''Áramótaskaupið'' ("The New Year's Lampoon") is an annual

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

ic television comedy special, broadcast on

New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve refers to the evening, or commonly the entire day, of the last day of the year, 31 December, also known as Old Year's Day. In many countries, New Year's Eve is celebrated with dancing, eating, drinkin ...

by the state public service broadcaster

RÚV Ríkisútvarpið (, ; abbr. RÚV ) is Iceland's national public broadcasting, public-service broadcasting organization. Founded in 1930, it operates from studios in the country's capital, Reykjavík, as well as regional centres around the count ...

. Initially aired on radio in 1948, and later moving to television in 1966, it features sketches satirizing the news events of the past year. It is often the highest-rated television broadcast of the year in Iceland. In 2002, it was reported that the special had been seen by 95.5% of the country; Páll Magnússon, CEO of

stated that this was most likely a record in the

Western world The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to various nations and state (polity), states in Western Europe, Northern America, and Australasia; with some debate as to whether those in Eastern Europe and Latin America also const ...

. Due to its high viewership, advertising time during ''Áramótaskaupið'' is the most expensive on Icelandic television. The show ends just before midnight, and those Icelanders who shoot off fireworks usually do so after ''Áramótaskaupið'' ends. Some of its sketches have become well known in Icelandic culture, such as its portrayal of Minister of Finance Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson as the

Batman Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on M ...

parody "Skattmann" ("Taxman"). In 2009, the show featured a sketch about the protests following the 2008 Icelandic financial crisis, in which

Jón Gnarr Jón Gnarr (; born Jón Gunnar Kristinsson on 2 January 1967) is an Icelanders, Icelandic actor, comedian, and politician who served as the Mayor of Reykjavík, Mayor of Reykjavík from 2010 to 2014. He is currently a member of the Althing for ...

played a strait-laced middle-aged protester shouting " Helvítis fokking fokk!!". The phrase swiftly became widely used in Iceland in relation to the crisis.

Directors

*1966: Andrés Indriðason *1967: Ómar Ragnarsson *1968: Flosi Ólafsson *1969: Flosi Ólafsson *1970: Flosi Ólafsson *1971: Ása Finnsdóttir & Ómar Ragnarsson *1972: Tage Ammendrup *1973: Laddi *1974: Hrafn Gunnlaugsson *1975: Tage Ammendrup *1976: Flosi Ólafsson *1977: Tage Ammendrup *1978: Þórhildur Þorleifsdóttir *1979: Sigríður Þorvaldsdóttir *1980: Andrés Indriðason *1981: Gísli Rúnar Jónsson *1982:

Þráinn Bertelsson Þráinn Bertelsson (born 30 November 1944) is an Icelandic film director, writer, politician, journalist and newspaper editor. He moved into politics during the 2008–2012 Icelandic financial crisis, and was elected a member of the Althing i ...

*1983: Laddi *1984: Guðný Halldórsdóttir *1985:

Sigurður Sigurjónsson Sigurður Sigurjónsson, commonly referred to as Siggi Sigurjóns, is an Icelandic actor, comedian and screenwriter, best known as a member of the comedy group Spaugstofan. He has starred in a number of films and television series since the ...

*1986:

Karl Ágúst Úlfsson Karl Ágúst Úlfsson (born 4 November 1957) is an Icelandic director, actor and writer. He is best known for his acting in the ''Líf'' trilogy and with the comedy group Spaugstofan. Selected filmography * '' Nýtt Líf'' (1983) - Daníel Ól ...

*1987: Sveinn Einarsson *1988: Gísli Snær Erlingsson *1989: Stefán Baldursson *1990: Gísli Rúnar Jónsson *1991: Ágúst Guðmundsson *1992: Þórhildur Þorleifsdóttir *1993: Guðný Halldórsdóttir *1994: Guðný Halldórsdóttir *1995: Ágúst Guðmundsson *1996: Ágúst Guðmundsson *1997: Viðar Víkingsson *1998: Laddi *1999: Örn Árnason & Sigurður Sigurjónsson *2000: Þórhildur Þorleifsdóttir *2001: Óskar Jónasson *2002: Óskar Jónasson *2003: Ágúst Guðmundsson *2004:

*2005: Edda Björgvinsdóttir *2006: Reynir Lyngdal *2007:

Ragnar Bragason Ragnar Bragason (born 15 September 1971) is an Icelandic film director, screenwriter and Film producer, producer. Life and career Droplaug was born in Súðavík, Iceland. He is best known for his films ''Children (2006 film), Börn'' (''Child ...

*2008: Silja Hauksdóttir *2009: Gunnar Björn Guðmundsson *2010: Gunnar Björn Guðmundsson *2011: Gunnar Björn Guðmundsson *2012: Gunnar Björn Guðmundsson *2013: Kristófer Dignus *2014: Silja Hauksdóttir *2015: Kristófer Dignus *2016:

*2017: Arnór Pálmi Arnarsson *2018: Arnór Pálmi Arnarsson *2019: Reynir Lyngdal *2020: Reynir Lyngdal *2021: Reynir Lyngdal *2022: Dóra Jóhannsdóttir *2023: Benedikt Valsson & Fannar Sveinsson

References

Icelandic comedy television series 1966 Icelandic television series debuts 1960s Icelandic television series 1970s Icelandic television series 1980s Icelandic television series 1990s Icelandic television series 2000s Icelandic television series 2010s Icelandic television series 2020s Icelandic television series {{Iceland-tv-prog-stub