What’s the deal with Ylvis?
If you haven’t seen or heard The Fox, this is the first of many YouTube links in this post:
You might be thinking, “This can’t be a real music group.”
The Ylvisåker brothers Bård and Vegard have performed as the music and comedy duo Ylvis for thirteen years running. For proof, watch this “infusical” clip from all the way back in 2001 or move to the 5:50 mark in this interview to watch them sing the Animaniacs’ Yakko’s World in 2002. After many appearances on stage and the small screen, they currently have a talk show, I Kveld med Ylvis (Tonight with Ylvis), now in its third season. Along with guest interviews, they have plenty of pranks and music videos that ask vital questions:
- What’s the deal with Stonehenge? [Amazon, Xiami]
- Do you like the dubstep? [Amazon and Xiami]
- What’s the pH level of a vagina? [Amazon, Xiami]
- How do people act when trapped in an IKEA showroom?
- Can Vegard trick people into thinking he’s Josh Groban?
- (Later on, the two crossed paths.)
Unfortunately, what is otherwise their best song, Jan Egeland [MV] [Amazon, Xiami] is marred by the inclusion of a questionable slur, unless they were going for a pun in Latin. Even knowing that Scandinavians have different levels of “what’s acceptable” than what I’m used to in the States, parts of their work here and there could cross over from political incorrectness to unintended offense.
I did rageclose the tab when squinting eyes and high-pitched babble were used to indicate “Chinese” in an early stage skit sung in different accents and languages. However, the brothers did not have artistic control over their show at the time, and they did learn how to better imitate Chinese speech by the time they filmed this “Intellivator” segment.
