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Espen Andersen Eckbo (born 22 April 1973) is a Norwegian actor, writer and comedian. He was born in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

, and grew up in Bestum. He now lives in Ullevål Hageby. Eckbo has no formal training as an actor, but has a background as a law student for two years at the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top univers ...

. Internationally, he is best recognised for having helped to create the fictional boy band Boyzvoice and the subsequent

mockumentary A mockumentary (a blend of ''mock'' and ''documentary''), fake documentary or docu-comedy is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events but presented as a documentary. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on ...

'' Get Ready to be Boyzvoiced'' (2000) together with Henrik Elvestad. Eckbo first appeared on Norwegian television in 1998, when he got his own segment in the

news satire News satire or news comedy is a type of parody presented in a format typical of mainstream journalism, and called a satire because of its content. News satire has been around almost as long as journalism itself, but it is particularly popular on t ...

program '' Mandagsklubben'', where he would portray a different character every week in a mock documentary style. These segments were also the launching pad for Boyzvoice. The short-lived show ''I kveld'', with Thomas Giertsen, and Rebekka Strandenes followed in 1999. He later made fun of the reality TV phenomenon in the mock reality show '' Nissene på låven'' (2001, together with Kristian Ødegård). This show also introduced two of his most familiar characters, Asbjørn Brekke and Rhino Thue. By that time, Eckbo had established the production company Seefood together with Kristian Ødegård. Eckbo and his characters has also featured in the game show ''TV2-nøttene'' which was presented by Ødegård and aired during Christmas and Easter, and is a parody of the

Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and the larges ...

programs ''Julenøtter'' and ''Påskenøtter''. His characters also featured in Henrik Elvestad's mock talk show ''Tonight med Timothy Dale'' (2003) and Eckbo's show ''Tett på tre'' (2008). He had segments in

Otto Jespersen Jens Otto Harry Jespersen (; 16 July 1860 – 30 April 1943) was a Denmark, Danish linguistics, linguist who specialized in the grammar of the English language. Steven Mithen described him as "one of the greatest language scholars of the ninetee ...

's ''Rikets røst''. In 2006 Eckbo created the live show ''Team Eckbo'' together with

Atle Antonsen Atle Antonsen (born 11 August 1969, in Lillehammer) is a Norwegian comedian and actor. Antonsen has participated in and contributed to several television and radio shows, including ''XL'' and ''XLTV'' (1998–99), '' Nissene på låven'' ...

Harald Eia Harald Meldal Eia (born 9 February 1966) is a Norwegian comedian, and sociologist. In recent years, Eia has also made TV-documentaries and written books. Eia became a household name in Norway in the mid-90s and has since then been one of cou ...

and Bård Tufte Johansen.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eckbo, Espen 1973 births Living people Norwegian male film actors Norwegian male comedians TVNorge people TV 2 (Norway) people Male actors from Oslo Norwegian male television actors