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The Running Joke

GLYNN WASHINGTON, HOST:

From PRX and NPR, welcome back to SNAP JUDGMENT, the "Overthrow" episode. My name is Glynn Washington, and today on the show, we're examining real cases where the old guard meets the new world order. Now, for this next story, we traveled to the island nation of Iceland. And back in the day, if I said Iceland, you might think hot springs, prosperity, Bjork, but a few years back, this little paradise gained a much more somber type of fame.

(SOUNDBITE OF DEMONSTRATION)

ADLERSTEIN: In 2008, the people of Iceland took to the streets banging pots and pans as the prime minister addressed the nation.

JON GNARR: And then at the end of his speech, he said God bless Iceland. And I'd never heard that before or after, a politician asking God to bless us. You have it (laughter) but we don't have it that much. (Laughter).

ADLERSTEIN: Jon Gnarr grew up in a suburb outside of the capital, Reykjavik. And when he was young, he had a hard time in school. When he was 10, he still couldn't write his three-lettered name.

GNARR: And there was a big problem for me, you know, I couldn't figure out which way the J turned. Nobody really knew what was wrong with me, but everybody feared, you know, that I was just, you know, stupid. I was - I feared that they were all right.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

GNARR: I kind of adopted this way of being the class fool because making people laugh of something that you said or did was better than having them laughing at you for not doing anything (laughter). From early age, comedy was a kind of lifesaver for me because their came something that, you know, was mine. That was something that I created.

ADLERSTEIN: So when the banks collapsed and Jon lost his job, he returned to comedy.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

GNARR: (Speaking Icelandic).

(LAUGHTER)

GNARR: I made up this politician character, and I called him the Simpleton. He was like a simple, happy-go-lucky liar - fast-talking, fast-thinking and always, you know, with a smirky smile. He just promised whatever and bluntly.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

GNARR: Free entrance and free towels at the swimming pools and a polar bear for the zoo, and we can get them for free because sometimes polar bears will swim to the coast of Iceland from Greenland, and they're just shut outside. So I suggested - or he suggested - or I don't know, it became - yeah, I created this character, but slowly this character kind of changed into me back again (laughter).

ADLERSTEIN: Jon found himself getting pretty consistent feedback after his performances.

GNARR: People would come up to me and thank me for the show; I really liked it. And I remember I was kind of cornered by a group of very intelligent people, and they were saying, seriously you should start your own political party and just run, you know. And I was saying, well, explaining to them, well, it's a part of my program, you know, it's just an idea. Yes, we know, but it's a great idea. You should do it.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

GNARR: It felt ridiculous and it felt very funny, but at the same time it felt so right, you know? I mean, what is politics and political representatives? I mean, they're just people, and some of them make a mess. Why don't more people like me go into politics? Why don't more creative people get politically involved? And everything in me said kind of yes, you are probably the only man, (laughter) only person who can step into this and have a positive effect on it. So I decided that I would run for prime minister.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

GNARR: I went down to the National Registry, and I said, is it complicated to register a political party? No, it's just, you know, you have to fill out this form, and it costs almost nothing. And I called it the Best Party.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

GNARR: Prior to that, I had been thinking about calling it the Cool Party, and we would only promise to do cool things and not uncool things and absolutely nothing corny. So - but I went for best. It sounded more stupid.

ADLERSTEIN: Next, Jon needed to recruit party members. He randomly messaged people he thought could be good for the job. When they asked if this was going to take a lot of their time...

GNARR: No, not at all, I would say. No, I just need a name and your photo and I'll just crop a photo of Facebook, so don't bother - you don't have to send me a photo, and they were all glad to help.

ADLERSTEIN: And the Best Party became official.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

GNARR: We announced the birth of the Best Party in a shopping mall, and it was at that meeting when I realized that I was running for mayor. I thought I was running for minister.

ADLERSTEIN: Wait, so you really didn't know you had signed up to run for mayor?

GNARR: Not in the beginning, no.

ADLERSTEIN: Jon took his campaign to the streets. He stayed true to his sketch character and threw promises around like confetti. He traveled to nursing homes and promised the residents that his speeches would never put them to sleep. He'd tell classrooms of kindergartners that he was going to build a Disneyland in Reykjavik.

GNARR: I like to go on stage unprepared. I like the tension of it. I would just go to some address and there would be some people, and I would do my best from there. I was not - I was never sure what they thought.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

GNARR: When the first polls started to come out - it's like eight weeks prior to the election - it was a small percentage, not even a whole percentage of people that intended to vote for the Best Party. It was like 0.5 or 0.7 percent people.

ADLERSTEIN: In typical Jon Gnarr fashion, he declared the polls a landslide victory. He was having fun.

GNARR: I was a guest in an Icelandic talk show. And in the makeup, there was this woman who greeted me and said, hello and hi and is it right, you know, what I hear that you have started your own political party? And yeah, yeah, that's correct. And she said OK, that's great news, good luck with it. Oh, thank you, I said. And then she left, and I asked the makeup artist there, who was that? And she said you really don't know who this is? No. That's the mayor of Reykjavik (laughter). That's the person you're running up against, and I didn't know.

ADLERSTEIN: But then in the next polls, the Best Party came in at 10 percent of the vote, and all of a sudden he was a serious contender. Jon was invited to televised debates with the other candidates. And during one such debate, they were all asked about what was then a very important issue in Reykjavik, whether or not the airport should be moved.

(SOUNDBITE OF MICROPHONE)

GNARR: I hadn't prepared for this. I hadn't really thought about it, and I said...

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

GNARR: Well, I've never moved an airport. I don't know how you go about moving an airport. I will look into it.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

GNARR: And after this I felt awful. I felt so bad, and I was, you know, thinking to myself, who do you think you are? Why are you getting yourself into this? I mean, these are clever people. You know nothing. You have no idea what you're doing. Now everybody sees how stupid you are.

ADLERSTEIN: But after the debate aired, people that Jon knew and even strangers on the street came up to him and thanked him for his honesty. It was the first time they had heard a candidate admit that they were uninformed on an issue. And then, the Best Party polled at 20 percent.

GNARR: I changed my methods a bit after this. I allowed myself to be more serious, and I tried to do it without becoming dull, and I studied different topics that were being discussed in debates. Two weeks before the elections, there was a poll that showed, like, everybody was just going to more or less vote for us.

ADLERSTEIN: But naturally, as Jon's popularity grew, his opponents started taking him more seriously and ramping up their attacks.

GNARR: And instead of, you know, having fun and saying nonsense things, I was suddenly in the position where I had to defend myself. I had to start explaining things. And, I mean, that's a method. That's something that you can do with a jester, you know, get him to explain himself, explain the jokes and immediately he will cease to be funny. You kill the magic, you know, with explanation, and that's what politicians are great quite good at doing (laughter).

ADLERSTEIN: Jon knew his opponent saw him as a threat and that's when he started having second thoughts.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

GNARR: Am I really going to get myself into city council and become the mayor? So I had to sit down with my wife and children, and we had to discuss this and my doubts. And they said, it's not about you; it's about something bigger than just you. And you're inspired - I mean, just the idea is inspiring people. It's giving people hope that it's not all lost and we're not all losers and, you know, we can actually make a difference.

ADLERSTEIN: Still, the prospect of actually becoming mayor gave him nightmares.

GNARR: This is just getting too brutal, you know? It's too aggressive. I can't - I don't think I can handle this, you know? I want to back out, you know. I don't want to be - you know, I don't want to have to spend many years with these people (laughter). Then I decided to to withdraw.

(SOUNDBITE OF RALLY)

GNARR: And the day after, there was a big rally in the university in Reykjavik, and one after the other they went up to the podium and had a speech. And when it was my turn, I told people about my doubts and my second thoughts about the whole thing and I wasn't really sure. And as I was speaking, I was also thinking of what I should do, and it was one of those moments when I feel myself getting unprepared on stage, and I said the last days I felt everything had been getting so serious. I have actually decided to withdraw from the election.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

GNARR: But behind me there were the other politicians (laughter). They couldn't hide their genuine happiness for my absence. And as I said it, I focused on people's faces and people's eyes. It was like, no, no, you can't, no. And I think I just decided there on the spot when I saw people's reaction. And it's like with theater, I mean, there are certain rules that you cannot really break. You cannot break the relationship with the audience because then everything's lost. And then I waited a few seconds, and then I said...

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

GNARR: Joke.

(LAUGHTER)

GNARR: I am not.

(APPLAUSE)

GNARR: (Speaking Icelandic).

ADLERSTEIN: On June 15, 2010, Jon Gnarr was sworn in as the mayor of Reykjavik, or to quote one of his greatest fans, Lady Gaga, "the mayor of Iceland."

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

ADLERSTEIN: Jon entered Parliament surrounded by six of his dearest Facebook friends, and the Best Party now accounted for almost half of city council. But after the victory parties were through, Jon found himself in charge of a city reeling from financial collapse.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

GNARR: The seriousness of the financial situation had been kept a secret and politicians were reluctant to admit how serious it was, but I didn't have any interest at stake, and they couldn't sack me. I would have to resign.

ADLERSTEIN: When Jon got to office, the only promise he kept was his promise to break all of his promises.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

GNARR: So instead of free enters to swimming pools and a free towel, I raised the entrance fee (laughter) to the swimming pools and to the buses and electricity and hot water, and that was not popular.

ADLERSTEIN: Jon didn't stop there. He merged schools to cut costs. He refused to dine with the leaders of NATO, and he involved Reykjavik citizens in government decisions. And it worked, almost all of it. And then after four years - the longest he'd ever kept a job - his term was up, and he decided not to run again.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

GNARR: The Best Party was kind of like a surprise party. You were just minding your own business, and then suddenly the lights are on and everybody is happy and all your friends are there. And that was the Best Party. Surprise parties don't stay surprised all evening. They become a regular party sooner or later, and you cannot do the surprise again. We cannot turn off the light, turn on the light and everybody goes, oh, surprise. It doesn't work, you know, because the magic is gone.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

ADLERSTEIN: Now he's proved to himself, to Iceland and to the world that he isn't joking. With a track record to back him up, he could now run as an accomplished politician.

GNARR: I go out in the store and there's an old man there, you know, and he sees me and he starts talking with me. And, you know, are you going to run for president? Many people are asking me about it.

ADLERSTEIN: So are you ready for that? Are you ready to present yourself to the world without this protection of comedy?

GNARR: That's exactly what I am not sure of. The comfort of comedy is very good. Some part of me wants to do it, and another part of me can't think of it, you know?

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

WASHINGTON: Bad news, snappers, Jon just announced he's not going to run in the upcoming elections, but no worries. We're rooting for you anyway, Jon. Thanks so much for sharing your story. If you want to find out more, pick up copy of Jon's memoir, "Gnarr," or just watch the documentary by the same name. We'll have links on our website, snapjudgment.org. That story was produced by Ana Alderstein with sound design by Leon Morimoto.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

WASHINGTON: It's that time, but understand it's never over. Get full episodes, hours of amazing storytelling delivered - subscribe to the free SNAP JUDGMENT podcast, snapjudgment.org. The SNAP nation conversation - catch us on Twitter, Facebook.

Now, did you ever break into the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and rifle through their secret documents? Well, here's a tip. The password is password. Many thanks to the CPB. PRX, the Public Radio Exchange, did not find your credit card number on the Internet and use it to purchase vintage Atari videogame consoles, no. Prx.org. And even thought this is not the news - no way is this the news - in fact you could look up your house on Google Earth, stick your hand outside the window only to see that same hand appear right there on your computer screen, and you would still, still not be as far away from the news as this is. But this is NPR. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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