Interview: Michael Elsener

Michael Elsener is a comedian from Switzerland known as the ‘Swiss John Oliver‘ in his guise as the host of the Late Night show, and for his live shows on which he uses his background in political science and journalism to satirise Swiss politics. He’s bringing his debut Fringe show ‘How to Live in Paradise’ to the Fringe in August. We spoke to Michael about the show, got a whistle-stop tour of the political landscape in Switzerland, and his drive to encourage his audience to remain active participants in the democratic process.

Can you tell us about ‘How to Live in Paradise?’

You have to see the show, but I the origin of the show is that I think most of us feel the urge to make the world a better place. Deep down, we’re all asking, ‘How can we live in paradise?? And I think as a Swiss person, I’m highly privileged to live in what many would call a paradise. But living there, I can tell you even paradise can sometimes feel like hell, especially if you grow up in a very Catholic village finding out that you are actually queer. So living there doesn’t automatically make you happy. In in my show, I explore how we can each create our own version of paradise, no matter where you are or at what time.

And how is the would you describe the current political landscape of Switzerland, because it’s not actually a country that gets a lot of coverage in the UK?

Obviously, the biggest cities are more left wing places, but if you see the biggest party, it’s called the SVP [Swiss People’s Party]. It’s like a national conservative right populist party. They’re around, I think, 28% one of the highest rates ever. So actually, they dominate the discussion in Parliament and also the public discussion. So they’re very good at agenda setting, They want to have a referendum on neutrality. Switzerland just has this policy of [neutrality]. We’re not taking part in conflict. But now the biggest step they want to take is put that neutrality into our basic law.

if people voted yes to that referendum, after that, every contract of international collaboration would be prohibited. So it’s a huge discussion going on that will go on in the next couple of years.

So, in a nutshell you could say there is a dominance by the right [wing] populist party in Switzerland, but [we are] a sort of consensus democracy with a government with seven members, and most big parties are part of the government. So usually you cannot just push through a policy, you always have to ask all the other parties and then you have to find a compromise. And that’s, I think, the secret recipe of Switzerland’s navigating through the world. You always have to find a compromise. You can never just say, ‘Okay, we’re going to do it for four years that way, and the other four years that way.’ It’s always the middle ground.

You’ve been described as the Swiss John Oliver. What was your background in both comedy and politics? And how did you work up to hosting the Late Night show?

It started very early on. When I was in high school I was always interested in, ‘How can we change this world?’ So when we were at school, I realised that the morning break is very short. We don’t have enough time to change the rooms. So I started sort of a petition, could we have a longer break? And after some discussion it came through.

So when there were referenda I was always interested. I read all those articles. I saw all the TV discussions. And when it came to the point when we turned 18 and people were allowed to vote, they usually gathered around me asking, ‘So what’s it about?’ And I started talking about it. But sort of in ‘Michael’s way’, in a funny way, pointing out, ‘Look, there’s some inconsistencies with that party. Two years ago they said this, now they’re saying that.’

I always had sort of a funny pitch of a of a referendum. After some time, they said, ‘Why don’t you just put that up on the internet? Maybe other people would be interested too.’ And so doing it on the internet, it started getting more professional. Okay, I [can] use graphics, I can shape the rhythm, I can put on music, I can bring in memes, jump cuts, whatever. And it sort of changed the whole narrative of political storytelling in Switzerland.

Usually we have just this information provided by the government, which is very informative. I didn’t realise it at the beginning because I just thought, ‘Okay, people are watching [my videos]’, but at a certain point I realised some politicians got nervous, because when they saw Michael is pro- or against [something] it had sort of an influence on the campaign. Like, ‘Oh, we have maybe to spend more money to influence the opinion in another way, because a lot of people have already seen Michael’s video, and he’s pro- and we’re actually against it.’

So I realised that somehow they tried to put pressure on me, to somehow change my opinion, or just sometimes they were just reporting my videos. On Facebook and Instagram users can put click on ‘report’. And if you ask a mob to do that – reporting it as violent or whatever – which it was never, then Instagram just blocks your video.  So I felt this sort of pressure all the time, but I kept doing it, and the media came to the conclusion that there’s a very famous guy in the United States who was doing that too.

I’m a huge fan of John Oliver. He’s obviously a big inspiration to me, because when I studied political science and international relations, I worked as a journalist for papers and the radio and actually did these deep dive [reports]. I really liked that job. So there I learned how to do research, how to interview people, and how to tell stories. I think my job is to consume a lot of political news, and just try to boil it down to a short clip with a nice story, and you just don’t feel the heaviness of this political subject. You just think, ‘Wow, that’s just a friend of mine talking to me, but I learned something about this debate.’

I always want to make sure that my facts are bulletproof. It’s very important to me that the facts are based on statistics, and then it’s very fun to make jokes about it when the groundwork is done. I don’t want to do jokes about [for example] the nose of a politician. I’m not interested in that. I’m more interested in ‘Okay, yesterday you said that, today you change your mind. What happened?’ Like, to make the jokes within the topic, and not just low-hanging fruit.

My true energy comes from seeing I’m very privileged living in a democracy. And in Switzerland, less and less [sic] people are taking part in democracy because it’s very difficult to get the information, and you have to get behind the paywall. You have to understand a lot. It’s usually very complicated. And I try to give some inspiration or power to the people to say, ‘Okay, I can inform myself in a lighthearted way and restart being part of that democracy.’ Because I think it’s one of the biggest gifts we’ve got. We can discuss how we want to live together as a society in the future, which is like, ‘Wow!’

And how do you translate that approach to the live stage, to an hour of stand-up comedy? How’s your performance style on stage?

I start with the turmoil we are in. Like, ‘Okay, hello people. We are in trouble. And then I give a sort of deep dive. Coming from the Daily News I take people to unexpected places. I’ll show them some hidden, surprising sides to Switzerland. In between, I collect ideas from the audience and weave them into the show. And in the end I hope to send them off with a sense of paradise. My comedy is political, yes, but also I would say thought-provoking. A little emotional, a little philosophical. I think it’s comedy with with heart and a curious mind.

And how are you preparing for the Fringe? Are you looking forward to performing to audiences who might not be as aware of who you are as as you’re used to?

Yeah. I mean I’m a huge fan of English comedy. Been attending the Fringe Festival as a spectator for last couple of years; seeing a lot of shows, getting a lot of inspiration. I really love the vibe of…  you have a tiny little room, okay, let’s make a theater out of it. I really like this vibe and this thing of artists, comedians, audience members, talking with one another, and, improving the shows. Like, ‘What did you think of that?’ ‘Oh, I have some input for you.’ I really like this spirit.

And actually, performing comedy in English, which isn’t my mother tongue… I realised I wanted to get out of my comfort zone. And like, just putting away the [German] language, like my most important instrument. that choice has made the whole process of creating this hour of comedy very exciting for me. I mean, when we speak another language, I think we become a slightly different version of ourselves. And I think that’s a fascinating gift.

I really love that I’m discovering new sides to myself every day, and it’s changing how I do comedy in ways I’ve never expected. It inspires my Swiss comedy and I’m finding new ways of doing comedy in English. And it’s sort of the big thing in this show; people are not aware of Switzerland. Actually, I think they’re not interested in Switzerland, or in Swiss politics. So I try to bring all my Swiss stories in a way that they have to be interested, because they see, ‘Oh, it has something to do with my life too.’

Like in Scotland, you had some referenda in the last couple of years. You had the one in 2016 with the European membership, but I think there was one in 2014 on Scottish independence. I think a lot of people were very surprised about the 2016 referendum. And now I think you’re discussing this independence referendum again in Scotland. And I think that’s a thing I try to bring on stage. You as a government, you can’t just come up and say, ‘Okay guys, yeah, you’re not used to direct democracy and referenda but let’s just have one.’

I tried to bring on the thinking and the whole system we have in Switzerland. We’re very used to referenda. We do it four times a year, but you have to exercise to do that. That’s a whole system we build up where you have to, as a a citizen, come up to a situation where you realise, ‘Okay, maybe my personal interest would be voting yes, but seeing society as a whole, I think it’s better to vote no’. And mostly, we have that in Switzerland, that people sort of take a step back and say, ‘Okay, I would earn more money if I vote “Yes”, but it’s better for society if I vote “No”.’ I think you have to learn that. We have to get accustomed to it and that’s [the] spirit I like to bring on stage’ how can you as a society reshape the world and what is actually the best way to do it?

I don’t think we’re quite as civic-minded here.

Sometimes it happens too in Switzerland, but after that, there’s a huge discussion about it. And then in the next referendum, you see a bit of a change, like people say, ‘Okay, we’re going to vote again, more [for the benefit’ of society.’

And do you structure a joke differently between German and English?

It’s a totally different world. I mean, culturally, of course. What I think is so fascinating about doing comedy in another language is that I’m more aware of, what is melody? And what is the rhythm? What is the pace of a language or of a joke? And that’s such a great gift I can experience this year. It’s really mind-blowing to to do comedy in another language. Sometimes it’s sort of a hurdle to do. But the gift is much, much, much bigger. And I really think the English language is very suitable for humour, for telling jokes.

But just if you have a sentence, and the structure of a sentence in German, if you say, okay, the word where people have to laugh, is ‘apple’. So in German, usually in a sentence, after the ‘apple’, I have to put the verb. So people realize, ‘Oh, “apple” is funny’, but out of courtesy, they hold the laughter back to hear me out, and then they laugh. But you have to hold back your emotions. We all know how that is. If you hold back your emotions, it’s not very good.

It’s not like coming out freely in English, you say ‘apple’, and don’t need any work, nothing at the end. It’s just more direct. Sometimes I think maybe you say that the Swiss and Germans are more introverted. Maybe it’s because our language structure is much more difficult for telling jokes,

Besides your show, can we expect to see you performing elsewhere during August? Will you be doing guest spots or anything like that?

I’m really, really open-minded to do some mixed shows and guest spots. I have shows booked already, in mixed shows, I mean, if you know a person who has a great mixed show, I’m very interested in hearing about it! I’ve attended the Fringe as spectator, but I don’t have an overview on all the shows they have.

Are there any other show you would recommend audiences see that may not necessarily get the attention they deserve?

‘How to Live in Paradise‘ is at Gilded Balloon at Appleton Tower – Ruby from Fri 1 to Thursday 21 Aug at 20:20