A Look Back At LazyTown and Tribute to Stefán Karl Stefánsson

Tuesday 21^st saw the tragic news of the death of actor Stefán Karl Stefánsson, best known for his role as Robbie Rotten in the kid’s show LazyTown. Stefánsson was diagnosed with incurable bile duct cancer, passing away at the age of 43, leaving behind a lasting legacy of comedy and memetic charm. In his memory, I thought I would revisit and review LazyTown, examining the highs and lows of the show that made Stefánsson (or Robbie Rotten) a household name amongst children and YouTube creators.

LazyTown is an Icelandic TV show created by gymnast Magnus Scheving, who plays the show’s protagonist Sportacus. The series began as a series of plays, Scheving expressing concern that Iceland’s youth were unhealthy and did not participate in exercise. Stefánsson was invited to play Robbie, the show’s antagonist. The plays were so successful, that Nickelodeon noticed them and commissioned to have a television show be made, which lasted four seasons from 2004-2014.

The show focused on Stephanie, an upbeat, preppy, pink-haired 8-year old girl, played by dancer Julianna Rose Mauriello. Stephanie moves into the titular LazyTown, run by her uncle, who is the bungling mayor. Interestingly, Stephanie’s uncle is a puppet, which brings up all sorts of interesting questions – questions which probably are irrelevant since this show is aimed at kiddie winks. Stephanie can easily be dismissed as a very stereotypical character since her entire world is colour coded with shades of pink, but she is quite outgoing, optimistic, and never gives up on her ambitions. She is fleshed out enough too, capable of being argumentative, stubborn, and compassionate towards others.

The rest of the supporting cast are all puppets, Stephanie befriending the neighbourhood children who all have certain traits they need to overcome. There’s Ziggy, an overweight kid as dumb as a brick, obsessed with candy; Trixie, the lone girl in town who is a troublemaker; the appropriately named Pixels, who spends most of his time gaming, yet is also a prodigal inventor and tech whizz; and Stingy, a greedy, often selfish klepto, who is rich enough to drive his own miniature car around. I suspect one day Stingy will grow up to buy out the whole town, demolish everyone’s homes to build a mall, and maybe run for President. Rather impressively, these characters do actually grow as people, overcoming their initial flaws to become better people. That’s a rarity in a show aimed at five-year olds. The Mayor is quite the hoot, infatuated with Ms. Busybody, the town’s gossipy hen.

Anyway, when Stephanie arrives in town, everyone is lazy and stays indoor, thanks to the apparent sinister machinations of Robbie Rotten. Robbie is the show’s MVP, an absolute riot to behold, and definitely the most memorable part of the show. Lurking in an underground lair, Robbie is the town’s self-proclaimed laziest man, and often spies on the neighbours to see what they are up. If anyone is, well, not being lazy, Robbie will promptly confront them and essentially bribe them into becoming docile. Stefánsson does such an amazing job, being both a great physical performer, and goofy yet likeable enough to play the badguy. Robbie Rotten is the kind of wacky yet inept villain that joins the immortal ranks of villain buffoonery, alongside the likes of Team Rocket and Dick Dastardly.

Stephanie is rather bummed out by the town, but learns there is actually a superhero conveniently living in a zeppelin overhead. Summoning the hero by airmail, Stephanie meets Sportacus, an aerobics-mad charm machine played by Magnus Scheving, who brings some long-needed energy and community to LazyTown. Robbie doesn’t take to this, and dedicates himself to putting an end to Sportacus and Stephanie’s regime so he can get some peace and quiet. Well, removing that giant sound system in your lair might be a good start.

Each episode was formulaic as you can imagine. Stephanie and friends are up to some energetic shenanigans usually related to sports, exercise, outside activities, or food, with Sportacus dropping in to help out. Robbie doesn’t like this, disguises himself in a paper thin disguise, and causes trouble that usually backfires in his face, and needs rescuing by Sportacus. Robbie is then unmasked, everyone groans in mild amusement, before Stephanie breaks into the show’s secondary theme song “Bing Bang”. Yeah, the show is of the musical variety, often with catchy, pop songs that are often related to the themes within.

Still, it is mostly these songs that catapulted LazyTown into internet popularity. Don’t ask me how these things become internet memes, but LazyTown is amongst them. However, this also boosted the popularity of Stefánsson online, many finding his role as Robbie to be incredibly fun. Robbie could easily been seen as an anti-hero, desperate to get some peace in town, whilst Sportacus is backflipping around town promoting his rather heavy promotions for exercise and healthy eating.

The show can also be praised for its high budget and good production quality. Alongside the memorable soundtrack, the puppetry is good, the acting is great fun, and there is a sense of big fun with things. The show was hugely popular on CBBC, most of its own creations feeling perpetually smaller in size and budget, though there are a few golden nuggets from my childhood like Playdays, Come Outside, and Teletubbies. Still, the show isn’t without some problems.

LazyTown’s major issue was the message it was trying to convey, and that is mostly personified by Sportacus. Don’t get me wrong. Scheving is incredibly likeable as the character, personifying a charming, friendly, and supportive hero who is forever there for Stephanie and her puppet pals. He has a magic crystal that senses when they are in trouble, and he’ll race to their aid without a second thought. He even considers Robbie to be a bit of a weird friend, despite his eternal attempts to kick him out of town. Robbie is about as silly as you can get, and since there doesn’t appear to be a police force in town, he can get away with even attempted murder, and the children just laugh it off like he’s Ned Flanders.

The show’s mission, as Scheving envisioned, was to convince children to get fit and healthy in all departments. And to be honest, it is rather heavy handed. Sportacus comes off as a rather flawed character, and just about the only one who doesn’t go through any character development. From morning to night, Sportacus is doing nothing else but flipping around town or in his zeppelin, playing sports, and remaining constantly moving. He doesn’t ever take a moment to rest, and his idea of relaxing usually involves more exercise. By no means is Sportacus portrayed as an exaggeration. I suppose he’s a superhero powered by exercise, and simply being lazy once in a while is a foreign concept to him.

The characters actually try to force Sportacus to take a day off. Not to teach him about taking it easy, but just as a thank you for his hard work. Stephanie then takes on the mantle of resident superhero, only to find the whole thing understandably exhausting. She’s meant to be an eight-year old for goodness sake. Ironically, Robbie, despite being the most laziest guy in town, is even more outgoing that Sportacus at times in his quest for peace. And for goodness sake, would it kill Sportacus to just walk everyone in a while. There’s no need for him to constantly back flip around town like a bellend. Still, it does show off Scheving’s talents as a gymnast.

Another issue is Sportacus’ own sense of diet. He often promotes the consumption of “sports candy”, i.e., fruit. That’s the only thing he eats, and appears to have a fatal reaction to the consumption of sugary snacks of any kind like his own Kryptonite. Thankfully, Sportacus isn’t entirely ruthless with the children when he finds them snacking, and more suggests than demands they eat healthier food. Sportacus forever remains enthusiastic about the benefits of a healthy diet and lifestyle, but the problem is lacks a passive size, never once rests, relaxes, and seems to be unable to eat manufactured sugar.

I suppose Robbie Rotten can count as a counterpart, since his natural state is relaxing and eating cake, yet is pretty energetic in his own right. Stephanie serves as a middle ground of sorts, idolising Sportacus, and yet educates both him and Robbie about embracing each other’s preferred lifestyles (just not as extreme).

Eventually, Julianna grew too old for the role of Stephanie and departed after the second season, replaced by Chloe Lang. Scheving himself retired as Sportacus, though his replacement with Dyri Kristjansson was so subtle, most people didn’t notice. Stefánsson stuck around, once again thrown into internet popularity via the villain song “We Are Number One”. In the episode in question, Robbie hires three minions to help him capture Sportacus, leading to a catchy song and a lot of shenanigans.

In 2016, Stefánsson announced he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Show writer Mark Valenti set up a GoFundMe page to raise funding for Stefánsson’s treatment and to support his family. LazyTown songs were used to help promote the funding. In thanks to supporters, Stefánsson reunited with several members of the show’s cast to reprise their roles for a rendition of “We Are Number One”. In August 2017, Stefánsson was declared cancer free after a successful surgery.

Unfortunately, in March 2018, Stefánsson announced his cancer had returned, and this time, was incurable. He sadly passed away aged 43. His manager announced that the Stefán Karl Academy & Centre for the Performing Arts would be opened in Switzerland, in 2019, in his memory. Before his death, Stefánsson posted a final, moving message on his Instagram page.

"It's not until they tell you you're going to die soon that you realise how short life is. Time is the most valuable thing in life because it never comes back. And whether you spend it in the arms of a loved one or alone in a prison cell, life is what you make of it. Dream big."

Rest in peace, Stefán Karl Stefánsson. You’ll always be number one.