Swedish mega star’s comedy special Johanna Nordstrom Call The Police (Ring Polisen) was released on November 15, 2022, on Netflix with a runtime of 59 minutes. Throughout this nearly one-hour mark running special, she indulges in drawing vivid, visual pictures of her sexcapades, calling out absurd TikToks posted by actual policemen and poking fun at her hungover dysfunctional tales.
While this first announcement of her subject matter may have you intrigued and already ready to laugh to the fullest, don’t jump to conclusions quite yet.
Netflix describes Nordstrom’s stand-up as follows:
The comedian and podcast host sounds off on sexual escapades, TikTok police and how she became Sweden’s pandemic poster girl.
-Johanna Nordstrom Call The Police Review Contains Mild Spoilers-
Before reading about the stand-up, you should know that Nordstrom reluctantly participated in the TV program Masked Singer Sweden, and as the title goes, the singer must wear an atypical gigantic mask during their performance while the judges try their best to guess their identity. The comedian even shares her experience of the same and labels it as one of the “worst” things that have ever happened to her.
However, this particular comedy special begs to differ. Despite the relatively brief duration of her stand-up, her supposed comic interventions don’t stick with the audience, but the finale that’s far from comedy does. A huge arena is booked after the pandemic for her fans to witness her do her thing for the first time in a long time. Yet, a few times when the camera pans out to show them on the screen, many of them seem quite indifferent to what she has to say.
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The one thing I’m glad of is that she didn’t advertently speak of the ills of the pandemic. Yes, it’s a known fact that the circumstances were dire, and we were all shut in with no other outlet or means of expression (even though that’s a very privileged stance to pick up) but hearing the same thing over and over doesn’t make anything better. Many comedians have been doing this since the onset of their shows post the shutdown phase to speak of how tiring the pandemic has been.
Nordstrom is but human and mentions that briefly as well but doesn’t keep carrying it for the long run, either. She knows when to drop it. Nevertheless, that’s not enough to win us over. The reason that I strictly paid attention to the audience was that I wanted to discern whether I was the only one who didn’t find her stories funny or relatable.
Now and then, a grimace stretched onto my face, but nothing consequential ever seemed to move me till the end, and I often found myself checking the remaining time on the bar (in spite of the short 59 minutes length) and to me, that is one big red flag. I tried rather hard to like what I was hearing because the posh with which Nordstrom walked out on the stage already screamed her star status. Anyhow, it’s a comedy piece, so body language and confidence can only carry you so far on their own.
She drops in a couple of Swedish pop culture and some other references, which may make it difficult to trace them down to their source. Hence, broadening the distance between the non-Swedish viewer and her again.
Johanna Nordstrom Call The Police: Final Thoughts
I’ve already said whatever I had to say about this comedy special, so that, in a way, already speaks for itself. One last bit of information that I would like to convey is that you should still stick to the end or jump to the end straightaway if that’s what you want. Even after she bids her farewells and her message of appreciation to the audience, she comes back to belt a strong music track, which is powerful enough to grant her some points for the missed comical allusions.
It has nothing to do with her stand-up performance, it’s just there as an added surprise at the end. Quite a few performers on the stand-up stage have opted to do the same as a finale of their delivery to the audience nowadays. And it again says a lot more than is let on. Ultimately, the audience is here for a reason, and if that reason is fulfilled, then there’s no need to put out a distinct performance that has nothing to do with your original purpose of the day. The song leaves behind some credibility of the artist from a perspective different than comedy; still, I can’t help but respect the positives therein.
Johanna Nordstrom Call The Police is now streaming on Netflix.