Funniest person in The world....is a Finn!!!!

This week I came across with a funny news indeed....world's funniest person is a Finn!
Ismo Leikola, who is a Finnish comedian and been working hard to get his jokes to reach audience outside the Finnish borders as well. He won the Funniest person of the world-competition, which was organized in US by Laugh Factory (http://www.laughfactory.com/).

Nice that Finns make this break through on US ground, as otherwise one tends to refer to us as more serious and silent folk, mainly referring to the Finnish male representatives. My beloved big brother, who means the world to me and has always been in many ways my idol. He fits often many of those categories. I used to joke that for his 50th birthday I can take his mobile phone off, cause he would not have any use for it. That statement I have had to take back though....as the result of our American side of the family  (all being in Facebook). He finally got into Facebook and has surprised all by being very active.
Also for our wedding he really broke all the rules of Finnish male....he laughed, cried and not silent at all. I enjoyed seeing him so happy at my wedding. One of the many memories, which I hold dear from that day.

My brother breaking the ice and Ismo winning the competition does not change the whole nation to being funny people over night but it reminds that Finnish humor can succeed e.g. in US and when done well, it translates well also to English.

Also I think Ismo's humour is funny just because he allows the Finnish style to come through. Talking in the normal style (intonations are tough to recognized), rather as-matter-of-a-fact style to express things and very minimum body language. Yet he is making some of the best jokes I have heard for a long time. I admit having checked the same video several times, cause it makes me laugh with tears in my eyes. It just simply hits the laugh nerves without giving any heads up, mostly so that one does not even notice it until afterwards. You become aware few seconds in delay that you have been laughing about his joke. It kind of sneaks up on you.

Here is the link to Helsingin Sanomat (Finnish national newspaper), which shows Ismo's performance in English at the Laugh Factory finals. Take time to watch it....you will find youself laughing :)

http://www.hs.fi/kulttuuri/a1414385339674
The videos shows only Ismo's performance at the finals.

All finalist videos: http://www.laughfactory.com/IsmoLeikola
(Ismo's performance starts around 17 minutes into the clip)