Filip Hammar and Fredrik Wikingsson
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Filip Hammar and Fredrik Wikingsson are two Swedish TV-personalities both known for their youthful, though intellectual, humour and unconventional journalism. The duo has been celebrated for their relaxed and spontaneous style in front of the camera. As Filip explains: "We just turn on the camera and go.". Since 2002, Filip and Fredrik have together produced seven different TV shows and, in the aftermath of the shows' successes in Sweden, written books. The couple owns, and works within, the company Framgångsfabriken, started in 2001, which takes credit to their media appearances.
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[edit] Filip & Fredrik
Fredrik Wikingsson was born in 1973 in Vänersborg, Västra Götalands län, Sweden. Filip Hammar was born in 1975 in Köping, Västmanlands län, Sweden. Both Fredrik and Filip are journalists and have written articles for major Swedish newspapers and magazines such as Aftonbladet, Café, Bon and ELLE. The duo met when they were both working for the newspaper Aftonbladet and one day decided to go out and have a drink together. They soon became very good friends and have worked together since then, mostly with TV-shows. They both also enjoy working extra as DJ's.
The first TV-appearance by Filip and Fredrik together was in 2000 as Christer Ulfbåges sidekicks in Hello Sydney, Sweden's TV-coverage of the Olympics games in Sydney. In each program the TV-viewers chatted with Filip and Fredrik who then, in short segments, presented the viewers opinions about different topics and events. The duo was heavily criticized for their efforts, and did not get along well with the shows host Christer Ulfbåge. Anders Björkman, famous Swedish TV-critic, disliked Filip and Fredriks appearance in the show to the extent that he wrote the line "give me a gun and two shells and the problem will be over" as a comment on the show.
In 2002 they returned with the TV-show "Ursäkta röran (vi bygger om)" ("Pardon the mess (we're redecorating)"). Since then, the duo has produced and hosted several TV-shows.
In 2006, Filip and Fredrik were hosts for Rockbjörnen.
The pair has had their sexuality questioned repeatedly by the people they interact with on camera. Although they are heterosexual, jokes about their would-be gay relationship has become a running gag.
[edit] TV-shows
[edit] Ursäkta Röran (Vi Bygger Om) (2002)
Translates to "Excuse the mess (we're rebuilding)"
The duo first achieved fame with Ursäkta röran broadcast on TV4 in 2002. Six episodes were made but only four aired. The concept involved Filip and Fredrik making fun of both famous and unknown people using a hidden camera and similar setups. The show was largely influenced by shows like "pyjamas", a similar show that aired the year before on youth channel ZTV. The jokes were of a rather unusual - sometimes experimental - nature and some viewers took offense, feeling that the pair were humiliating innocent people. Often the "jokes" were taken far beyond what in most people produced a laugh.
Especially, the show made headlines due to a segment called "the Swedish Nazi-reference championship" where they fooled singer and former Expedition Robinson-star Emma Andersson into an interview where they made as many Nazi-references as possible and observed her reactions. This included jokes such as naming the show they claimed to work for "Treblinka", claiming that Leni Riefenstahl was a modern director of music-videos, that Paul Joseph Goebbels is a DJ whose music resemble Emma's, and dozens of other names and words related to the Third Reich and the Holocaust. Emma - at least on tape - didn't seem to react at all. She later claimed that her reactions were edited out in order to make fun of her.
This caused a major controversy as many felt that the whole thing was mean-spirited and in bad taste. Tabloids reported the segment as a scandal and painted Emma as a violated victim. Filip and Fredrik defended the segment by claiming that it is important to expose ignorance among public persons who young people might look up to. In the end, TV4 was fined by the Swedish Broadcasting Commission who argued that - since Emma was not a political person - the segment was intrusive to her privacy and integrity.
[edit] Öppna Dagar (2003)
Translates to "Open days"'
A non-successful talkshow aired on a small Stockholm-specific TV-channel called Öppna kanalen. All technical personnel were high school students and the featured guests were mostly local celebrities. The show was canceled in the middle of the season due to non-popularity.
[edit] High Chaparall (2003-2005)
Not to be confused with the 1967 western TV-series The High Chaparral
Now working for the Swedish broadcasting company Kanal 5, the duos new project High Chaparall would prove to be a lot less controversial and become more popular. Taking a camera-team to America, Filip and Fredrik filmed a series of interviews with minor celebrities and has-beens such as Fabio Lanzoni, Pamela Anderson, Ron Jeremy, Tonya Harding, Uri Geller, and Gary Busey. Rather than just sit down and talk, they also followed the stars around and engaged themselves in various activities. The show was picked up for a second and third season, and the fourth season is currently aired in Sweden. The first three seasons have been released on DVD.
In 2005, a version of the shows format was used for a meeting with former Swedish prime-minister Ingvar Carlsson.
The signature melody for the show is the song I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) by The Proclaimers.
[edit] 100 Höjdare (2004-2007)
Translates to "100 highlights"
There has been a total of five seasons for this show, all aired on Kanal 5. For the first three seasons of 100 höjdare, it was a count-down show were Filip and Fredrik listed their choices of the funniest moments in history. The moments selected originally were not intended to be funny, i.e. no sketches or jokes, etc.
The first season, called "Sweden's Funniest Moments", featured 100 funny moments in Swedish history. Fredrik and Filip presented the clips in a summary outdoor environment. The second season, "The World's Funniest Moments", featured 100 funny moments not only in Swedish history, but of the world. Also, the show moved into a studio and started to feature guests, therefore turning into a talk show. A third season, aired by Swedish television in the autumn of 2005, featured a top-ten list of different theme in each episode. Despite its title, the third season only had eight episodes listing ten funny moments each, making it only 80 highlights in this season.
In the fourth and fifth season, the duo travelled through Sweden and the rest of scandinavia, meeting with 10 eccentric people in each episode. The couple's 10 favorites were then brought to a castle, where they competed in various elimination games, for example hide&seek, in order to establish a winner. One of the finalists, Sten "Taxi" Johansson - the newspaper-clips man - was then employed to the show "Ett Herrans Liv".
The theme song for the show is Pretty Belinda by Hammar, Wikingsson and their producer André Linschooten.
[edit] Grattis Världen! (2005)
Translates to "Congratulations the world!"
Filip and Fredrik travel around the world to exotic countries and tries unusual, and often quite adventurous, things. The general plot is quite similar to High Chaparall and accompanied by eccentric people picked up by the way. The Swedish performance artist Pål Hollender, who is present in some episodes, is stated to direct the show; a fact that, among some, is considered a media trick.
The theme song for the show is Iggy Pop's hit The Passenger performed by Lars Bygdén.
[edit] Ett Herrans Liv (2006)
A TV-talkshow by Fredrik & Filip aired on Kanal 5. In this show, the duo interviews different Swedish celebrities, many of whom they've made fun of in their preceding shows. Among them the former Swedish prime minister Göran Persson as well as the current prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt.
The theme song for the show is the song I Wish by Skee-Lo.
[edit] Boston Tea Party (2007)
A TV-talkshow by Fredrik & Filip airing on Kanal 5. It is described as a "knowledge program on steroids" and "asks the questions you've always been thinking about but never dared to ask".
[edit] Myggan (2007)
An animated sitcom in style with The Simpsons and Family Guy. The sitcom has featured famous Swedish people.
[edit] Books
[edit] Två nötcreme och en moviebox (2003)
Filip and Fredrik's first book is a humorous description of Sweden from the couple's growth mainly during the 1980s. The preface was said to have been written by former Beverly Hills 90210 celebrity Ian Ziering.
[edit] 100 höjdare (2004)
The book 100 höjdare: Sveriges roligaste ögonblick genom tiderna is a count-down of the funniest moments in Sweden's history.
