Fikapodden

Mid-Atlantic

Claes Malmberg sailed across the Atlantic as a theatre's new artistic director and came ashore as not that.

Reel 5 of 8 33 seconds

Bro. Dat is a pivot. Now you are free.
The reel’s line, spoken by a minifigure. What was really said is below.
Satire

Real guests. Made-up show.

The hosts, the studio and everything that happens in it are made up. The guests are real public figures, drawn as caricature LEGO minifigures and voiced by an AI video model, never by themselves. What really happened, and what they really said, is listed under every reel with its sources.

What is real, and every source

What really happened

  • In the summer of 2026 Eva Rydberg handed Claes Malmberg the keys, on stage, as the new artistic director of Fredriksdalsteatern in Helsingborg.
  • While he was at sea filming the TV show "Över Atlanten", the deal between the company that runs the theatre and its planned new majority owner 2Entertain fell apart. 2Entertain's CEO told Helsingborgs Dagblad that the conditions they had agreed in the spring "gäller inte längre" ("no longer apply").
  • Malmberg told Aftonbladet: "När jag kom i land hade jag fått ett mejl där det står att jag inte är konstnärlig ledare längre." ("When I came ashore I had an email saying I am no longer artistic director.") The email named the three remaining co-owners as the artistic directors.
  • He added: "Jag är också förvånad att det här beslutet tas just när jag [är] på Atlanten och ingen kan nå mig." ("I am also surprised this decision is taken just when I am on the Atlantic and nobody can reach me.") The complaint about the timing is his. Nobody has been shown to have timed it.
  • Fikapodden, its hosts and the studio are ours. So are the rocking table, the paper plane, Robbe's "pivot" and Majken's line about Swedish firing. Claes says only his own words.

Sources

The script

ROBBE: Claes. Artistic director. Sailing over de Atlantic.

CLAES: When I came on land, I had one mail.

MAJKEN: Saying?

CLAES: I am not artistic director any more.

ROBBE: (rocks the whole table like a boat in a storm, coffee sloshing) Vooo. Atlantic.

(Majken throws a paper plane. It hits Claes on the head.)

CLAES: Just when I am on de Atlantic, and nobody can reach me.

ROBBE: (hand on Claes’s shoulder) Bro. Dat is a pivot. Now you are free.

MAJKEN: (straight to camera) In Sweden we don’t fire people. We send one mail. And hope dey are on a boat.

(Robbe slams the red JINGEL button: a foghorn.)