Sweden

This morning I remembered something that I had tried my best to forget. It happened about three-and-a-half years ago, and today was my first recollection of it, so I had been quite successful.

It was the summer of 2008 and I was part of a 5-person team that went on a speaking trip to Sweden. There was a big Christian conference happening and I had to give a seminar on 'Movies & Storytelling'.

As we were the visiting speakers, the Swedish team wanted us to take part in a 'chat show' on the Friday night. Every Swedish person we spoke to were very excited about this idea. Apparently the chat show was something that happened every year and the guy who hosted it was 'absolutely hilarious'. So we agreed.

We went to the big hall where it was taking place and there were literally hundreds of people crammed in to watch. The host was already sitting down in his seat on the stage and, although not being able to follow most of what he was saying due my Swedish being weak, it was clear that he was a hit. The crowd were laughing hysterically.

Then it came for myself and two other members of the team to go up on stage and be interviewed. We got up and, thankfully, the host spoke to us in English. As the interview went on both the team and the crowd got into it more and more. I remember the host saying something about how, typically, the English are quite reserved. He mentioned that we didn't show our love very much. I asked the crowd if that were true (yes, I engaged the crowd directly), and they all yelled back in the affirmative.

Now I have seen my fair share of 'Friday Nights with Jonathan Ross' to know how to get the crowd involved, so, I thought I'd try and prove them wrong… by jumping on the interviewer's lap and giving him a hug.

Yes, this did happen.

As I did this with quite a lot of comic force, I heard an audible intake of breath from the crowd. 'They're not used to someone being so maverick', I thought to myself. I then addressed the interviewer and crowd, by saying, 'How about that? Is that showing enough love for you? My goodness, you're not a very comfortable seat - you need to work up your leg muscles a bit'.

There were a couple of laughs, but not as many as I expected. I returned to my seat and, soon after, the interview ended and I walked back to my seat. 'That went VERY well", I thought.

The next day as I was walking through the conference hall I saw the interviewer again… pushing himself along in his wheelchair with a very apparent condition of cerebral palsy in his legs.