Mix profound passion, a couple of parts Bach and a couple parts dad jokes and you’ve got yourself Victor Borge.
If you’ve yet to discover him, Victor Borge was a danish classical music lover, piano virtuoso and comedian born in 1909. He successfully weaved the aforementioned three genres into a praise-worthy performance that began in the 1950s. He dazzled Broadway with his unique show “Comedy in Music.”
The show ran for 849 performances at the Golden Theatre, making Broadway history and getting into the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest-running one-man show—a record that still stands today!
His rise to fame made him the highest-paid entertainer in the world in the 1960s.
Borge won the hearts of many far and wide with his piano satire, punctuating good clean humor with a fondness for classical compositions. His unique style and sincere warmth captivated audiences, and he went on to tour his show around the globe.
Before it all happened, Borge didn’t have a clue that he would come to embody and pursue the American dream.
In 1940 during World War II, Germany occupied Denmark. Borge hopped on a United States army transport boat, disguised as a sailor with a mere twenty dollars in his pocket. He spoke not a word of English and taught himself the language by watching movies. Just two years later, he was crowned the “best new radio performer of the year” in America.
He went on to perform shows well into his nineties!
Borge was able to spin comedic gags and quips into a brilliant virtuosity.
He played his sharp wit out across the keys of the piano. His entertaining acts included both visual and physical comedy, as well as comedy based on the English language itself.
A popular routine he performed was known as “Phonetic Punctuation.” Borge would read a passage aloud from a book, exaggerating punctuation marks (periods, exclamation marks, quotation marks) with sounds from his mouth.
In his performances, Borge himself was often the joke!
Another common act he performed was sitting down at the piano and playing a jumbled tune, looking confused and turning his sheet music sideways and upside down, only to start playing the same tune correctly.
Sometimes he would sit down to the piano, and begin to play a tune so energetic that he’d fall off the piano bench! No sooner would he get up, open the bench and remove a seatbelt to strap himself back to the bench.
Throughout his acts, Borge’s heart shined the brightest.
One of Borge’s favorite quotes was:
“Laughter is the closest distance between two people.”
He had more to say about humor in general as well:
“Humor is something that thrives between man’s aspirations and his limitations. There is more logic in humor than in anything else. Because, you see, humor is truth.”
Over five million people have viewed Borge’s comedic piano banter, with 40,000 likes as well!
Though his life is inspiring on its own, so is his approach to music. After all, who says it has to be so serious? After watching this, you’ll know beyond a doubt that it doesn’t have to be.
Be sure to check out his original musical stylings in the video below:
