Fotograf Magazine

In the last six years, Olof Olsson toured Europe with 150kg of luggage and his Driving the Blues Away stand-up several times. During the breaks, he performed in his Copenhagen flat every week, often with extra additions. What always fascinated me was his constant reworking, fine-tuning of the three-hour stand-up text, both in the written and spoken form. The quality of jokes depends on how they are told. But Olof’s practice is an example of tenacity. When on tour, he performs anywhere, from institutions to his friends’ flats, regardless of the audience size and response. His ability to be extremely focused and dedicated, the repetition, which may seem too rigid for one monologue performance, results in a kind of brilliance, an improvisational grip that vibrates and galvanizes the created structure. To me, Olsson’s work has always been somewhere between jazz improvisation, subtle irony, and quiet excellence. His generosity and the indiscrimination of the audience are an example of an egalitarian approach.