About this item
In the epicenter of the world financial crisis, a comedian launched a joke campaign that didn’t seem so funny to the country’s leading politicians . . .It all started when Jón Gnarr founded the Best Party in 2009 to satirize his country’s political system. The financial collapse in Iceland had, after all, precipitated the world-wide meltdown, and fomented widespread protest over the country’s leadership.Entering the race for mayor of Reykjavík, Iceland’s capital, Gnarr promised to get the dinosaurs from Jurassic Park into downtown parks, free towels at public swimming pools, a “drug-free Parliament by 2020” . . . and he swore he’d break all his campaign promises.
About the Author
Jón Gnarr (1967-) is an Icelandic actor, writer and
comedian, and was Mayor of Reykjavík 2010-14. Jón had an atypical
childhood, struggling with learning disabilities and various social
problems. At the age of five years old, he was sent to the Children
and Adolescents Faculty of the National University Hospital, where he
was diagnosed with "developmental disabilities." This diagnosis had a
major impact on Jón's schooling, his childhood and his teenage years.
Jón has described his upbringing in the books The Indian, The Pirate,
and The Outlaw, and he has been a powerful advocate on behalf of those
with conditions including ADHD, Asperger's, dyslexia and other
disabilities. His books have been translated into English, German, Arabic, Spanish and other language
Jón has also been an active advocate for human rights, both
domestically and internationally. He is a member of a number of
organizations, including Amnesty International, the Icelandic Ethical
Humanist Association and PEN. Jón was made an honorary member of The
National Queer Organization of Iceland for his fight on behalf of the
rights of LGBT people.
In 2009 Jón founded The Best Party, together with a group of other
artists. The Best Party won a landslide in the 2010 local elections in
2010 and Jón became Mayor of Reykjavík. Despite enthusiastic support
from voters, Jón opted to govern for only a single term; in 2014 he
left the mayoralty, and The Best Party was disbanded.
He has won numerous awards in his career. He has received 12 Eddas
(the most prominent film and television award in Iceland) and he has
written and appeared in countless television shows and films. He was
named Person of the Year by the Icelandic news channel Station 2 in
2010. In 2014 he received the Humanist Award from the Icelandic
Ethical Humanist Association and the LennonOno grant for his human
rights and peace activism as Mayor of Reykjavík.
Jón Gnarr is also a member of the Icelandic Writers' Union, the
Association of Icelandic Actors and Playwrights, and the Icelandic
Screenwriters Association.
According to polls, a decisive majority of Icelanders name Jón as the
person they most want to see become the next President of Iceland in
the 2016 elections.
Jón is married to Jóhanna Jóhannsdóttir; they have five children. They
are currently based in Houston, Texas where Jón is working at Rice
University as Lecturer and Writer-in-Residence at The Center for
Energy and Environmental Research in the Human Sciences. Alongside
these duties, Jón is engaged in various positions, both domestically
and internationally, and has a US work permit (an O-1 Visa) .
He is working on an Icelandic television show about a ma
