Espen Eckbo

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Espen Eckbo (born 22 April 1973 in Oslo) is a Norwegian actor, writer and comedian. Internationally, he is best recognised for having helped to create the fictional boy band Boyzvoice and the subsequent mockumentary Get Ready to be Boyzvoiced (2000) about life in the group. Eckbo has no formal training as an actor, but has a background in law, which he studied at Oslo University.

Eckbo first appeared on Norwegian TV in 1998, when he got his own segment in the news satire program Mandagsklubben ("The Monday Club"), where he would portray a different character every week in a mock documentary style. These segments were also the launching pad for Boyzvoice. He later made fun of the reality-TV phenomenon in the mock reality show Nissene på Låven (2001). This show also introduced two of his most familiar characters, Asbjørn Brekke and Rhino Thue.

In recent years, Eckbo and his characters has featured in the game show TV2-nøttene which airs each year during Christmas and Easter, and is in some ways a parody of a similar program on NRK.

[edit] Characters

Throughout his television career, Eckbo has played dozens of different characters. These are some of his most familiar characters:

• Asbjørn Brekke: a single man in his mid-30s, Asbjørn is naïve and gullible, with limited social skills. He is, however, always happy and positive, and loves talking about his daily life. He might also be a borderline alcoholic.
• Rhino Thue: an angry and paranoid man who takes just about every comment made to him as a personal insult. He is especially touchy about his baldness. His life motto is "Everyone is my enemy until proven otherwise."
• M-Pete: frontman of the band Boyzvoice until the band gets caught lip-synching.
• Waldemar Hoff: a fairly useless lounge musician and chain-smoker. He once announced his plans to sue rolling paper manufacturers Rizla after he was diagnosed with lung cancer.
• Ove: a gullible teenager who is Boyzvoice's biggest fan.
• Esten Skarnes: an "urban priest" who hosts a fictional religious TV show, where he always tells his audience how cool and hip Jesus was. The character is believed to be a parody of real-life TV priest Egil Svartdahl.
• Steinar Hofthun: a comedian who is host Timothy Dahle's sidekick in the late-night talk show parody "Tonight med Timothy Dahle". In each show, Hofthun performs a comedy stunt, that usually result in him being humiliated or seriously injured – or both.