Swedish comedian dead after collapsing on stage

Well-known Swedish comedian and actor Lasse Eriksson, 61, collapsed on stage Thursday night in Uppsala.

At the time, he was performing live as part of a comedy show entitled Fyra lycklinga män 2 ('Four happy men 2').

Eriksson later died in an ambulance.

Actor Ronald Brandel, a former colleague of Eriksson's, was shocked by the news of his death.

"We were like a duo for five years. It's incredibly sad what's happened. He was an extremly creative, hard-working person and very likable," he told The Local on Friday morning.

Eriksson was just coming to the end of the performance at the Reginateatern in Uppsala when he suddenly fell to the floor in front of a shocked audience.

"It was right at the finish, he clutched his chest and tried to get off the stage but fell over," an audience member told Expressen.

At first, the audience didn't realise Eriksson may be in danger.

"The show is full of surprises and no one understood what was happening until one of the actors stepped forward and asked if there was any doctor in the audience," he said

Eriksson was given CPR before being taken to the Uppsala University Hospital, but was dead by the time the ambulance arrived.

The comedian didn't have any known medical conditions and police told the newspaper that they had yet to determine the exact cause of death, although the don't suspect foul play.

Born and raised in Piteå in northern Sweden, Eriksson started his career in the 1970s at Panikteatern, an independent theatre group based in Uppsala.

Eriksson is mostly known for his work in several Swedish television shows including political humour programme Parlamentet ('The Parliament') as well as another comedic news panel discussion show called Snacka om nyheter ('Talk about the news'), inspired by the BBC's Have I Got News for You.

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