Perhaps one of the most hilariously wholesome hours of stand-up at this year’s Fringe, Thor Stenhaug left his small Norwegian hometown to pursue a sitcom-style London life of flatshares and comedy.
A premise stranger than fiction
Stenhaug’s show premise is sitcom-ready to begin with. Born from circumstances so rare that even when he polls the audience for anyone else conceived during a one-night stand, not a single hand goes up.
Fair enough, he’s performing in one of the Pleasance’s smaller spaces, which makes the show feel intimate and conversational, yet its charm and polish suggest it could easily hold a larger room.
The charms and quirks of Norwegian life
He opens with the weight of his name, bestowed on him with mythic expectations by his parents, before diving into tales of a childhood that was anything but ordinary, such as being dispatched around the country like a DHL package, quite literally.
Then we are immersed in a world of deft observations about the quirks of Norwegian life, including prisons so cosy that inmates hope good behaviour earns them more years.
Family and the search for belonging
His family, particularly his overly optimistic mother, looms large throughout, clearly largely responsible for Stenhaug’s own positive outlook on life. Then there’s his 92-year-old grandmother, who provides her own brand of eccentric wisdom.
Naturally, his unconventional upbringing has also proved tricky to navigate in dating, most memorably during a relationship with an ultra-Christian, ultra-wealthy woman whose tightly knit clan underscored his longing for the kind of family structure he never quite had.
As he wraps up a dating story about a drawing class gone wrong, he delivers a couple of final surprises in the closing punch, best left to be experienced firsthand.
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Overall
What makes the hour so compelling is that it isn’t just packed with gags, complete with callbacks and layered punchlines, but it also unfolds as a deeply personal and moving story.
Stenhaug draws the audience in with humour and warmth, sharing the experiences that shaped his genuinely charming, likeable persona.
Thor Stenhaug: One Night Stand Baby
Summary
A hilariously wholesome hour of stand-up from Norwegian born, London-based Thor Stenhaug, blending sitcom-ready storytelling with deeply personal stories. Warm, polished and replete with layered gags and clever callbacks, it’s a debut that feels both intimate and big-room ready.
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