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Ari Eldjárn: Pardon My Icelandic review – footie, Thor and Scandi noir

First Icelandic standup on Netflix” may be as hollow a claim as “the most Nobel prize-winners in the world per capita” – a compatriots’ boast that Ari Eldjárn cheerfully punctures in this hour-long set, filmed three years ago at the National Theatre of Iceland. Eldjárn doesn’t miss his breakout moment: Pardon My Icelandic is a confident and engaging hour, if not – in its combination of observational humour and Nordic identity comedy – a provocative one. He does not so much plant his flag in the territory of national stereotypes as disembark his longboat at those stereotypes, pillage them, and sail off back to Reykjavik with their abducted wives.

Fair enough: being Icelandic is a unique selling point, and Eldjárn is sell-sell-selling. There are jokes about the Icelandic national anthem, Iceland beating England at football, Icelandic crime shows on BBC Four and about Iceland’s rivalry with Denmark. The latter routine smooths the show’s passage towards Scandi humour more widely, as Eldjárn jokes about the Faroes, the Finns, and the insufficiently Nordic character of Marvel’s Thor movies.

Sometimes, the cliches induce a wince. “That’s what [the Brits] are so good at,” says Eldjárn at one point: “they keep calm and carry on.” Seriously? But usually, it works. The stereotypes will be unfamiliar to most Netflixers: who knew that their fellow Scandis hold Icelanders to be poorly organised, or that Norwegians ski-jump with their voices? There are weak jokes here: the one about block-voting at Eurovision cries out for a twist that never comes. But there are some fine act-outs, too, like the weightlifter using Roman numerals at the gym, or Eldjárn’s dumbshow at the motion-sensitive hand-dryer.

As that section suggests, Eldjárn’s set is less about the content of the jokes (not always very adventurous) than the way he tells ’em: chipper, slick, with a sly twinkle winking out from behind his innocent, Father Dougal-ish facade. It’s also enjoyable to watch a show that assumes its audience’s multilingualism – or at least, an interest in linguistic play. Pardon My Icelandic may be Netflix’s first Icelandic standup show but, on this showing, it won’t be its – or Eldjárn’s – last.