What’s the deal with Ylvis?
What I do respect in Ylvis’ style is that they’re willing to take new paths. When on interview or correspondence duty, they go wherever their subjects lead them, willing to learn through questions and move onward no matter the situation.
They interview everyone from science experts to entertainers like American musician and actor Steven van Zandt (The Sopranos, Lilyhammer) [1]. In an earlier season they had to create a hit song overnight in Kyrgyzstan, a challenge that begins here:
On the program Norges herligste (Norway’s Finest), Vegard slipped into a mankini at a combination hair salon/gay porn shop [1, NSFW] and joined his brother in showing off super-tight “skin-line” jeans to the stares of mallgoers [1]. Don’t wet jeans chafe, though?
This “anything-goes, but commit to it” attitude is on display in everything from this Ring and Run game [1], to setting up a tent and hammock in the back of a moving truck [1], to Bård confessing a teenage secret [1] and kissing co-host Calle Hellevang-Larsen [1]. The brothers plus friends aspect is another great asset for their chemistry and juvenile mischief.
What sells their musical silliness is Ylvis’ instrumental and vocal skill. Autotune only appears when it fits the genre, like in Pressure [MV] [Amazon, Xiami], and both brothers hit high notes in this blood-drenched Pie Jesu skit [1]. For more music and less comedy, check out their James Brown medley [1] and this performance of Sonho Meu [1].
Given the breadth of their work, who’d expect that the particular vortex of absurdity that is The Fox would be their international breakthrough? This interview in Los Angeles best represents the brothers’ response. Even if Ylvis ends up 2013’s one-global-hit-wonder, the increase in interest (and with it, translations) has made their comedy more accessible to a growing number of fans worldwide.
