– I have always had a number of weapons at home. I already bought a number of weapons when I was 16. They were sealed of course, but I bought them to keep at home, says Valen from the witness box on Monday.
Kristian Valen (48) is accused of illegally storing and owning a number of firearms without permission from the chief of police.
The prosecution will confiscate around 50 different weapons and weapon parts from the comedian. He denies criminal guilt and claims that all the weapons are not functional.
During the trial, the defense will play a number of music videos and skits which they believe prove that the weapons were only props.
– Humor is cheap
In his free explanation, Valen begins by telling about how he got a job at a local radio station in Stavanger when he was around 17-18 years old.
Eventually he also began working in television, where he developed a number of characters, sketches and parodies.
Beyond the 2000s, he received more and more offers, and his career gradually began to accelerate. Valen, on the other hand, thought that Norwegian humor and entertainment was not as professional as it could be, he says.
– As of today, humor is quite cheap, he says and continues:
– I wanted to take the step a little further to what I had seen since I was a child of commissaries and parodies in the USA, says Valen.
Already when he worked with local TV at a young age, he was very interested in props, he says. This has only developed over the years.
– I wanted people to think “Oh, is it real or not?”
Shoot at burglars
Valen then tells about what he remembers as a traumatic event in 2007.
In his apartment at Aker brygge, he was subjected to a break-in by two masked men. It all ended with Valen firing what he now refers to as a scare shot at one of the burglars.
THE PARTIES: Police prosecutor Andreas Meeg-Bentzen (tv) is handling the case for the prosecution. On the right sits Valen’s defender, lawyer Bernt Heiberg. Photo: Christian Roth Christensen / TV 2
In court, he thoroughly reviews the course of events from 2007.
He says that one of the burglars held up a flashing object of at least 20 centimeters.
– I can’t say whether it was a knife or a screwdriver, but it was a stabbing weapon.
He then threw himself on the phone to the police, he says. At the same time he opened his gun cabinet, took out a pistol and put in one or two bullets.
He then hid in the corner of the apartment’s bathroom while he waited for the police. But according to the comedian, the police did not arrive until four hours after he had called.
In the meantime, Valen had fired what he describes as a scare shot at one of the burglars. He also called and informed the police about this, he says from the witness box.
When the police finally arrived at the flat on Aker brygge, they became aware that he had at least one weapon that was not registered correctly in accordance with the regulations.
Afterwards, the case received wide attention in the Norwegian press – something Valen says he took very seriously.
Surrendered the weapon card
After the burglary in 2007, Valen chose, according to himself, to give up his firearms license. He has not had a permit to own a weapon since.
The reason was the negative coverage in the media, says the comedian.
– They referred to me as a madman who was wildly shooting around in his apartment. I was called Vopen-Valen, he says and continues:
– It abounded on social media, and it was not the most positive. It was my first encounter with being a celebrity. It was very difficult. I have grown up being proud of my family name.
Through his free explanation, he constantly directs criticism at the Norwegian press.
LONG CAREER: Kristian Valen (48) spent a lot of time talking about his entire career. Photo: Ditlev Eidsmo / TV 2
– Even to this day, I am “gun crazy”, according to the media, he says.
He thinks the whole trial is absurd.
– The prosecutor and I do not agree on how the course of events was on this date almost three years ago, he says and continues:
– When the prosecutor reads this out, it sounds very serious. I’m just a comedian and I don’t recognize myself in this, he says.
Shoot at the goblin in sketch
In connection with Gullruten a few years after the break-in in 2007, Valen was supposed to make a skit for the award ceremony, he says.
He says that TV 2 suggested making a sketch in which he took issue with the media’s image of “Våpen-Valen”.
The sketch they agreed to create shows Valen sitting alone in a white medical shirt and drinking Jägermeister. At one point in the sketch, Santa comes and wants his booze, says the comedian.
According to Valen himself, the whole sketch ends with him “clicking” and shooting at the goblin through a door.
Even though several people around him thought it was a bad idea to make this sketch, he himself had no problems making this sketch. In retrospect, he sees that it probably did not help to dampen the impression that he was “gun crazy”.
During the main hearing, the court will be able to see a number of music videos, skits and other features where Valen has used various weapons as props.
The Oslo district court has set aside the whole of Monday for Valen’s explanation.
