Jon Gnarr: I would compare comedy to Kung Fu. Use it responsibly.

The 10x25' comedy series about a mayor and his entourage is played and created by Gnarr (The Shift series,  Mr.Bjarnfreðarson) based on his own real life experience as mayor of Reykjavik from 2010-2014. The show is set to start filming next year for Channel 2. 

Did you contact RVK Studios with the project or was it the reverse?
JG: RVK Studios approached me just a few weeks after I had finished my term as mayor of Reykjavik. They wanted me to write a TV series based on my experience. I then went to Houston, Texas where I was invited to become a lecturer and writer in residence at Rice University. When I returned home after six months, I took up the project. 

What will you reveal from your time in office, and what will be the tone of the series, more Veep than House of Cards?
JG: I’m a fan of political dramas like Borgen, House of Cards, but I also love the BBC series The Thick of It. My inspiration for The Mayor will come mostly from my own experience at City Hall but it will be a true work of fiction. Basically I will play a middle aged man of power, with a weak spot for alcohol and women (I’ve noticed that in the corridors of power alcoholism is a common disease). We follow his many mischiefs and mistakes on a daily basis.

This man of power is actually not qualified for his job but he becomes quite successful thanks to a complicated support system in place and thanks in particular to his political advisor and right hand man.

What are the main themes of the series?
JG: Patriarchy will be the central theme. I’ve always been fascinated with power and especially powerful men. There is a thin line between power and responsibility. Like sex and pornography. It’s something invisible yet crucial.

As a little boy I often asked myself: ‘why are my parents rulers of my life when they don’t seem to be closer to truth than I am? Is this because they are stronger?' In reality, this is again patriarchy, a system based on physical power, and the comfort it represents. It fascinates me but at the same time it terrifies me.

…and why does it terrify you?
JG: I have five children and when I had my first child, I became the person that I had fought against my entire life: the face of authority. When my children ask difficult questions, I sometimes tell them: I might be older than you but as lost as you are. Just look at google and Wikipedia and you will probably get a better answer than from me!.

Do you actually think that we can laugh at anything and everything? In France, after the attack against the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, people started to ask that question…
JG: Personally I have come to the conclusion that life is a joke. So eventually with time, even the most terrifying things become laughable. For instance it’s socially acceptable today to make fun of Hitler.

Yes, you can make fun of anything, but it depends on how you do it, when you do it and where you do it. In a way, I would compare comedy to Kung Fu. Use it responsibly. 

Today comedy has become absolutely vital. It is a highly important part of human intelligence but too often derided. I would like to challenge comedians of the world to step up, use their imagination and courage as citizens, take responsibility and go into politics.

As a comedian you became a mayor, then a comedian playing a mayor. What’s next? A comedian who becomes a president at next year’s presidential elections in Iceland?
JG: For me life is like a play. You have different roles and I want to personify as many characters as possible in that play.

People ask me every day if I will run for President, but I will just stay put and play cool (laughs). My love in life is television. When I was a child, thanks to television I saw places that I would never have visited in my life, I got the information I needed, and learnt English. When I was in office, I had no time to watch a lot of TV and I missed it a lot. 

The funny conclusion I came to during my time as politician, was that to make a difference in people’s lives, I would make a really good television show. Then people would watch it and take things on board.

My next project is to make a TV comedy show about climate change. Hopefully, that will help people change their views on life and the world around us.