
Mats Mikael "Micke" Dubois (25 February 1959 – 30 November 2005), also known as Svullo, was a
Swedish actor
An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), l ...
and
comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolish (as in slapstick), or employing prop comedy. A comedian who addresses an audience dir ...
.
Micke Dubois was born in
Stockholm. He began his career when he entered an
air guitar
Air guitar is a form of dance and movement in which the performer pretends to play an imaginary Rock music, rock or heavy metal music, heavy metal-style electric guitar, including riffs and solos. Playing an air guitar usually consists of exagg ...
competition, where he came third (he actually played air bass and called himself "Sweden's only professional air bassist"). He later started performing at various rock clubs under the artist name ''Captain Freak''.
In 1988 he got the idea for the character ''Svullo'', a
Swedish taunt name for obese people which is derived from his big body mass. He met
Hans Crispin, and together they formed the duo ''Angne & Svullo'' for
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication Media (communication), medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of Transmission (telecommunications), television tra ...
. Svullo in particular was responsible for wrecking a number of cars - in the supposed name of comedy.
During the later years he participated in
TV4, for example as host for ''
Robot Wars'' (2002), and as a judge in the program ''Sveriges värsta'' ("Sweden's worst") (2005), where he was anointed as the "worst Swedish husband".
Dubois was found dead in his apartment's cellar on 2 December 2005. He had committed
suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and ...
by
hanging
Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature strangulation, ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary' ...
. He was 46 years old.
Biography
Dubois grew up in
Solna
Solna Municipality ( sv, Solna kommun or , ) is a municipality in Stockholm County in Sweden, located just north of Stockholm City Centre. Its seat is located in the town of Solna, which is a part of the Stockholm urban area. Solna is one of ...
,
Stockholm. He wasn't very interested in education and liked sports more. He was very talented in
ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two o ...
and
tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball c ...
. He also was a prankster in school, which made him go to a special class. There, he was bullied for being thin.
Dubois never continued his studies and took some odd jobs. With the money he made, he went to the United States. At the time,
bodybuilding
Bodybuilding is the use of progressive resistance exercise to control and develop one's muscles (muscle building) by muscle hypertrophy for aesthetic purposes. It is distinct from similar activities such as powerlifting because it focuses ...
was very popular and Dubois trained at the same gym as
Arnold Schwarzenegger, gaining a lot of muscles. When he went back home to Sweden, he wanted to pursue a career as a comedian. He entered an
air guitar
Air guitar is a form of dance and movement in which the performer pretends to play an imaginary Rock music, rock or heavy metal music, heavy metal-style electric guitar, including riffs and solos. Playing an air guitar usually consists of exagg ...
contest in which he got the third place. Later, he performed a couple of times at the restaurant
Berns. He then went famous and performed at the rock club Alexandra. His performance was very successful and he continued to perform there once a week in one year. It was during this time, 1988, that he got the idea of the character "Svullo".
Later in the same year, he met
Hans Crispin. Together they formed the comedic duo "Angne och Svullo". The odd characters became favorites in Sweden, and later they made a movie.
Later in his career, Dubois made some more movies, for example the cult film ''Svullo Grisar Vidare''. In 1990, he recorded the famous song "För fet för ett Fuck" (''Too Fat for a Fuck'') with rock band
Electric Boys
The Electric Boys are a Swedish band founded in Sweden in 1987 playing funky hard rock with roots in the 70s groove rock and 60s pop and psychedelia.
Career
They were formed by Conny Bloom (real surname: Blomqvist) (guitar/vocals) and Andy Chr ...
. The song was a huge hit, and climbed to the top of the Swedish charts in 1990. After recording more albums including ''För fet för ett omslag'' (''Too fat for a cover''), he started a tour with Griståget (''The Pig Train''), in which
Eddie Meduza
Errol Leonard Norstedt (17 June 1948–17 January 2002), better known by his stage name Eddie Meduza, was a Swedish composer and musician working mainly in the rockabilly genre.
Music career Themes and behaviour
Many of Meduza's songs are abo ...
performed.
During the early 1990s, Dubois created a journalist character named Skägget (''The Beard'') who wore a fake
goatee
A goatee is a style of facial hair incorporating hair on one's chin but not the cheeks. The exact nature of the style has varied according to time and culture.
Description
Until the late 20th century, the term ''goatee'' was used to refer sol ...
and made a series of home interviews named ''Hemma Hos'' (''At Home'') with Swedish celebrities, including
Claes "Clabbe" af Geijerstam,
Anna Lindh
Ylva Anna Maria Lindh (19 June 1957 – 11 September 2003) was a Swedish Social Democratic politician and lawyer who served as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1998 until her death. She was also a Member of the Riksdag (member of parliament ...
and
Alice Timander
Alice Ingegärd Marianne Timander (6 October 1915 – 3 July 2007) was a Swedish dentist, but was better known as an entertainer and a Swedish red carpet queen at Stockholm theatre premieres.
Biography
Alice Müller, daughter of Karl Albert Holge ...
.
In the late 1990s, Dubois starred in some TV productions, for example "Knäppa Klipp" (''Crazy Clips'') and "
Robot Wars". He also directed a theatre play called "Hur man lyckas i showbusiness utan att bli utbränd" (''How to succeed in show business without getting burned out'').
In 2005, he committed suicide by hanging himself in his cellar. He is survived by his wife Gitte Nilsson and their three children.
After death
The DVD ''Micke Dubois - Mycket Mer Än Bara Svullo'' (''Micke Dubois - Much More Than Just Svullo'') was released in 2006. It contained some ''Angne och Svullo'' sketches, bloopers and outtakes from ''Knäppa Klipp'' and a special tribute with celebrities including Ulf Malmros (who directed ''Den Elake Polisen''),
Markoolio and
Sven Melander
Sven Alarik Melander (30 October 1947 – 31 March 2022) was a Swedish journalist, comedian, television presenter, and actor. He hosted multiple shows for SVT, acted in films and theater, and co-presented the 1994 Melodifestivalen competiti ...
who all talked about the energy and charisma of Dubois.
Filmography
* 1988 - ''Angne och Svullo''
* 1989 - ''Den Elake Polisen''
* 1990 - ''Svullo Grisar Vidare''
* 1991 - ''V Som i Viking''
* 1991 - ''1628''
* 1991 - ''Riktiga Män Bär Alltid Slips''
* 1991 - ''Angne och Svullo "Här och Nu"''
* 1996 - ''Lilla Jönssonligan och Cornflakeskuppen''
* 1997 - ''Lilla Jönssonligan På Styva Linan''
* 1997 - ''En Fyra för Tre''
* 1999 - ''Lukas 8:18''
* 2000 - ''Sex, Lögner och Videovåld''
* 2000 - ''Naken''
* 2006 - ''Micke Dubois - Mycket Mer Än Bara Svullo'' (posthumous)
References
External links
IMDb bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dubois, Micke
1959 births
2005 deaths
Male actors from Stockholm
Swedish comedians
Swedish male film actors
Swedish male television actors
Suicides by hanging in Sweden
20th-century Swedish comedians