Safety Last Productions

It’s the end of an era. L‘Orient has closed its giant wooden doors for the last time and headed east. I went to the final couple of live events there and amongst the drinking and music there was a sense…

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…

Back in September I wrote about getting a haircut with a view to impressing some SVT bigwigs with my clean cut looks. I realise now that  there is more to making it in television comedy  than just having a good…

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…

Henrik Källman and I are on tour. Very possibly the world’s most ill conceived idea in the history of tours, but nonetheless, we are on tour, so suck it up! And it all kicked off on Friday. 

The…

Do you do sport? Sport, we are told, is good for you. If you do do sport, good for you.  

Sport is great. There's the getting sweaty and the bonding with other sweaty people. There’s the balls and…

In a few weeks, it’s election time in Sweden. What I have learnt over the years is that local politicians don’t really do a lot. There’s a lot of scratching of balls and drinking of coffee, with the occasional clipping…

As the title to this blog post suggests, I did a gig last night in a cellar in Norrköping and it was sweaty.

Not much more needs to be said. Nothing beats stand up in a sweaty cellar. 

…

When I was about sixteen, my mum bought me a copy of a book called 'The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To Europe'.

I wasn't sure if giving it to me was a subversive act by my mum, a gentle nudge towards…

I wanted to write a few words about Mr Cool-gate and what it means for Linköping. Within the context of Linköping's desire to be the third biggest event city in Sweden, I think it may be significant. I know that…

In the past, I may have inadvertently ejaculated barbed comments to the effect that you never get anything from Linköpings Kommun. I take it all back. I retract all previous allegations. Last Wednesday, on Sweden's national day, Linköping Kommun…

This time last week, I was wandering the streets of Tiszafüred, Hungary, trying to find some small remnant of my life there as a twenty year old back in the early nineties. Perhaps I had expected too much, but…

It's almost fifteen years since I was last in Hungary. And about twenty- five since the small town of Tiszafüred was the place I called home. Back then it was like the Wild West, a step back in time…