Alexander Skarsgård insists Swedish Midsummer 'frog' dance is real after Fallon doubts

When Sweden-born Alexander Skarsgård visited The Tonight Show in 2018, he taught Jimmy Fallon about Sweden's Midsummer celebration and the frog dance performed around the maypole — and Fallon accused him of making it up.

Skarsgård described Midsummer as "an old pagan holiday," saying "you stick a 30-foot wooden pole, covered in leaves and flowers, into the ground" and called it "a very phallic symbol" meant to "fertilize Mother Earth." He said people eat pickled herrings, decorate the pole, drink Aquavit and dance around the pole while singing a song about tiny frogs.

He demonstrated the frog dance, Små grodorna ("The Little Frogs"), which involves holding hands, skipping in a circle and doing moves that illustrate things frogs don't have, such as a tail and ears. Fallon tried to follow along, then protested, "You're making this up," while Skarsgård replied, "This is 100% a true story," and advised viewers to "Google it."

The segment and the dance appear on sources like the blog Hej Sweden and in YouTube comments, where several viewers from Sweden confirmed the tradition — comments ranged from "this is total madness" to "No...it is true. Swedes actually do this."

Skarsgård is set to host Saturday Night Live on January 31 with musical guest Cardi B, airing on NBC and Peacock, where viewers can see him perform and revisit his Tonight Show demonstration.

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