality. History The two parishes ''Särna'' and ''Idre'' were originall ...

, Sala and

Vingåker Vingåker () is a locality and the seat of Vingåker Municipality, Södermanland County, Sweden with 4,282 inhabitants in 2010. It is located by road from the nearest larger city Örebro and north-west of county seat Nyköping. It was partly bui ...

before they moved back to Stockholm at age 14.

Comic style

Betnér uses

dark comedy Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...

, often offensively, against Swedish celebrities such as Linda Rosing, Ebba von Sydow,

Mikael Persbrandt Mikael Åke Persbrandt (; born 25 September 1963) is a Swedish actor. In Swedish films, he is perhaps best known for playing Gunvald Larsson in the ''Beck'' series of movies. He is internationally known for his starring role in the Academy Awar ...

Per Gessle Per Håkan Gessle (; born 12 January 1959) is a Swedish singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known as the male half and primary songwriter of the pop rock duo Roxette, which he formed with Marie Fredriksson in 1986 and which was disbande ...

and many more. His stand-up comedy has garnered him much criticism and even death threats from Swedish

neo-Nazis Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and racial supremacy (often white supremacy), to att ...

and

rappers Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backing b ...

, but he finds it humorous that people can get so angry about jokes. Betnér often has to answer questions on why he is so offensive. He often replies that people should accept the jokes, since they are only jokes. Betnér was awarded the "Swedish comedian of the year" award in 2005 and again in 2010 in connection with the Swedish stand-up gala. Betnér's characteristic humour is often political and provocative; for example, in one show, he proposed to give his daughter a "pussy piercing" as a present for her second birthday, but ultimately opted against it, citing "why would you buy a pussy piercing for your two-year-old daughter? It would grow shut in a couple of weeks!" as the reason. Betnér has also released four DVD movies: ''Live från Norra Brunn'' (Live from Norra Brunn), ''Magnus Betnér UnCut'', ''Inget är heligt'' (Nothing is sacred) and ''Tal till nationen'' (Speech to the nation). He later chose to discontinue appearing in the program ''Extra! Extra!'', as he considered himself censored when they would not allow him to joke about Runar Søgaard. He has been visiting the TV programs Robins, Förkväll and Belinda. In the autumn of 2008, Betnér's own TV program ''I ditt ansikte'' (In your face) was broadcast on Channel 5 in Sweden. After that Betnér went on to make a permanent contribution to SVT's ''Debatt'' (Debate).

Personal life

Betnér lives with Helena Sandklef and has a daughter, Lina (born in 2005) from a previous marriage. Because of Betnér's dislike for

tabloid newspapers Tabloid journalism is a popular style of largely sensationalist journalism, which takes its name from the tabloid newspaper format: a small-sized newspaper also known as a half broadsheet. The size became associated with sensationalism, an ...

, he almost never exposes himself in the media, but in some of his old acts he talked about his daughter. Sometimes when it comes to Christianity he refers to his father who is a pastor. Betnér however is an outspoken atheist and considers the world to be better off without religion. He identifies as

bisexual Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, or the attraction t ...

and he believes that most people are.

Discography

* ''Live från Norra Brunn'' (Live from Norra Brunn) (2006) (DVD) * ''Magnus Betnér Uncut'' (2007) (DVD) * ''Inget är heligt'' (Nothing is Sacred) (2007) (DVD) * ''Tal till Nationen'' (Speech to the Nation) (2009) (DVD) * ''Livets ord'' (Word of Life) (2010) (DVD) * ''Magnus Betnér IV'' (2012) (Digital Download)

Filmography

Film

* ''

Kung Fury ''Kung Fury'' is a 2015 English-language Swedish martial arts comedy featurette film written and directed by David Sandberg. It pays homage to 1980s martial arts and police action films. The film stars Sandberg in the title role, Jorma Taccone, ...

'' (2015)

Television

* '' I ditt ansikte'' (2008) * '' Betnér Direkt'' (2012) ;Appearances in other shows * ''

'' (2003–present) * '' Stockholm live'' (2005–2007, 2 episodes) * '' Extra! Extra!'' (2006) * '' 100%'' (2006) * '' Veckans nyheter'' (2006) * '' Sverige dansar och ler'' (2007, 3 episodes) * '' Debatt'' (2008)

References

External links

* * (channel for videos in English) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Betner, Magnus 1974 births 21st-century Swedish comedians Bisexual comedians Comedians from Stockholm Living people Male actors from Stockholm Swedish atheists Swedish LGBTQ actors Swedish LGBTQ broadcasters Swedish LGBTQ comedians Swedish male comedians Bisexual male actors Swedish bisexual men