Tun & Tre: Decade by Decade

The whole world’s favorite gossip magazine is already fifteen years old (or is it only six?) Join me as I dive into the most important NLH UMB NMBU-related magazine of all time: Tun & Tre, decade by decade!

Text: Tord Kristian F. Andersen

The precursor of Tun & Tre, Tuntreet, saw an increasing focus on single issues from the 70’s. This could, for example, be 10 pages dedicated to different sides of an issue. This expanded throughout the 80’s, where we had some all-out themed editions. Here, a single subject was the focus, with some other content on the side. However, the subjects did not really change the magazine all that much, other than the texts all being written to sort out a single subject. The themed editions as we know them today are much more thorough, and not only does the content change, but also the tone.

From the Front Page to Completion

To exemplify, we have had front page parodies of “Magasinet”, “Donald Duck & Co.” and “National Geographic”. An anniversary edition with the expression of the 40’s was released in 2016. “Tuntreet Geographic” was upgraded to a more thorough edition in 2019. An impressive variant is the “Cut-and-paste-edition”, with all-analog layout. Worth mentioning are the special editions “Sladrespeilet” and “Odelskatalogen”. Nevertheless, the only returning themed edition is Tun & Tre.

There are currently eight editions, and the eighth is the one you are reading right now. It is still worth mentioning that the first three editions were not real, thorough editions, but only front pages with some added strokes, like the first ones mentioned earlier. These front-page specials were released in 2006, 2008 and 2011. Øystein Heggdal was the journalist editor in 2006, which made him responsible for the form and the content. He explains that the first edition was so caricatured that some people did not even realize it was Tuntreet, and put it in the garbage. Four more years had to pass before the first true edition was conceived in 2015.

You think Tuntreet is thoughtless? I’ll show you thoughtless!

Lars Raaen was the journalist editor for this first proper edition. He tells me that making a “Se & Hør”-edition was, apart from fun, a truly conscious comment to the critical voices about what Tuntreet covered. I find threads all the way back to 1983 in “Tunrapp” (Tuntreet’s debate appendix). Here we find debates of whether a column called “Tunpampen” was unreasonable personality cult-ish. A big part of the debate later on had been whether Tuntreet focused on the wrong issues, and subjects that were too ordinary. There was only one thing to do, fill the magazine with interviews and other gossip.

Then there were editions in 2016, 2017 and 2019, filled with fashion police, drug scandals, homosexcruise, nudity, collisions, “Ås dogging” and interviews at people’s places. I can imagine that, depending on who you ask, Tun & Tre is either Tuntreet at its best or its worst. For the time being, this has been intentional. Including the edition you are holding, Tun & Tre has been present for over three decades, since it first arose as a joke in January 2006. One thing is for sure. It is here to stay.