Vegard Ylvisåker

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Biography

Vegard is a presenter, musician, revue artist, comedian, and songwriter who appeared as a contestant in season 1 of Kongen Befaler.

He is best known for working with his brother Bård as part of the comedy/revue duo Ylvis.

After Bård was noticed at a school theatre performance by impresario Peter Brandt, he was invited to an audition. He brought Vegard along, and the two of them have been performing professionally together under the name Ylvis ever since.

Following his mandatory military service in 1997, including a stint in the Heimevernet (Norwegian Home Guard), Vegard and his brother began their performing career in earnest. They started making waves in 2000 with their first revue performance, Ylvis – en cabaret, which was soon followed up by Ylvis Goes Philharmonic.

They first appeared on Norwegian TV on the programme Absolutt Norsk (Absolutely Norwegian) in 2001, which led to appearances on the entertainment show TVT in 2002. They continued to perform revue shows and sketches for the next several years, including the show Ylvis en konsert which ran from 2003 to 2005.

In 2002, Vegard was tapped to be the singing voice for the Norwegian dub of the DreamWorks movie Spirit: Stallion of Cimarron.

In the summer of 2006, the brothers hosted a radio programme on NRK Radio called O-fag (common abbreviation for Orienteringsfag, a primary school subject covering material from the natural sciences and social studies), in which they covered various humorous and factual topics, as well as performing short sketches. They hosted the programme a second time in the summer of 2008.

In 2007, the Ylvisåkers began their work as TV presenters by hosting the travel documentary series Norges herligste (Norway's Most Wonderful), where they travelled the country meeting interesting and unique people. The show was popular enough to be reprised in 2010 as Nordens herligste, in which the pair expanded their range and met extraordinary characters from across the various Nordic countries.

2007 also saw the duo return to the revue stage with their show YLVIS III, which continued to play across the country for the following three years.

Ylvis then hosted two short-lived game shows, Ylvis møter veggen (Ylvis vs. The Wall) and Hvem kan slå Ylvis? (Who Can Beat Ylvis?), on TVNorge in 2008 and 2009. Following this stint on TV came another well-received revue performance, YLVIS 4, which toured the country from early 2011 until 2013.

While touring, the Ylvisåker brothers also starred in a new talk show called I kveld med Ylvis (Tonight with Ylvis) on TVNorge, which they hosted twice weekly from 2011 to 2016. Vegard played the role of Bård’s right hand man, sitting at the side of the desk as well as presenting his own segments. I kveld med Ylvis also starred fellow Kongen Befaler contestants Calle Hellevang-Larsen and Magnus Devold.

The show contained interviews with guests, sketches, prank videos, as well as what became the Ylvis calling card - music videos to go along with their comedy/parody songs. They were able to translate the popularity of the songs made for the programme into a concert tour, The Expensive Jacket Tour, with 23 concerts held across Norway and Sweden between 2014 and 2015.

The programme received international attention in 2013, when the music video to their EDM parody The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?) went viral, to the tune of over a billion views on YouTube, winning a both a Gullruten (Norwegian TV award) for ‘TV Moment of the Year’ and Spellemannprisen (Norwegian equivalent of the Grammys) for ‘Hit of the Year’. The final two seasons of the series were broadcast live, winning a Komiprisen (now-defunct Norwegian comedy prize) in 2016 for ‘Humour Programme of the Year.’

In its second season, Bård, Vegard, and their manager also started their own TV production company, Concorde TV, which has produced all their content since – including the first season of Kongen Befaler.

Following the end of I kveld med Ylvis, in 2018 the pair created the ‘investigative musical documentary’ genre for their miniseries Stories from Norway, which featured the brothers playing multiple characters from stories pulled from recent Norwegian history. The show was nominated for multiple awards and won the 2018 Gullruten for ‘Best Comedy Programme’.

In 2018, the brothers also reunited with Calle and Magnus for Juleølkalenderen, a Christmas beer-tasting special created for the streaming platform Dplay.

Vegard then appeared as a contestant in the inaugural season of Kongen Befaler in 2019, as well as working on it as a producer for Concorde TV. He was the eventual winner of the series.

Since appearing on Kongen Befaler, Vegard and his brother have presented the comedy shows Ylvis på holmen med Calle og Magnus on TV Norge in 2020, followed by Ylvis i Sogn on VG in 2022.

In 2022, Vegard also appeared as a contestant on season 14 of 71° nord - Norges tøffeste kjendis (71 degrees north, Norway’s toughest celebrity), successfully winning the season. Ylvis are currently working on an untitled project for TV2.

Fun fact: Vegard is a certified pilot. He earned his personal pilot’s license when he was 23, then supplemented it by taking a commercial pilot training programme in 2008. It’s noteworthy that this was never mentioned in Kongen Befaler, as he normally brings it up whenever possible.

[Source: Nic Greyson, 25/06/2023.]