Robbie Rotten () is a fictional character and the main

antagonist An antagonist is a character in a story who is presented as the main enemy or rival of the protagonist and is often depicted as a villain.LazyTown ''LazyTown'' () is an Icelandic children's educational musical television series created by aerobics champion Magnús Scheving. Originally produced in English, it has been broadcast in dozens of languages globally. Designed to encourage health ...

''. He is also the series' primary

comic relief Comic Relief is a British charity, founded in 1986 by the comedy scriptwriter Richard Curtis and comedian Sir Lenny Henry in response to the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia. The concept of Comic Relief was to get British comedians to make t ...

character. He is a ruthless, greedy and lazy, yet goofy, eccentric and silly supervillain, and the arch-nemesis of the series' main protagonists,

Sportacus Sportacus 10 () is a fictional character from the Icelandic children's television show ''LazyTown'', created and portrayed by Magnús Scheving. His name in English is a portmanteau of the ancient figure Spartacus and the word sport, which repres ...

and

Stephanie Stephanie is a female name that comes from the Greek name Στέφανος (Stephanos) meaning "crown, wreath, garland". The male form is Stephen. Forms of Stephanie in other languages include the German "Stefanie", the Italian, Czech, Pol ...

, who promote exercise, healthy eating and an active and healthy lifestyle. As for Robbie, his favorite pastimes include eating

junk food "Junk food" is a term used to describe food that is high in calorie#Nutrition, calories from macronutrients such as sugar and fat, and often also high in sodium, making it hyperpalatable, and low in dietary fiber, Protein (nutrient), protein, or m ...

and watching TV. Robbie has fair skin, green-grey eyes, and black hair. He usually wears a two-piece suit of maroon and purple with gold pinstripes, formal shoes, a navy blue shirt with cuffs and cuff links. He is the tallest character. Being extremely lazy, Robbie naturally opposes their attempts to spread a healthy influence to the people of LazyTown and employs various schemes, often involving the use of disguises, to discredit healthy living and run Sportacus (whom he refers to as "Sportaflop") out of LazyTown in every episode, although his plans are always foiled in the end. Ironically, Robbie becomes very active when he executes his plans. He was based on his incarnation from the original musical and played by

Stefán Karl Stefánsson Stefán Karl Stefánsson ( , ; 10 July 1975 – 21 August 2018) was an Icelandic actor and singer. He was best known for portraying Robbie Rotten, the antagonist of the children's television series ''LazyTown''. Career Stefán Karl's career ...

on the children’s show.

History

In the second Icelandic stage play, the character was called Glanni Glæpur and, when he arrived at the town, he wore a completely black outfit; but, when he was disguised as Rikki Riki (a very wealthy man), he wore a purple coat, purple pants and shoes that are similar to those that Robbie wears in the television series—although at that point he did not yet have his hair covered in gel. In the television series, Robbie Rotten usually wears a two-piece suit of red and purple with gold pinstripes, formal shoes, a navy blue shirt with cuffs and cuff links, blue and red striped socks and black shoes with black soles. Robbie Rotten's song "You Are a Pirate" was Stefán's favorite song on the show to perform. Since 2007, the lyric "Do what you want 'cause a pirate is free, you are a pirate" became an oft-quoted meme in YouTube poop and

hacker culture The hacker culture is a subculture of individuals who enjoy—often in collective effort—the intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming the limitations of software systems or electronic hardware (mostly digital electronics), ...

, most often in reference to

online piracy Online piracy or software piracy is the practice of downloading and distributing copyrighted works digitally without permission, such as music, movies or software. History Nathan Fisk traces the origins of modern online piracy back to similar ...

via

LimeWire LimeWire was a free peer-to-peer file sharing client for Windows, macOS, Linux, and Solaris. Created by Mark Gorton in 2000, it was most prominently a tool used for the download and distribution of pirated materials, particularly pirated m ...

. Around 2016, Robbie Rotten rose to internet fame through the song "

We Are Number One "We Are Number One" is a song from the English-language Icelandic children's television series ''LazyTown'', composed by Máni Svavarsson. The song was featured in the twelfth episode of the show's fourth season, entitled "Robbie's Dream Team", ...

". The

Reddit Reddit ( ) is an American Proprietary software, proprietary social news news aggregator, aggregation and Internet forum, forum Social media, social media platform. Registered users (commonly referred to as "redditors") submit content to the ...

forum r/dankmemes voted Robbie Rotten "Meme of the Year" in 2016. On August 21, 2018, his actor

died of bile duct cancer at the age of 43.

References

{{Authority control Television characters introduced in 2004 Fictional singers LazyTown Fictional Icelandic people Theatre characters introduced in 1999