Visit Oslo turns its famous grump into a Christmas musical

Visit Oslo has brought back Halfdan, the deadpan local who spent 2024 telling tourists not to bother, and this time the city answers him in a Christmas musical.

It’s Totally Even a City is a winter sequel to the film that asked whether Oslo qualified as a city at all.

Halfdan, again played by Bendik Aunan, grumbles in verse about bankers commuting on skis and parks overrun by children on sleds. There’s a choir of residents, a troupe of singing children and a scheming rabbit.

Halfdan quits and asks to be taken to the airport. The choir responds by threatening to burn him on a bonfire and eat him. He concedes he could manage one more week.

The brief is a familiar one for northern destinations: sell the cold months. NewsLab, the Oslo agency behind the original anti-tourism ad, returns with director August Jorfald.

That first film, which Visit Oslo says drew 15 million views within days of release, came top of our best campaigns of 2024 list.

The full lyrics sit on the Visit Oslo homepage for anyone who fancies a singalong. Halfdan would rather you didn’t.