Raised outside of Minneapolis, Landvik often entertained classmates with her comic abilities and was particularly adept at mimicking foreign accents. A fourth-generation Norwegian, she often used her heritage to poke fun at herself and later made this blend of parody and self-effacement a mainstay of her fiction. After high school, Landvik traveled through Europe with a friend, and the two worked as chambermaids and English tutors in Bavaria. When she returned from Europe, Landvik spent a year studying at the University of Minnesota, then left the state to pursue a career as an actress and comedian in California.
While living in San Francisco, Landvik performed her comedy routines in several different venues, including one club in the basement of a church. This underground locale provided the inspiration for the basement performance space in her second novel, Your Oasis on Flame Lake (1997). Landvik later moved to Los Angeles, where she performed comic sketches and stand-up routines at the Comedy Store and Comedy Improv. Her skits were populated with quirky oddballs such as Mrs. Olsen, the coffee lover driven insane by caffeine, and Frau Kuchenschnitter, a manic German cook, and were based on people Landvik met during her travels in Europe.
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