In 1988 Egill started moving into television, first with a series on different aspects of Icelandic nationality called Mannlegi þátturinn.

[4] The show quickly became very popular and influential, with Egill interviewing guests both in Icelandic and English, and occasionally in other languages.

[6] During the Icelandic economic crash it became a center of the heated debates going on in the country, with Egill also inviting foreign guests such as the French prosecutor Eva Joly to his show, Nobel prize winning economists such as Paul Krugman and Joseph Stiglitz and social critics Noam Chomsky and Slavoj Zizek, as well as Julian Assange, Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Carl Bildt.

Among noted authors who have appeared on the show are Michel Houellebecq, Dave Eggers, David Mitchell, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Nawal El Saadawi, Alice Walker and Dan Brown.

He writes about different topics, politics, international affairs, literature, history, travel and music – which is another passion of Egill.