The Ballroom of Grand Hotel is fairly quiet as we enter the gallery for the first Studentafton of the year. While we sit down and wait, the room gradually fills up, and soon all 240 seats are occupied. Only then does the main guest of the evening, Fredrik Skavlan, the beloved journalist and presenter now synonymous with Nordic talk show, enter the room. He is accompanied by Martin Wicklin, host of P1’s “Söndagsintervjun” and one of Sweden’s premier interviewers, who is to be the moderator for the evening. They are both met with applause and cheers from the crowd. Fredrik struggles slightly with finding his way to his seat, next to which is a table where a glass of water and a glass of red wine wait for him. As Fredrik and Martin both sit down, the crowd settles, and the evening can begin.
Fredrik Skavlan had his breakthrough as host of the Norwegian talk show Først og sist, which first aired in 1998. More than a decade later, in 2009, came Skavlan, a Swedish-Norwegian co-production between SVT and NRK. It ran for 25 seasons until 2021 and Fredrik would not return as the host of his own show until Skavlan & Sverige premiered last autumn.
“To sit around a table, instead of on opposite sides, with a mix of people”
Fredrik tells us that the idea of Skavlan & Sverige was brought to him by Helena Olsson from SVT. He first viewed it as a “suicide idea” because of how the debate climate in Sweden is, in his own words, both infected, difficult, and punishing. The show so far has, however, been well received. It has also been a change of pace for Fredrik, as he now focuses less on the people invited to his show and more on the topics that are debated. So far, everything from beauty standards, infidelity, Swedish rearmament, and the ultra wealthy has been discussed. According to Fredrik, this was exactly the goal: seeing a wide mix of people sitting around a table instead of on opposite sides. While growing up, he tells us he experienced a lot of discussions, fights even, but they were enjoyable. This is what he wishes to give us, the viewers, with his newest show.
Long before Skavlan was a talk show host beloved by Swedes and Norwegians alike, he dreamt of becoming a visual artist, influenced by his grandfather being a set designer. Fredrik grew up among theatre and artists and his mother was a visual artist. In Fredrik’s own words he was “ok” at drawing and at one point applied to St Martins School of Art, but after the first admission interview and a failed art test he gave up. For a while, Fredrik also wanted to become an actor, but when the application forms for the school of theatre in Oslo turned out to be “meaningless” that didn’t happen either.
“It was, and perhaps is, the case that I am quick to give up”
Fredrik finds it fascinating that some people are guided by an inner passion or power. He claims that he got into TV because he was told it would fit him, and adds that had he been convinced he was best suited for something else, he might as well have done that. He says he would rather be the kind of person driven by an inner fire because, as he puts it, “all of the greats of history are that way.”. He adds though, that when he does take something upon himself, he does it wholeheartedly and throughout the years he has learnt that that saying yes is a virtue.
“With the exception of dinner invitations from Jeffrey Epstein, I think you should always say yes” he proclaims as the audience lets out a laugh. “I am in the Epstein files, did you know that?” he continues.
(make this upcoming paragraph visually separate from the rest of the text – its a sidequest kinda)
Fredrik actually told us the reason he is in the files. While recording Skavlan in New York, they reached out to every Swede and Norwegian with a central position in the city. One of these people was a diplomat, and in the files an email from him to Epstein or someone who works for him can be seen expressing a wish to set up a lunch with Fredrik and “our friend Dubin”. Dubin likely refers to a Swedish woman, Eva Andersson Dubin, married to the billionaire philanthropist Dubin and also Epstein’s ex. No reply was sent and the lunch never happened.
The evening flows well with a mix of insights into the media landscape which Fredrik inhabits, and his own thoughts about how that world has changed throughout his career. It seems that the change in tone and conversation in general has gone unnoticed by no one.
We usually hear that both the world and Sweden have become more polarized, but Fredrik does not seem to think this is anything new, or even a bad thing. The real problem is being afraid of polarisation, he explains, because when that happens, you get scared of talking to each other.
Fredrik, as a public figure, has a role to play in this. He states that he has at least some power and reaffirms it later during the evening after a question from the audience. He is part of shaping current discourse as he decides what topics are being discussed, and with whom, during prime time. It is a task few are rewarded, and he is clear that he tries to use the power it grants him to improve the public debate.
Skavlan & Sverige has already left its mark on the public debate. Just in recent months, it has sparked debate over proposals of a lowered age of criminal responsibility, fuelled discourse about what is owed to society from the ultra wealthy, and set off a flood of discussion about whether certain “icks” are justified. The few episodes left of the second season, and any potential upcoming seasons are sure to keep fueling debate. For those of us who listened tonight, and perhaps for those of you who have read this article, we will keep watching the show, but now with slightly greater insight. Partly into what happens before the cameras starts rolling and after we turn the TV off, but also into what goes on inside the mind of a great journalist while interviewing some of the most powerful, popular and influential people not only in Sweden and Norway but in the world.
