Jean-Pierre Kusela is a fictional character invented by

Spede Pasanen Pertti Olavi "Spede" Pasanen (10 April 1930 – 7 September 2001) was a Finnish film director and producer, comedian, and inventor, who has been called an "all-around entertainer". During his career he directed, wrote, produced or acted in ...

and played by

Vesa-Matti Loiri Vesa-Matti "Vesku" Loiri (4 January 1945 – 10 August 2022) was a Finnish actor, musician and comedian, best known for his role as Uuno Turhapuro, whom he portrayed in a total of 20 movies between the years 1973 and 2004. Loiri made a strong i ...

, appearing in the Finnish sketch comedy series '' Spede Show'' from 1985 to 1987. The character also appeared in '' Vesku Show'' from 1988 to 1991.

Appearances

Jean-Pierre Kusela became famous with his song ''Naurava kulkuri'' ("The laughing tramp"), a cover version of

Jim Lowe James Ellsworth Lowe (May 7, 1923 – December 12, 2016) was an American singer-songwriter, best known for his 1956 number-one hit song, " The Green Door". He also served as a disc jockey and radio host and personality and was considered a ...

's song ''Gambler’s Guitar'' that was published by German singer

Fred Bertelmann Fred Bertelmann (7 October 1925 – 22 January 2014) was a German singer and actor. Life Bertelmann was born in Duisburg in the Ruhr area, the son of a chemical industry employee. Aged nine, he became a chorister and later also studied cello, tru ...

(under the ''Der lachende Vagabund'', ''The laughing Vagabond'') in 1957. The song became so popular that Vesa-Matti Loiri published it on his 1986 album ''Naurava kulkuri'', under the Kusela name. The album sold 92 thousand copies. It received a platinum record award in 1987, and is one of the 60 most sold ever Finnish albums in Finland.Myydyimmät levyt
, ifpi.fi. Accessed on 22 July 2014. In 1987 Loiri published another album, ''Voi hyvä tavaton'' ("Oh my goodness"), which sold 25 thousand copies, receiving a gold record award. In 1988, Kusela appeared on the Tyyne album ''Pim peli pom''. They performed the song ''"Tahdon olla sulle hellä"'' together. In 1995 Loiri published a CD single ''Nauravan kulkurin paluu'' ("The return of the laughing tramp"), which included a

remix A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...

version of the original 1986 song. Jean-Pierre Kusela appeared in November 2001 in the Spede Pasanen memorial concert at the

Hartwall Arena Helsinki Halli, or Helsinki Arena (formerly Hartwall Arena), is a large multi-functional indoor arena located in Helsinki, Finland. It was opened in April 1997. The arena is convertible for various events. The total seated capacity during ice ...

. The concert was broadcast on

MTV3 MTV3 (, ) is a Finnish commercial television channel owned and operated by the media company MTV Oy, originally launched on 13 August 1957 as a programming block, becoming its own channel on 1 January 1993. It had the biggest audience share ...

in December 2001. Kusela's last appearance was in the 2004 film '' Uuno Turhapuro - This Is My Life''.

Concept

The character is a

parody A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satire, satirical or irony, ironic imitation. Often its subject is an Originality, original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, e ...

of typical

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

smooth-voiced ''

chanson A (, ; , ) is generally any Lyrics, lyric-driven French song. The term is most commonly used in English to refer either to the secular polyphonic French songs of late medieval music, medieval and Renaissance music or to a specific style of ...

'' singers, particularly

Jean-Claude Pascal Jean-Claude Villeminot (24 October 1927 – 5 May 1992), better known as Jean-Claude Pascal (), was a French comedian, actor, singer and writer. Early life He was born in Paris into a family of wealthy textile manufacturers. His mother, A ...

, whose surname - like that of Kusela - has a connotation of

toilet humour Toilet humour or potty humour is a type of off-colour humour dealing with: defecation (including diarrhea and constipation), in which case it is called scatological humour (compare scatology); urination; flatulence, in which case it is called f ...

.FINNPICKS - Remaking musical memories
/ref> ("Pascal" sounds like ''"paska"'', Finnish for "

shit ''Shit'' is an English-language profanity. As a noun, it refers to fecal matter, and as a verb it means to defecate; in the plural ("the shits"), it means diarrhea. ''Shite'' is a common variant in British and Irish English. As a slang ...

", and hence the name Kusela comes from ''"kusi"'', Finnish for "

piss Piss is a vulgarism. Piss(es) or pissing may refer to: * Urine, a liquid by-product of the body that is secreted by the kidneys and excreted through the urethra ** Urination, the ejection of urine to the outside of the body * ''Piss'' (album), a ...

".) Jean-Pierre Kusela is a big-nosed, dark-haired and dark-bearded

night club A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a Bar (establishment), bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighti ...

singer speaking Finnish in a foreign accent. In a typical Kusela sketch, the character performed his songs smoking

cigarette A cigarette is a narrow cylinder containing a combustible material, typically tobacco, that is rolled into Rolling paper, thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end, causing it to smolder; the resulting smoke is orally inhale ...

s and drinking

alcoholic beverage Drinks containing alcohol (drug), alcohol are typically divided into three classes—beers, wines, and Distilled beverage, spirits—with alcohol content typically between 3% and 50%. Drinks with less than 0.5% are sometimes considered Non-al ...

s while the

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

pianist Puppe (

Olli Ahvenlahti Olli Ahvenlahti (born 6 August 1949, in Helsinki) is a Finnish pianist, composer and conductor of Russian descent. Ahvenlahti succeeded Ossi Runne as the Finnish conductor at the Eurovision Song Contest for the 1990 Contest. In all, he conducte ...

) accompanied him with piano music.

Discography

* ''Naurava kulkuri'' (1986) * ''Voi hyvä tavaton'' (1987)

Singles

* ''Nauravan kulkurin paluu'' (1995)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kusela, Jean-Pierre Fictional singers Fictional French people Spede Pasanen Television characters introduced in 1985 Finnish comedy musicians Television in Finland