Magnus Betner: Cum all ye Faithful!

Magnus Betner is a shock-jock who wears his heart on his sleeve. He’s also Swedish, though the accent is distinctly Hollywood American (“you Brits should make better films”) so there’s none of that smorgasbord lilt to bring back nostalgic memories of Chef from the Muppets. Which is probably just as well since blasphemy, paedophilia, segregation and anal sex are on the agenda.

In fact Betner doesn’t endorse any of the above (save the last) but sees no reason why these should be taboo, working on the highly moral assumption that what we don’t talk about gets swept under the carpet and so does more damage. And that’s the thread that somehow links up the war in Afghanistan with his strict clergyman father, slapping other people’s kids with neo-Nazi death threats.

Provocative as they may outwardly seem, dryly delivered routines such as digging up Swedish literary icon Astrid Lindgren for sexual gratification or bemusedly allowing himself to be outed as bisexual as a demonstration of free speech rather than fact are also highly political – and possibly frighteningly personal. Betner is a comedian who has no problem with us laughing at his beliefs, and laugh he certainly makes us.