[2] Egon Olsen's hallmark is his bowler hat, pinstripe suit, and an extinguished cigar end in his mouth, even when he is gagged.

[3] Egon Olsen is one of the typical antiheroes of film history, an eternal loser who wobbles but does not fall over.

Critics hypothesise that Egon's talent for improvisation impressed East Germans living under a socialist economy of scarcity, more than James Bond did, fighting his enemies with the newest technological gimmicks.

He is shown to be quite smart, laying ingenious plans to achieve fortune, and have them ruined by either his companions, poor timing or bad luck, very much like the Danish version where Yvonne is often the cause of his downfall.

In the Norwegian series, Egon was originally set to be portrayed by Carsten Byhring, with Arve Opsahl in the role as Kjell Jensen, his companion.