On a trip to Oslo, Harry and I were guests of Harald Eia, a parent who volunteered to host. The trip was a informal reciprocal visit – a group of Oslo students and parents visited Cambridge last year, and we were now visiting them in Oslo.
Harald, a comedian/producer/Norwegian comedy star, shares my love of Larry David and Seinfeld. In the 90’s, he made two visits to the Seinfeld set to learn from the writers. Harald’s production company is named Funkenhauser, after the Marty Funkhauser character on Curb Your Enthusiasm with an “en” thrown in to make it sound a like a German company (re. Telefunken). Harald wanted his company to sound Jewish, even though he is not.
As luck would have it, Tim Wendelboe, (2004 World Barista Champion) was in Oslo (he travels 200 days a year) and I filmed Tim drinking and discussing coffee with my son, Harry, for my coffee doc. When I was discussing sound levels with the soundman, Tim proclaimed “Levels, Jerry, levels!” Kramer’s signature line from a Seinfeld episode.
Those Norse. Great coffee, great sense of humor.
Harald Eia, Oslo