The humor group Varanteatern was formed in Lund in 1992 when the members Anders Andersson, Fredrik Ljungberg, Jonas Sykfont, Magnus Thomson, Olof Wallberg, David Wiberg and Fredrik Åkerman were still in high school.
"No immediate huge success"
The group had its big impact when they, together with SVT, created the TV program Varan-tv whose sketches immediately became popular.
But for various reasons, SVT chose not to give the group a third season - until 20 years later.
According to Petter Bragée, who is now program manager for SVT but who was also a producer for the first two seasons, Varan-tv was not an immediate huge success.
Whether among critics, in audience reactions or in viewer figures.
But since then the cult has grown.
VHS cassettes went around in groups of friends, Varanteatern's humor band Tyskarna från Lund got hits and festival performances and stage shows were made.
SEK 5.4 million
In the autumn of 2020, Varanteatern announced that they wanted to record new material on their own.
This despite the fact that SVT still owned the rights.
To secure funding for the project, the group started a kickstarter campaign, which, above everyone's expectations, has raised SEK 5.4 million at present.
“As an old Varan TV producer, I was perhaps not as surprised as many others.
Like many cult phenomena, commodity television is something that is huge in some circles and unknown in others.
I have felt a growing cult, but I think many on SVT were surprised by the interest, "writes Petter Bragée in an email to Kulturnyheterna.
"Absurd and super exciting"
The humor group says in an interview with Dagens Nyheter that the money they collected in the Kickstarter campaign will instead go to producing exclusive extra material, alongside the TV series.
The new season of Varan-tv, which does not yet have a name, will be recorded during the summer and a premiere can be expected in the spring of 2022. There will be six episodes, each 22 minutes long.
Petter Bragée's hope is to capture both new viewers and those who liked the previous seasons: "The ideas I have heard so far are unique, absurd and super exciting".