I haven't done much with Scandinavian or Russian comedy, as comedy doesn't tend to translate well, and my knowledge of the languages isn't good enough to get most of the jokes (especially given that timing is so much of humor). But what I have experienced is a bit darker than most of ours, and certainly odder (at least to an American). The literature, fairy tales, and movies I have seen are also much, much darker. Russian far more so than Scandinavian ones, but it's true for all of those countries. And I have read quite a bit of Scandinavian and Russian literature, and a decent number of fairy tales, and a few movies. I can think of many examples, like the Speckled Hen (only in Russia would a golden egg be a BAD thing), Assa, Per Gynt, Twilight Country, the Water Snake, Independent People, etc.
I'm guessing that the long, dark winters play a big role. It really is depressing when the sun barely rises above the horizon, until you've lived somewhere like that, it's hard to know how much it affects one. I didn't think it would me, I like winter (and where I live, our winters are harsher than most of the populated areas of Scandinavia or Russia), and I like the dark, and don't mind being inside. But going outside when it's noon, and it looking like dusk, I can't explain why, but it has a big impact. And Alaska is the only part of the US at similar latitudes, and few live there. And while Canada has more land mass that far north than the US does, it has even fewer people up there. Anchorage is the only city in the US or Canada over 50K people that is as far north as Stockholm, Helsinki, Oslo, or Saint Petersburg, the smallest of which is over twice as big as Anchorage (Oslo, at 650K).
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I haven't done much with Scandinavian or Russian comedy, as comedy doesn't tend to translate well, and my knowledge of the languages isn't good enough to get most of the jokes (especially given that timing is so much of humor). But what I have experienced is a bit darker than most of ours, and certainly odder (at least to an American). The literature, fairy tales, and movies I have seen are also much, much darker. Russian far more so than Scandinavian ones, but it's true for all of those countries. And I have read quite a bit of Scandinavian and Russian literature, and a decent number of fairy tales, and a few movies. I can think of many examples, like the Speckled Hen (only in Russia would a golden egg be a BAD thing), Assa, Per Gynt, Twilight Country, the Water Snake, Independent People, etc.
I'm guessing that the long, dark winters play a big role. It really is depressing when the sun barely rises above the horizon, until you've lived somewhere like that, it's hard to know how much it affects one. I didn't think it would me, I like winter (and where I live, our winters are harsher than most of the populated areas of Scandinavia or Russia), and I like the dark, and don't mind being inside. But going outside when it's noon, and it looking like dusk, I can't explain why, but it has a big impact. And Alaska is the only part of the US at similar latitudes, and few live there. And while Canada has more land mass that far north than the US does, it has even fewer people up there. Anchorage is the only city in the US or Canada over 50K people that is as far north as Stockholm, Helsinki, Oslo, or Saint Petersburg, the smallest of which is over twice as big as Anchorage (Oslo, at 650K).