So farewell, 2021! 

It’s been a funny old year and looking back, I can’t decide whether it’s been a fantastic year or a bit of a shitty one. First the shitty bits: Separation, death, fire, and of course a…

It’s a few hours before midnight on the last day of 2020. Even though I don’t really feel like it, I feel I need to force myself to write up a few things about the year that has gone, if…

Last night was the first of the socially distanced comedy nights. And in many ways, it went as planned. 

A beautiful summer’s evening, with a massive audience of 5 people, who got just over 30 minutes of bespoke stand up…

Here's a transcript of the event description on Facebook. 

1. Varför är det här på engelska? Linköping är ju i Sverige! Fy fan! 

The short answer to that is: Deal with it! The longer answer is a combination of ‘Come…

On Thursday  I ventured into the world of the Zoomosphere with a live event called 'Postcard From Sweden'. If you missed it, let's just say that you should have been there. Or maybe not.  

It was all going so well…

Like every artistically inclined soul out there, I have seen this period of social distancing not as an inconvenience, but as a great opportunity. My plan is to use this time to live life to the fullest.

In other words…

Corona. It’s here. It is amongst us. And like every other non-expert out there, I don’t really know what to do other than follow official advice. 

As the saying goes - Plan for the worst, hope for the best  -…

A couple of weeks ago, I travelled to the far north of Sweden. The very far north of Sweden. In fact it was as far as you can travel without falling off the map, if of course your map only…

As the year draws to an end, it’s time to do a quick summary of the year that has gone. I’ve snuck away to my office to write this as the smell of cooking rises up the stairs and as…

The other day I got some fan mail. I don’t think I’ve ever had any fan mail before, not even fake fan mail from my wife, mother or children. So it was quite exciting to get a piece of fan…

A week or so ago I went to Pilsen in the Czech Republic to show our film Big In Sweden at the International Road Movie Festival 

It’s taken me a few days to get round to blogging about it because…

A couple of Sundays ago stand up comedy in Linköping went underground. Well, into an underground carpark at least. 

The original plan was to put the show on with the audience lounging around on picnic blankets outside Stadshuset, sipping white…

I did a gig in Nyköping the other day. 

I wonder if there is any other job or even hobby which involves so much travel for so little actual ‘doing’. It's nearly always a hell of a long commute for…

It's raining. It's mid-July. And I remembered that I have a blog. I guess I'm suffering from that mid-summer malaise of the freelancer. This is the point in the summer, usually when the rain is falling hardest, where you realise…

It was a funny old week last week, in more ways that one. I went to see some politicians from the culture department speak about their vision for Linköping’s kulturliv. The event came to me as a bit of a…

It’s a weird feeling. .. But our sitcom is finally going to be broadcast on proper telly. Thinking back, the first time Al and I discussed this idea was probably two and a half years ago in a cafe in…

Last night the Brexit Express steamrolled to my home town, Linköping. The UK Foreign Office are on a PR offensive trying to reassure businesses, expats and potential tourists that even though the UK is going down the drain at speed…

The other day I made an incredible scientific discovery about beavers and their bottoms.

I don’t want to take credit for the actual science, or give the impression that it was I who first made this discovery for…

As 2018 draws to a close, here's a quick look back at the year that was. 

Like most years, when you sit back during those strange, long-weekend-like days between Xmas and New Year, it’s hard to remember what…

It's almost Xmas. I'm exhausted. My defences and usual cynicism have been gently eroded over an intensive month. I've been holed up, writing until my fingers bleed. On the few occasions I have ventured out into the real world…

When I was in my final year at university, my friend Tom and I had a simple plan for the future: Move to New York. 

This was back in 1998 and when the internet still hadn’t really come…

In the early 2000's I went to see the brilliant, pranksterfly rap artist Chilly Gonzales at the Scala in King's Cross, London. One of the best live acts I've ever seen, here was a Jewish Canadian rapper who lived…

Just a quick one to say that I am on my way to New York to attend the Nordic International Film Festival (NIFF) where we'll show a few scenes from the film, which is now called 'Big in Sweden'…

I need to start this blog post with a warning and a caveat. 

First the warning: This is about Linköping’s cultural life, so perhaps appeals to a very small group of readers. If you have any sense and…

Woody Allen famously said that 80% of success is showing up. And he was absolutely right, as I almost found out thanks to a very close shave. 

A couple of weeks ago, I had a twelve minute meeting…