Áramótaskaupið ("The New Year's Lampoon") is an annual Icelandic television comedy special, broadcast on New Year's Eve by the state public service broadcaster RÚV. Initially aired on radio in 1948, and later moving to television in 1966, it features sketches satirizing the news events of the past year.[1]
It is often the highest-rated television broadcast of the year in Iceland. In 2002, it was reported that the special had been seen by 95.5% of the country; Páll Magnússon, CEO of RÚV stated that this was most likely a record in the Western world.[2] Due to its high viewership, advertising time during Áramótaskaupið is the most expensive on Icelandic television. The show ends just before midnight, and those Icelanders who shoot off fireworks usually do so after Áramótaskaupið ends.
Some of its sketches have become well known in Icelandic culture, such as its portrayal of Minister of Finance Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson as the Batman parody "Skattmann" ("Taxman"). In 2009, the show featured a sketch about the protests following the 2008 Icelandic financial crisis, in which Jón Gnarr played a strait-laced middle-aged protester shouting "Helvítis fokking fokk!!". The phrase swiftly became widely used in Iceland in relation to the crisis.[3]