Funny / Eurovision Song Contest

• Many, many of them, almost always from Sir Terry's and Graham's commentary.
• Just about everything in this video.
• The Twelve Days of Christmas, Eurovision style.
• The inevitability of bloc voting:
  • During the presentation of the jury vote results at the 2019 final in Tel Aviv, when Cyprus' spokesperson was about to announce which country got 12 points from the Cypriot jury ... the live audience in Tel Aviv audibly yelled "Greece!" in the background, which may be because Cyprus has a history of giving their 12 points to Greece (and vice-versa). And yes, the spokesperson then did announce that the 12 points went to Greece. Which is slightly giggle-worthy, but became absolutely hilarious when a few minutes later, as the spokesperson of Greece was about to announce whom their jury gave the 12 points to, the audience yelled "Cyprus!" (and yes, they were correct here as well).
    • In 2023, Greece failed to qualify for the Grand Final but Cyprus made it through which led to some hilariously awkward moments during the jury announcements. When the Cypriot spokesperson was being introduced someone in the audience could be heard shouting "GREECE!", apparently having forgotten that they weren't in the Final. Shortly afterwards Greece only awarded four points to Cyprus which provoked a massive gasp from the audience^note The Greek televote still awarded Cyprus the traditional 12 points.
  • In a funny, similar but Subverted example: in 2016, Elisabeth Andreassen ^note A Norwegian-Swedish singer who had represented both countries at Eurovision, including as half of Norway's winning team Bobbysocks! from 1985 was about to announce which country had received Norway's 12 points. Knowing their voting history (to the point where that year's hosts even glibly made a joke about it during a song) and seeing which countries they hadn't awarded points to yet, the crowd could be heard shouting "Sweden!"...only for the 12 to go to Italy, with no points at all for Sweden, and the crowd almost gasped.
• This hilarious exchange during the introduction to the UK's votes in 1966:
  Josiane Shen^note The host: Good night, London— no, good evening, London!
  Michael Aspel^note The UK's jury spokesperson: Good morning, Luxembourg.
  Josiane Shen: Good morning!
• During the voting in 1981:
  Doireann Ní Bhriain^note The host: Good evening Yugoslavia. Could I have your votes please?
  Helga Vlahović^note Yugoslavia's spokesperson: (beat) I don't have it.
  • Earlier in the voting, whoever was operating the scoreboard got a little carried away: after Luxembourg gave 10pts to Ireland, the operator added another 300, making their total 326pts. It was not possible to get this many points until 2004.
• Hostess Lill Lindfors' staged Wardrobe Malfunction just before the voting in the 1985 Contest.
• During the voting in 1991, because Toto and Gigliola (the hosts) could only speak Italian, the communication between them and the spokespersons became hazy. Could also double as cringeworthy; because of their frequent mess-ups, Frank Naef had to intervene.
• Narm Charm doesn't even begin to describe the UK's 1992 entry "One Step Out of Time," performed by West End star Michael Ball. Although he reportedly hated being in the contest, you could never tell - his scenery-chewing performance, fist-pumps and all, has secured him a place in Eurovision history (and he finished in second place for his efforts).
• These two videos of the dress rehearsal voting from the 1995 contest.
• During a pause during the voting in 1996, Morten Harket visits the Austrian singer on his phone to his mother. The following happens:
  Morten: "Can I speak to [your mother]?"
  George Nussbaumer: "Yeah, sure." (passes phone over)
  Morten: "Hello, it's Morten." (inaudible) "Ja. Ich bin Morten."^note "Yes. I am Morten" in German. (passes phone back) "Umm, maybe you should explain to her yourself."
  George (on phone to his mother; the following bit is translated into English): "That was Morten Harket from A Ha".
  • It should be noted that the entire Austrian delegation was laughing from the point where Harket starts speaking in German.
• Also during 1996:
  Ingvild Bryn:^note Co-host of the 1996 contest Will Sweden Give us Any Points This Year?
• And during a pause during the songs that year, Morten Harket mentions that he got to know the British, Icelandic and Polish entrants - all of whom were female - a little better and had a good time, but mentions that he hadn't seen much of Ingvild Bryn, who simply replied with, "Hello, Constantinos", that year's Cypriot act. This would be turned into an unplanned Chekhov's Gag during the voting: the United Kingdom gave their 12 to Cyprus. Colin Berry, who was the British spokesperson, said before announcing it that "I think you're going to like this one, Ingvild. It's your friend."
• With just Slovenia left to vote in 2003, three countries - Turkey, Belgium and Russia - still had a chance to win. The introduction to the voting:
  Peter Poles: Here on this paper are the final points which are going to decide tonight's winner and I know you're anxiously awaiting them, so... here I go. Bye. (walks away)
  • Peter Poles would also act as the Slovenian spokesperson between 2004 and 2009 (excluding 2005). And he managed to do something silly every time.
• During the voting in 2004, Lauris Reiniks lamented Latvia's failure to qualify - but then reminded everybody that they were in football final - referring to their appearance at Euro 2004 - while mentioning that Turkey wouldn't be there. It gets doubly funny when you remember that Latvia beat Turkey in the qualifying play-offs of said tournament.
• When Cultural Posturing backfires: French commentators Michel Drucker and Claudy Siar absolutely loathed and mocked Lordi's "Hard Rock Hallelujah" in 2006, saying "They'll go on tour at the Vincennes Zoo this fall" and "They can't win with this". Guess which song won the contest that year?
  • Beyond that, France finished third-last with only five points, and in fact gave 8 points (a top-three score) to Finland.
• DUSTIN THE TURKEY, competing for Ireland in 2008. Yes, it's a puppet. The icing on the cake? He actually won the national selections. By public televote.
• In 2008, Spain sent Rodolfo Chikilicuatre, a character made for the show by comedian David Fernández, with a song parodying both Eurovision jams, South American reggaeton songs and Spanish summer hits like the Macarena. From being just a parody featured in showman Andreu Buenafuente's late-night program, it became an Ascended Meme in Spain (most people voted for him thinking it was better to send a joke than another performer, since they were going to lose anyway), and was actually sent to the contest. Best part? He ended up 16th, Spain's best result in four years (and a result that, as of 2022, has only been beaten four times since).
• Lena's charming tipsiness as she went to claim her victory in 2010. Especially the fact that she forgot the winner has to perform a reprise of their song, leading to a brief Oh, Crap!.
• Moldova's entry in 2011. SO LUCKY!
• From Eurovision 2012, we have Russian Grandmothers and their Baking Party. They were loved by everyone.
  • In the Australian broadcast, we got to hear peoples' opinions on Twitter, which were quite funny.
• In 2012, Mr. Lordi presented Finland's results. He went ahead to declare each top 3 votegetters the "hottest, cutest, prettiest, ______" before actually revealing their identity. See for yourself.
• During the beginning of the voting of the 2012 contest, Albania gave Greece their 12 points. Graham Norton's comment says what we're all thinking.
  The Greek finance minister has just died a little inside.
• One of the candidates to represent Estonia in 2013, Meiecundimees üks Korsakov läks eile Lätti, by Winny Puhh is quickly becoming well-known for being a bucket full of "what".
• Petra Mede presented the 2013 show and for one of the interval breaks, she presented "Swedish Smörgåsbord", a hysterical song about everything Sweden is famous for. There's a reason she was brought back to host the 2016 contest. And then there's her deadpan reactions to the vote presenters.
  Buzzfeed: I can safely say that after watching this video, I have never understood Sweden more fully.
• 2013's Cezar performing the world's first falsetto vampire dubstep opera, in a giant cape. Over on Twitter, Mark Gatiss immediately expressed his joy at seeing the Master's new vocation.
• Also in 2013, the character of Lynda Woodruff, a fictional spokesperson for the EBU. It began as a sketch in the Swedish Melodifestivalen the year before and was carried over into the actual Eurovision Finale the next year. Sarah Dawn Finer is absolutely hilarious as Lynda: See for yourselves.
  • Highlights include:
    Lynda: I've been given a bedtime snack. These amazing raindeer chips. (sniffs them, coughs) I'll save them for later.
    • And, when she's accidentally been in Copenhagen instead of Malmö:
    Lynda: Well how was I supposed to know we were in Denmark? As if anyone can see the difference. This is what happens when you've bloody Bonnie Tyler on your GPS.
    GPS: (in song) Turn around...
    Lynda: Turn it off!
  • She returned for the 60th anniversary special.
  • And again for the 2016 contest!
• Lena's EPIC FAIL voting in the 2013 Grand Final. You had one job, girl.
• Any of the Eurovision Book of Records skits from 2014. The "Most Silver" one even referenced the Epic Sax Guy.
• In 2014 the hosts started to talk about the unthanked people of the song contest, the commentators and then go to Graham Norton who clearly wasn't expecting it. Hilarity Ensues
  • Just before the voting presentation, host Lise Rønne took it upon herself to make some of the performers feel at home in the Green Room... by learning about their favorite foods and presenting said foods to them right there and then. Awkward doesn't even begin to describe the UK performer Molly's reaction to being presented a Curly Wurly cake straight from her local Borough Market.
• Swedish commentator Edward af Sillén is starting to give Graham Norton a run for his money in the comedy department. Highlights from 2015 include encouraging viewers not to look during an advertisement (since SVT that airs the show in Sweden is a public service network that doesn't get funding from advertisements) and this collection of snark which includes a comment that went viral on tumblr and twitter:
  af Sillén: As you might have noticed, Ukraine isn't part of ESC this year. Anyway, here's Russia with a song about peace.
  • In 2021 after Israel's performance in the first semifinal where the record for the highest tone was broken he said:
  af Sillén: ”That was the highest note since Christer Björkman discovered Eurovision was cancelled last year”
• During the 2016 contest the hosts, Petra Mede and 2015 winner Måns Zelmerlöw, thought it would be a good idea to pretend to be taxi drivers and pick up tourists who were there for Eurovision. Then they would slowly reveal who they were. After that they picked up some special guests, namely Verka Serduchka and the lead singer of Lordi.
  • Followed up with their parody sketch "Love Love Peace Peace", in which they demonstrate what makes the perfect Eurovision song, with special cameos from past winners like Alexander Rybak and Lordi, and memorable contestants, like Hamster Wheel Guy and Jedward.
    • Do note the cameo by the Makemakes' bearded (flaming) piano player - not even nul points could stop him from making the journey to Stockholm!
  • And don't forget the sketches joking about Sweden's Eurovision obsession.
  • During the semifinals, Petra discusses the fact that Belarus's entrant Ivan wanted to perform naked with a pack of wolves, but was denied by the producers. Cue Måns rolling onto the stage behind her completely naked with just a stuffed wolf covering his nether regions, rolling away in disappointment after Petra said the producers said no.
  • Also during the semifinals, Petra and Måns perform a musical number about what Eurovision is about. So much shade thrown.
    Getting votes from your neighbours is a sure way to get your song disgraced
    But when Sweden gets twelve points from Norway, it's clearly just good taste!
  • Here is some of their best bits.
• Ukraine's 2016 point presenter was none other than Verka Serduchka, their "mother" and a bottle of alcohol.
• Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi cameo as their characters from Vicious after all 26 performances in the 2016 final.
  Freddie: You know I considered appearing on Eurovision when I was a young man.
  Stuart: There was no Eurovision when you were a young man. There was barely Europe.
• During the results presentations in 2017, there was a random interlude with Verka Serduchka and their dancers jumping around to Dancing Lasha Tumbai in the crowd.
• During the Swedish broadcast, one of the commentators mentioned that they tried to send a snack to the dancing gorilla from Italy's entry, only to get a note back saying that bananas weren't allowed in the green room.
• A skit aired during the 2017 finals with 2016 host Mans Zelmerlow teaching his successors how to be a good ESC host.
  Måns: Now, the perfect Eurovision host understands the power of the dramatic pause. Vova?
  Vova: Yes?
  Måns: What's in your pocket?
  Vova: Um... the car keys?
  Måns: Good. Now ask me what's in mine.
  [Vova, Timur and Oleksandr all laugh, but Måns cuts them off with a Death Glare]
  Vova: OK, what is in your pocket, Må—?
  [Måns makes a gesture for him to go silent. Dramatic Pause ensues as Måns prepares to produce whatever was in his pocket. The three hosts look at him increasingly intrigued, waiting for The Reveal]
  Måns: A wallet! [drops it to the floor and walks off, as Timur, Vova and Oleksandr stare in amazement]
• Manel Navarro (Spain 2017) has never shied away from making fun of his own squawk in the final. Bungled notes like that are called "gallos" ("roosters") in Spanish, so after Netta's 2018 win, with a performance that featured clucking and chicken moves, Manel tweeted, "So last year I came in last because of a 'gallo' and this year a chicken wins..." accompanied with a picture of a graffito that reads "Emosido engañado" (once you get past the typos, you could translate it as "We've been duped"). Also, a few days earlier, when a friend of his tweeted that he planned to rewatch the 2017 final to warm up for the 2018 contest, he advised him to skip Spain.
• The green room segments in 2018, with host Filomena Cautela, tended to go a bit... off the rails. Highlights include her interviewing San Marino's robot, playing the Eurovision Song Contest boardgame with fellow host Catarina Furtado (who asked the nearby Eleni Foureira for hints) and rubbing Rasmussen's beard.
• In response to the stage invasion during the UK's song in 2018, one of the Australian commentators called the invader an "Absolute Cockhead".
  • Really all the commentators were on top form for insults and snark in 2018. The Swedish team remarked on the sickeningly sweet Spanish performance something along the lines of "We've seen many pregnant performers, but this may be the first time a singer has actually gotten pregnant on stage"
    • Graham Norton, on same: "I give it a month."
    • The BBC's Eurovision Twitter feed also got in on the fun in this one, asking "What's Spanish for 'Get a Room!!'?"^note The most used translation is "¡Iros a un hotel!"
  • Graham also had a great line before the Bulgarian song: "Some people love the song. I haven't met any of them, but that's what I'm told."
  • And in a bit of foreshadowing, before Macedonia's semi-final performance, Spanish commentator Tony Aguilar reminded viewers of the existence of the Barbara Dex Award.
• Australian entrant Kate Miller Heidke's Instagram statement after receiving an "Honourary Mallet" from Iceland's Hatari during the week of the 2019 contest:
  Together we will use it to smash capitalism, our competition, and a couple of windows on the bus home.
  • Another one of her posts with her with one of the Icelandic singers and the Norwegian team claimed "Together we’d only need three minutes to destroy Thanos."
• Duncan Laurence, 2019 winner, saying that "because of [his] butt, he gets to tour Europe", when the host commented on the music video which features him completely nude and people can see his butt.
• One of 2019's intervals involved previous entrants singing other entrants' songs. It starts out pretty tame, Conchita Wurst sings Mans Zelmerlow's "Heroes", then Mans sings Eleni Foureira's "Fuego". Then it drifts into hilarious territory because the song she sings...is Verka Serduchka's "Dancing Lasha Tumbai". You could tell Eleni was having a ball. And if that wasn't great enough, Verka then covers Netta's "Toy".
  • During Verka's performance, the background shows Maneki-nekos with Verka's trademark silver star. Verka's "mother" is also having the time of her life, acting as the DJ during Verka's performance
  • Verka shouting at the end of the performance, when the Israeli host playfully rests his head on Verka's arm
  • The performance ends with all of the above joining 1979's winner Gali Atari in singing her song "Hallelujah". While the song itself was a pretty heartwarming moment, the visual...well, look for yourself.◊ Fans were quick to joke that they were the new Avengers or that this image summed up what Eurovision was about.
• Doubles as Funny Background Event, Spain's Miki showing to be waving the flag intensely, only for it to detach from its handle.
• While talking about the Eurovision app, the host noted there is also another app that is popular due to all the handsome men in Tel Aviv.
• In the run up to the 2019, possibly the biggest talking point was Madonna performing, so during the first Semifinal, British commentator Scott Mills^note Graham Norton only commentates during the Final was searching for her, enlisting the help of Eurovision performers in his search. He finally tracked her down to a studio... only for it to turn out to be fellow commentator Rylan Clark-Neal dressed up like Madonna in the "Hung Up" video.
• Rylan Clark-Neal had another funny bit in one of the Semifinals: during a break in the songs, he left the commentary booth and was visiting other ones. He paused outside the Russian booth, before going to the next one.^note It should be noted that he is Camp Gay and Russia don't have a great track record on LGBT issues.
• During the introduction of 2019's final:
  Assi Azar: "Technically, this is our third date. And we all know what happens on third date..."
  Erez Tal: "What happens?"
  Lucy Ayoub: "What happens on third date?"
  Assi Azar: "We announce the winner!"
• To make up for the lack of an actual Contest in 2020, the EBU made two special shows called the Eurovision Song Celebration to go out at the planned time of the Semifinals, which featured either a live performance or the music video of the songs in the relevant Semifinal and the automatic qualifiers that would have voted in that Semifinal. During the Tuesday show, several singers changed the genre of their songs. One of them was Australia's act Montaigne, who changed her song to an opera one. After she did part of her song that way, she continued:
  Montaigne (fake operatic voice): "I'm so obviously not an opera singer" (she starts laughing about this) "but maybe I'm just made of glass".
• During the rehearsals for the 2021 contest, Kateryna Pavlenko (lead singer of Ukraine's Go_A) was forced to sit out of the second rehearsal and press conference when she felt unwell, and had to wait quarantined in her hotel room for the results of the PCR test. When the test came back negative, Kate - who is notable for her confident and hyper-focused demeanour on stage - posted her completely OOC reaction on her Instagram stories: gleefully jumping on the bed and running overjoyed in the hotel hallways... accidentally locking herself out of her room. Without shoes on.
• Finland's Blind Channel displaying a "PLAY JAJA DING DONG" sign during the 2021 semi-finals.
  • The spokesperson for Iceland in 2021? Hannes Óli Ágústsson, in his character of Olaf Yohansson. He wanted the hosts to play Jaja Ding Dong - and then tried to give it 12pts. And where was he calling from? Húsavík, obviously.
• Hurricane's Sanja (Serbia) had already made clear in a press conference her attraction to Damiano David, lead singer of Italy's Måneskin. Just after Italy were announced as the winner during the grand finale, all three girls from Hurricane grabbed Damiano, forcefully taking him away from the Italian delegation, to smother him in a hug.
• The LookLab video with Jendrik from Germany, where host NikkieTutorials cannot keep the interview going because she is Corpsing too hard from Jendrik and Middle Finger Girl (Sophie)'s antics.
  • In particular, when Jendrik demonstrates how his backing singer Myriam attempts to recreate the whistle note Israel's Eden Alene hits in her performance, Nikkie is practically weeping with laughter. Right when she looks like she's about to pull herself together, she takes another look at Sophie and bursts into laughter again.
• One from the live audience's perspective: Barbara Pravi of France fist-bumping her cameraman once she concludes her performance. Heartwarming as well when considering that the excellent camerawork definitely contributed to Barbara's podium finish.
• When it was announced that Italy had won Eurovision 2021, their drummer, Ethan was in complete disbelief about the fact. His reaction went viral.
• The Norwegian "wolves" of Subwoolfer trying to upstage the presenters during their links in the 2022 edition. At some point the producers realised what was happening, and either moved them along their table out of the way, or the presenting team to a different spot in the green room for the last few links of the show.
  • During one link where Mika stood next to them the wolves spent the entire segment silently squeeing at him and slowly inching their way over for a hug.
• When asked if he had any advice for the contestants during the interval of the 2022 show, Måneskin lead singer Damiano David told them "don't get too close to the table" in a cheeky nod to how an awkwardly framed shot of him leaning over a table at the previous year's final led to accusations that he was doing drugs in the green room.^note He was picking up pieces of broken glass, a claim verified as true by (a) an on-site check and (b) David voluntarily taking a drug test, which came back clean.
• 2022's co-host Mika's Oh, Crap! face when he realises that the country he's just introduced as Holland, who had performed earlier in the evening, is in fact Poland.
  • To make it even better the Dutch are right behind him in shot with their singer, S10, with them.
• How often had "Royaume-Uni", the French for "United Kingdom", been heard in recent Contests? Not often. So much so that when Belgium - who voted in French - awarded their douze points to the United Kingdom, it was met with silence from the British delegation until it was repeated in English. About 15 minutes later, France did the same - and was met with the same reaction. While this is because English students are taught to say they're from "Angleterre" when they're learning French, the delayed reaction is still humorous.
  • Also, when Ukraine gave their 12pts to the United Kingdom, the delegation were chanting "We got points! We got points!".
• In 2022, when it was announced that Liverpool would be hosting the 2023 Contest, Graham Norton made the announcement on The One Show and spent six seconds to announce that they had beaten Glasgow for the rights to host it - failing to spot that the back of the card clearly showed "Eurovision Song Contest ... Liverpool 2023", ruining any surprise.
• Whoever set the questions for the "Qualifier or NQ" game played by Mans Zelmerlow and Filomena Cautela (hosts for the 2016 and 2018 editions respectively) must have had something against the Swedes since the 3rd song featured was Anna Bergendahl from the 2010 edition. Filomena immediately complains about the unfairness of featuring her while Mans claims to have no memory of the song whatsoever, to which he gets called out by Filomena and the Youtube comments.^note For those that don't get it, 2010 was the one year when Sweden failed to qualify from the semifinal.
  Youtube comment: Yes, you do. Each and every Swede knows it lmao, it's like a national core memory.
  Another Youtube comment: Never ask:
  Women: Their age
  Men: Their salary
  Swedes: About 2010
• The Audience Participation during Luke Black's performance for Serbia in 2023, referencing a "notorious" moment from one of the pre-parties that year.
  Luke Black: "Hello? Game Over."
  Audience: "Bitch!"
• During 2023's Semifinal 1, Julia Sanina "reminds" viewers who attempt to vote for their own country that if they do, they'll be named and shamed on international TV, scaring the crap out of Hannah Waddingham. Julia later reassures everyone that she's only joking. Possibly.
  • Also during the first semifinal, Hannah explained the rules of the contest in flawless French. She then took a pop at the tendency of Brits to not learn other languages:
    Hannah: You see, Europe, some of us Brits do bother to learn another language.
• Every now and again, you get a conga line after the performances. What was so funny about the one in 2023's second semifinal? It was being led by Peppa Pig. No, really. Adding to the hilarity was host Julia Sanina not having the faintest idea what was going on.
  Alesha Dixon: Don't worry, Julia. We'll explain everything later.
  • On Twitter, the comments ranged from Seen It All to wondering what kind of mushroom the BBC were smoking to reassurance that this wasn't an illusion made by waking up at 4:30am in the morning.
• Julia Sanina also looked completely bewildered in the first semi final when Dustin the Turkey came in for a chat with her and co-host Hannah Waddingham, especially when Hannah was making some puns that seemed to fly (pun intended) over Julia's head.
  • If one looks closely in the background while the hosts are talking to Dustin, Luke Black can also be seen with a confused expression on his face. Doubly funny considering that Dustin took part in the year when the contest was held in his home country of Serbia.
• For the 2023 edition, the BBC have asked the contestants to sing tweets to the tune of their respective entries. Highlights include:
  • Finland: "If this legend doesn't win I will eat my left sock."
  • Malta: "I still can't tell if I like this song or not, I think I may just be getting sick of the saxophone at Eurovision. Also, the name "The Busker" is really confusing for a band of three people do they not have grammar in Malta?"
  • Latvia: "Was listening to 'Sudden Lights' and Aija came on so I think that's my sign to go to sleep good night everyone"
  • Azerbaijan: "I did not have hot musical twins with glasses from Azerbaijan on my bingo card but I'm here for it"
  • Sweden: "Never mind the giant toastie machine, I wanna see a BBC risk assessment on Loreen's nails"
• Finland's Käärijä is already a walking Crowning Moment of Funny with his antics but this moment in his Be My Guest video even had the staff laughing:
  Clara Amfo: You're going to put on this blindfold, and then you put your hand in this bag and guess the items in "the Käärijä Bag"! Do you see the British humor?^note "Käärijä" is pronounced the same way as "carrier".
  Käärijä: (with the blindfold on) I don't see anything.