Kristian Luuk
Encyclopedia
Ants Robert Kristian Luuk (born June 14, 1966) is a Swedish comedian and talk show-host of Estonian
Estonians
Estonians are a Finnic people closely related to the Finns and inhabiting, primarily, the country of Estonia. They speak a Finnic language known as Estonian...

 descent. A graduate of the Stockholm School of Economics
Stockholm School of Economics
The Stockholm School of Economics or Handelshögskolan i Stockholm is one of Northern Europe's leading business schools. Its Masters in Management program is ranked no. 2 in Northern Europe and no. 13 in Europe by the Financial Times...

, he is currently working for the broadcaster SVT
Sveriges Television
Sveriges Television AB , Sweden's Television, is a national television broadcaster based in Sweden, funded by a compulsory fee to be paid by all television owners...

 after previous spells at TV4, ZTV
ZTV
-History:The channel started in Sweden as a daily afternoon show in TV3 and TV4 in February 1991. The channel got its name as it was a simulcast version of the radio station Z Radio. There was also a Z magazine available for some time....

 and SR
Sveriges Radio
Sveriges Radio AB – Swedish Radio Ltd – is Sweden's national publicly funded radio broadcaster. The Swedish public-broadcasting system is in many respects modelled after the one used in the United Kingdom, and Sveriges Radio - like Sveriges Television - shares many characteristics with...

 public radio. He is in a relationship with television personality Carina Berg
Carina Berg
Carina Lilly Berg is a Swedish comedian and radio/TV personality. Berg is married to television host Kristian Luuk, who hosted Melodifestivalen 2007 and Melodifestivalen 2008. As of 2006 Berg is one of the hosts for the show Förkväll along with Carolina Gynning and Alexandra Pascalidou on TV4 in...

.

Luuk has made himself famous, mainly for his talents as an interviewer. After doing prank call
Prank call
A prank call is a form of practical joke committed over the telephone. Prank phone calls began to gain an America-wide following over a period of many years, as they gradually became a staple of the obscure and amusing cassette tapes traded amongst musicians, sound engineers, and media traders...

s in the radio show Hassan during the early nineties, Luuk started hosting the ZTV
ZTV
-History:The channel started in Sweden as a daily afternoon show in TV3 and TV4 in February 1991. The channel got its name as it was a simulcast version of the radio station Z Radio. There was also a Z magazine available for some time....

-talk show Knesset, where his abilities as a talk show host became obvious. Transferred to Swedish publicly accessed channel TV4, and to a large degree inspired by Conan O'Brien
Conan O'Brien
Conan Christopher O'Brien is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer and performer. Since November 2010 he has hosted Conan, a late-night talk show that airs on the American cable television station TBS....

, Luuk's breakthrough show Sen kväll med Luuk
Sen kväll med Luuk
Sen kväll med Luuk was one of Sweden's and TV4's most popular talk shows ever and started airing in 1996. Kristian Luuk's show had ratings around 1.5 million viewers every week. Kristian had many celebrity guests like Cher, Whitney Houston, Madonna, Janet Jackson and Mariah Carey...

featured Luuk interviewing various celebrities of Swedish as well as international origin. Among others, Luuk interviewed John Cleese
John Cleese
John Marwood Cleese is an English actor, comedian, writer, and film producer. He achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on The Frost Report...

, Alanis Morissette
Alanis Morissette
Alanis Nadine Morissette is a Canadian-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, record producer, and actress. She has won 16 Juno Awards and seven Grammy Awards, was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards and also shortlisted for an Academy Award nomination...

 and Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...

 in the show. Luuk is remembered for rounding up every interview by challenging the interviewee in a staring contest
Staring contest
A staring contest is a game in which two people stare into each other's eyes and attempt to maintain eye contact for a longer period of time than their opponent. The game ends when one participant intentionally or unintentionally looks away...

.

Luuk hosted Melodifestivalen 2007
Melodifestivalen 2007
Melodifestivalen 2007 was the selection for the 47th song to represent Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest. It was the 46th time that this system of picking a song has been used. Five semifinals took place to select the ten songs for the final, in Jönköping, Gothenburg, Örnsköldsvik, Gävle and a...

, the Swedish national selection to the Eurovision Song Contest 2007
Eurovision Song Contest 2007
The Eurovision Song Contest 2007 was the 52nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It was won by first-time appearance as an independent country Serbia and was held at the Hartwall Areena in Helsinki, Finland from 10 May to 12 May. The host broadcaster was YLE.Finland earned the right to host...

. The show is regarded the most popular TV show in Sweden, the final being watched by some four million Swedish viewers every year. He was also the commentator for SVT's Swedish broadcast of Eurovision Song Contest 2007
Eurovision Song Contest 2007
The Eurovision Song Contest 2007 was the 52nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It was won by first-time appearance as an independent country Serbia and was held at the Hartwall Areena in Helsinki, Finland from 10 May to 12 May. The host broadcaster was YLE.Finland earned the right to host...

. He also hosted Melodifestivalen 2008. He commentated both semi finals and the final of Eurovision Song Contest 2008
Eurovision Song Contest 2008
The Eurovision Song Contest 2008 was the 53rd edition of the Contest. It was hosted in Belgrade, Serbia after Marija Šerifović won the 2007 Contest in Helsinki, Finland. This year was the first contest to have two semi-finals which were held on 20 and 22 May, and the final held on 24 May 2008...

.

Luuk acted as a host on SVT's election broadcast in September 2010 and received criticism in some quarters for his perceived trivialisation of the occasion. Welcoming the leaders of all the main parties to the television studios, Luuk conducted them to the make-up room chatting informally. He was also suspected of trying to stage manage a confrontation between the Sweden Democrats
Sweden Democrats
The Sweden Democrats is a political party in Sweden, founded in 1988. SD describes itself as a nationalist movement although others use the term far-right. Since 2005, its party chairman is Jimmie Åkesson, while Björn Söder is the party secretary and parliamentary group leader. An Anemone...

 leader Jimmie Åkesson
Jimmie Åkesson
Per Jimmie Åkesson is a Swedish politician. He is the current leader of the Sweden Democrats and a member of the Swedish parliament following the 2010 general election. He is under constant protection by the Swedish Security Service.- Biography :...

 and the leader of the Left Party
Left Party (Sweden)
The Left Party is a socialist and feminist political party in Sweden, from 1967 to 1990 known as the Left Party – The Communists .On welfare issues, the party opposes privatizations...

, Lars Ohly
Lars Ohly
Lars-Magnus Harald Christoffer Ohly is a Swedish politician, currently serving as party chairman of the Swedish Left Party, in August 2011 Ohly announced his resignation. He was elected party chairman on 20 February 2004, succeeding Ulla Hoffmann....

, which Ohly suspected and refused to take part in.

Talk shows

  • Knesset on ZTV
  • Sen kväll med Luuk
    Sen kväll med Luuk
    Sen kväll med Luuk was one of Sweden's and TV4's most popular talk shows ever and started airing in 1996. Kristian Luuk's show had ratings around 1.5 million viewers every week. Kristian had many celebrity guests like Cher, Whitney Houston, Madonna, Janet Jackson and Mariah Carey...

    on TV4 (literally: Late night with Luuk)
  • God Natt, Sverige on TV4 (literally: Good Night, Sweden)
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