So stupid it's fun

“It's kind of crazy when young boys' role models create entertainment like in the video Guess the Homo, ” wrote Tiktok profile Emil Johan Stenhaug in a debate post in VG in 2024 . 

At its most popular, the YouTube channel “Gutta,” consisting of Oskar Westerlin, Snorre Klanderud “Snorrepus,” Sebastian “Baris” Brevik, and Henrik Viken, was the face of an internet culture that had the rest of Norway discussing what kind of men young boys really looked up to. But how relevant are the guys today?

The boy doesn't exist. 

At least not as we knew them. Oskar Westerlin is Norway's new reading prince, with a little AI help, of course. Baris Brevik packed his bags and moved to Estonia. Snorrepus has become Reality-Norway's new golden boy and Henrik Viken has disappeared from my feed. In other words, the guys have either been cleaned up, stowed away or sent to the Baltics.

While the original boys are entering adulthood, director Even Torgan has unleashed a new group of boys at Det Norske Teatret. 

The guys' timeline from youtube channel to theater performance:

The performance starts in the foyer of Scene 2, where the audience is gathered around a live recording of the podcast The Whole Spectrum . Today's guest is NHH dropout and social debater William, currently with the bestseller Gutta. Norwegian-born immigrants top the violence statistics, he says. 

It doesn’t take long for the situation to escalate. Kim, called Miss Prupp by William, comes from an anti-fascist group and confronts William with what she believes are racist allegations. August, the TikTok profile known for the video “Viagra at the Well,” responds by saying that his brother was actually beaten up by an immigrant. Then a cheerful Prince Charming-like character, the leader of the Religious People’s Party, enters and urges everyone to listen to each other. The podcast host has had enough of the gossip and counters with harsh violence. Kim explodes at the fact that certain incidents are being used to judge the entire group. She is eventually carried angrily out of the room. 

All the characters are highly exaggerated caricatures of their own rigid opinion, because that opinion is the only substance the character has. 

After the podcast drama, William takes August aside to talk about what just happened. The conversation ends simply with hugs and an offer to start a political party together. Not bad! What an evening!

The audience is then led into Scene 2, which now forms the guys' party space. The stage space is radically different from how I've seen this scene before:

The walls were dressed in a naive baby blue, decorated with clouds and a unicorn adorning the wall. As I was about to sit down, an eager audience member whispered to the person next to me: “If you sit there, you’ll be in the show.” And rightly so: On the white stand, the ensemble addressed us as party members. They even served champagne, which the 16-year-olds in the row in front of me were very excited about. 

What follows is an absurd fever dream of what happens if the guys actually come to power:

Sniffing, drinking, killing and increasingly authoritarian tendencies, it gets by, but the drama could just as easily have been taken from an episode of Hellerudsvingen. Complicated social problems are reduced to the guys' simple answers, and it gets a bit repetitive and predictable at times.

Fortunately, the young ensemble is both fresh, cheeky and lacking theatrical self-importance! Aksel Almaas and Tord Kinge excel in the lead roles with a captivating mix of completely idiotic humor. 

On my way out of the theater, I walked behind the same group of 16-year-olds I had sat behind during the performance. I overheard one of the boys say to one of the girls, “This is the best theater performance I’ve ever seen.” The girl agreed, but added, “I think I’m drunk” after downing three glasses of non-alcoholic theater soda. I have to admit, I found that quite charming. 

There is no doubt that the young actors have good appeal with the target group the performance wants to reach, but I am more uncertain about whether the performance also succeeds in formulating its anti-fascist message.