Johan on "Sen kväll med Luuk"
Sen kväll med Luuk (Late Night with Luuk) is a David Letterman inspired talk show and is well-known in Sweden.

KL: You will meet one of our youngest, but also one of our most popular actors.
[scene from Christmas Oratorio]
KL: JOHAN WIDERBERG!
Welcome. Kristian Luuk. Please, have a seat. Johan Widerberg...hehehe
JW: Hehehe yes...Yes?
KL: Are you going to be the clown?
JW: No, I'm just happy.
KL: Well, that's good.
JW: Yes.
KL: Did you see what we showed?
JW: Yes, well I gathered what it was, but, but eh
KL: It was from the film Christmas Oratorio, where you play one of the lead roles.
JW: Yes.
KL: Which is...Christmas Oratorio, which is an adaption...of...this...[trying to find a camera to show the book]...we managed to show it there...the old classic, precisely Göran Tunström's Christmas Oratorio.
JW: It's not really that old.
KL: No.
JW: It came out...
KL: 1983
JW: ...quite recently really. You don't think that, because it's so a part of people's consciousness.
KL: Yes, it sounds like an old book.
JW: Yes.
KL: You've read it of course?
JW: Yes.
KL: And then you've made it into a film.
JW: Yes.
KL: Yes. Where you play...we saw that you speak English here!
JW: Yes, I spoke some English.
KL: Yes?
JW: It, it was hard that, because we, we, I personally speak a...I've been watching far too many American films, so that I speak a...have learnt English really by watching American films. So I talk much like...
KL: Show a bit, how does it sound when you talk?
JW: Nah, I don't want to do that. Then we're getting into clown area...
KL: Mm, no but that's good. We're toning down the clown side.
JW: So that...[laugh] but that's how I really talk. But it becomes so damn weird if along comes a, a guy from Sweden in...in the 40's to New Zealand and talks like this gangster-American.
KL: Mm you...Yes, it's very Swenglish.
JW: So I had to try and take it down a bit. And it, it was hard because nobody had really understood that there was a problem, so we had never talked about it before.
KL: Mm.
JW: So I just had to try...
KL: Speak worse...the director said.
JW: Speak worse...yes, exactly.
KL: Hm, so how was it instead?
JW: Well, it was a bit like...Björn Borg.
KL: [laugh] You were down in New Zealand and shot parts of it.
JW: Yes! Oh yes. We were there for a month. We were there for the whole of December.
KL: Yes, right.
JW: Fantastic...
KL: In the middle of summer.
JW: ...experience. Yes it started just, it was just, really so, there, beautiful early summer that changed into this July, it was lovely.
KL: Mhm. Did you stay a few weeks more then?
JW: Na, I didn't.
KL: ...extended....Do you know what I was thinking of?
JW: ...should have done...
KL: Are you in that, on that level now that you get your own trailer that you stay in?
JW: Yes, sure.
KL: Is that so?
JW: Yes.
KL: [with American accent, outmarking the lines of a sign with his hands] Widerberg.
JW: Thirty meters like so. [shows with his hands]
KL: Nah, but.
JW: Nah, of course I don't. Nobody...we don't have that...in Sweden, and that's very good. I don't understand at all, how you can, I mean how they manage to make films...in Hollywood, because...that way of working, that there should sit some damn star then...or two, or three in their own trailers...like this [shows on the table how the trailers stand some distance apart from each other] and then they sit in there and...and do a lot of drugs, or whatever the hell they're doing.
KL: Mm, we didn't need to note that, but that you maybe prepare yourself mentally, or...
JW: Nah, but in any case.
KL: ...writing a letter home...
JW: Yes, yeah sure, sure. And then they're sitting in there. And then there comes...one minute before the take, then there comes some production assistant and knocks on the door and say: Excuse me, Mrs and or Mr or whoever it is. Now we're going to take... And then they're going to come then...and do this scene. And they like don't talk to each other, it seems. You know?
KL: Mm, mm, I'm with you.
JW: And that's so damn strange, because in Sweden it's like this that, that you...there's a hell of a lot of coffee drinking, and you have fun and you talk a lot of crap with the team.
KL: But turn it around instead.
JW: ...there's so much.
KL: Sure you'd need a room where you can be a little by yourself. Yeah but, I even have a dressing-room down here.
JW: Yeah, yeah, but a dressing-room is one thing, that there is a room you can go to if you feel that, that you have to have...this private...for a moment before you go in and that. Those are always like there.
KL: Mm, hm.
JW: But this damn...
KL: What would you like to have...
JW: ...insane...
KL: No, but I understand.
JW: ...like that you like shut yourself in...
KL: I understand. But if you would like something there on your rider. What would that be then, then? That you always got to have...
JW: In...in the bus?
KL: Yes, masseuse or...
JW: Yes...
KL: M&M's
JW: You don't say not to a massage. Yes, like this M&M's...
KL: ...except for the green ones...
JW: ...but with all the green ones...yes, exactly.
KL: Hm, nothing like that?
JW: Nae, ehm what the hell would that be? Eeh, a Playstation!
KL: A Playstation?
JW: Yes.
KL: Yes, that's nice.
JW: Of course.
KL: Good.
JW: [laugh]
KL: I'll write down Playstation.
JW: Yes, do that.
KL: Hm. You and your dad...
JW: They aren't that expensive now.
KL: Your dad is Bo Widerberg.
JW: Yes.
KL: We know a lot about him, but your mom, Anki Widerberg...
JW: [laugh] Yes...
KL: What does she do?
JW: Her name is actually not even Anki Widerberg.
KL: Na.
JW: Her name is Anki Santesson.
KL: Okay, what does she do a, on an autumn like this?
JW: She, she's a deputy director at the Institute of Education in Stockholm.
KL: Uhu.
JW: She's been working there for...
KL: That's not as glamorous.
JW: ...for many years...I think it's glamorous as hell. Deputy director!
KL: Yeah, yeah.
JW: Huh! Get a taste of that.
KL: Yes, that's a good word.
JW: Yes...
KL: Yes, I agree with that.
JW: Sure.
KL: Mm. When did you see her last?
JW: Eeh well, it was actually a pretty long time ago...I can't...a little too long ago actually.
KL: Hm, it's been more dad.
JW: But I've talked to her on the phone just a few...yesterday I think.
KL: Okay!
JW: Yes. So it's okay.
KL: Johan dropped out of school already in the ninth grade. So, you don't even have the nine-year compulsory education. I'd just like to say, that's very unusual.
JW: And illegal at that I believe.
KL: And illegal as well.
JW: Yes.
KL: To be serious. Do you regret it today?
JW: No, absolutely not.
KL: Mm.
JW: I've almost never regretted anything as little as precisely that, I have to say, it was, yes it, it was no but it, it was necessary. I couldn't take it.
KL: May I interrupt you? I have to urge the viewers not to do the same thing, in this case as well. As a small parenthesis. Eh, but don't you think that...I can understand that it's a good thing to make a break and, and find yourself...
JW: Yees...
KL: ...which you've really done...and...but you can't always live on kind of the fact that you're the youngest and prettiest and...
JW: Na, but, na but I don't think that I do either. I've like never...I've...I've...It's not that I, that I don't want to educate myself, you know. It was just that school couldn't educate me, because I couldn't st...couldn't be in that, in that, in that room...
KL: No.
JW: ...and with those people. I just couldn't, you know.
KL: No, but right at that time. No, but I buy that.
JW: But then I've...then I've always...I read much, and see much and educate myself. And, like I...
KL: But you haven't started studying at Komvux(* adult education)?
JW: It's not like I haven't...
KL: To make up for it?
JW: I did actually. I tried that. Was going to complete the compulsory education at, at; Komvux...and got part of the way, but then I got some other job [laugh] so then I had to quit that too.
KL: Mm, but surely you'll have some disadvantage some day, eh don't you think so?...When you can't [turns and points to four people in the audience, one with Sen on the t-shirt, one with Kväll and so on] figure out how many different combinations these guys can sit with the Sen Kväll Med Luuk T-shirts. You see.
JW: Mm.
KL: The first one can be in four different positions, the next one can be in three, two or...
JW: Yes, no that's true.
KL: You wouldn't be able to calculate that.
JW: I wouldn't, but I wonder if...am I less happy because of that? I don't think so.
KL: Mm. Because I'm raised from a completely different direction, that you have to...
JW: Yes, I know!
KL: ...have an acedemic...
JW: Yes.
KL: ...education...
JW: Yes.
KL: ...at the base...and then...
JW: Yes.
KL: ...and that, we're talking, not only high school, but uni...
JW: No.
KL: ...versity.
JW: What education have you had?
KL: I have a Masters in Business Administration. [laugh from the audience]
JW: You have, huh?
KL: Mm, it's true, but I don't have any purely concrete use for it.
JW: No.
KL: But I feel that I can fall back on that the day that nobody wants to see me on TV.
JW: No, right, exactly.
KL: And you have to have the same thing.
JW: No but that's true.
KL: The day that you can't...
JW: ...exactly...
KL: ...come through as an actor.
JW: You're absolutely right, that I don't have that kind thing that, that elite athletes often talk about. That they want to get an education to have something to...
KL: Mm.
JW: But...I hope that I, that I can continue with this.
KL: Johan Widerberg has for as long as I've known him been a heavy smoker. Always a cigarette in his mouth. Now I heard that you quit that, only a month or so ago.
JW: Mm.
KL: Is that true?
JW: Na, it's four months ago.
KL: Four months ago?
JW: Mm.
KL: That's good.
JW: Mm. [The audience applauds.] That's incredibly good.
KL: Wow, gosh.
JW: [Nods to the audience to thank for the applause]
KL: So called spontaneous applause.
JW: [laugh]
KL: Eeh, why did you quit smoking?
JW: I felt that it was enough...eeh, just from one day to another. I woke up...I would like to tell this because I thought that I was very good. I woke up...one morning and so I had...half a pack left. Like ten, eleven cigarettes left in the pack. And for you who smoke, well you know that, well, that, you don't get rid of that...very easily. But I did. I thought that: No, it's enough. And so I went into the kitchen...
KL: And threw them out...
JW: ...and poured water in this pack...
KL: [Points to his temple to indicate that Johan is crazy.]
JW: ...and threw...
KL: Yees.
JW: And that was that. No patches, no, no nicotine chewing gums, or anything, just this.
KL: Do you have a good character otherwise?
JW: [thinking] Nae.
KL: But it worked here, right.
JW: Yes, but I mean given that I started smoking once and smoked 30, 40 a day. That's...
KL: Yes you smoked a great deal.
JW: ...indicates a lousy character, but then I've managed to quit, so it...
KL: But what happens then, we heard Anders Lundin talk about earlier...eeh in film, that he has to smoke in several...
JW: Yes.
KL: ...of the scenes. And he doesn't smoke in private life.
JW: Mm, exactly.
KL: Isn't that how it is?
JW: You know, quite a few people have turned that into a system too. Actors who I know...who tell the wife and possible children and that, that now daddy's quit smoking. And they are very happy when they...because it smells a lot better in...
KL: Yes, yeah sure.
JW: ...and so on. The walls don't get that yellow.
KL: Mm.
JW: And then they're doing...then they get a film job...and then in the first meeting with, with the director. "Well, well, I've, I've, I've you know, I've read the script now and, and, and I, I feel that this guy, he, he's a chain smoker.
KL: [laugh] They say themselves?
JW: Yes.
KL: ...take their own in[itiatives] within...
JW: ...exactly...So that, that is, is actually very common.
KL: Because it's fairly common...
JW: People who suck cigarettes in on the set...
KL: Mhm.
JW: ...and then hide it at home.
KL: Well, that's nice.
JW: That's not nice.
KL: Yes, but it's good if you want to fool someone.
JW: Yes, but it's no...[mumbles]
KL: Well, it's a good trick. But there is a lot of smoking on film. There has to be classic...
JW: Yes.
KL: I'm sure you could...
JW: It often annoys me that...well, that there are, many, many actors who also, who have to have cigarettes in...so that it kind of, they want to fiddle with something like this...
KL: Do we have, do we...
JW: ...like a pacifier.
KL: ...have a few cigarettes here? Do we have anyone who has...You're going to get to show a little of how it looks, like a pacifier. Eeh...promise that you won't inhale, but feel free to light it and smoke a bit. Here you go, a cigarette. Will you be able to quit if I...eeh, if you just take a little puff?
JW: [hesitating]
KL: Be a little TV friendly.
JW: Yes, I can do that, okay but, but, I, I don't, I don't want to smoke a cigarette.
KL: No.
JW: I can't do that.
KL: No, but you can show a little.
JW: But, but if you...I can, I can do...There are actors who, who really can, who can smoke...eeh, quite funnily...on film.
KL: Okay.
JW: There is...
KL: Fun smoking.
JW: ...there is an, well an old favourite puff [laugh]...eeh, Christopher Walken does in a film called...eeh, Öga mot öga. A pretty good film actually.
KL: Mm. Are you going to show us the puff now?
JW: Yes, well I was going to show...
KL: Okay.
JW: ...this puff. [laugh]
KL: Can I light it or is the lighting part of it?
JW: And then...No, but then it's like this, then, then I need your help.
KL: Yeayea.
JW: You see it's like this...you get to light it...[takes the cigarette out of the pack]
KL: Mm.
JW: ...and then you'll be...You're Sean Penn.
KL: Yes. [the audience laughs]
JW: Is that okay?
KL: [throws his hands about]
JW: And then you're going to, then when you've lit it, then you're going to hand it to me.
KL: Am I going to light it?
JW: Mm.
KL: I can't smoke.
JW: But you can light it.
KL: Yes.
JW: Can you manage that?
KL: Yeayea.[tar emot cigarretten] Should I start with that?
JW: Mm. Do that.
KL: [lights the cigarrette and hands it to Johan]
JW: Så. Nej, vänta, vänta. [visar hur Kristian ska hålla cigarretten] Så, du må...det är mer liksom så...Så där.
KL: Yes. Are you Walken now?
JW: Now I'm Walken and you're Penn.
KL: Yes, right.
JW: Okay?
KL: Do I say something now?
JW: No, you don't say anything. You're kind of, you know.
KL: Mm.
JW: [Johan leans forward pretending to take five quick puffs on the cigarrette and then leans back]
[The audience laughs awaitingly and applauds. Johan and Kristian look at each other]
JW: That, that, that's the kind of thing that...and I just want to say right away that i hate cigarrette romance and that and I have quit, I won't smoke any more now. But it, it was just...But it, it is a good, that is...these kind of actors who, who do irrational things...is so incredible...because that, you just don't do that...
KL: No, that was odd...
JW: It's...
KL: ...felt incredibly awkward.
JW: ...totally sick.[audience laughs] But, and that, I myself am, and often suffer from that, myself sometimes, that I'm so damn rational...
KL: Mm.
JW: ...as an actor.
KL: Mm.
JW: Do you know what I mean?
KL: Yeayeayea.
JW: That I often do...like what's logically correct...
KL: Mm. And that...
JW: ...when I work.
KL: Mm.
JW: But that's...
KL: Mm. That was crazy...
JW: That's why you love someone like Christopher Walken. That he does this kind of thing. It's completely absurd...
KL: I thought it was really nice that you showed us how to do it too.
JW: Thank you.
KL: Before we let you go Johan Widerberg...we will, I thought that we would play the angry game.
JW: Mm.
KL: You know about the angry game. We try to do it sometimes.
JW: What...
KL: The point of it is that the two of us look at each other and the first who laughs has lost. Are you ready?
JW: Okay.
KL: The angry game starts now!
[Johan sits completely indifferent while Kristian tries to make funny faces. After nine seconds Kristian can't keep a straight face any longer. Johan doesn't move a muscle.]
KL: Congratulations! [the audience applauds] This is Johan Widerberg! Thanks for coming.
JW: Shall I go?
KL: No, you can stay.
JW: Thank you. Thanks.

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