AS far as cultural attachés for Glasgow go, he's probably one of the more unlikely candidates. Yet there was no stopping infamous comic ned the Wee Man bonding with new friends over tonic wine in a cultural exchange to Sweden.

He said: "I knew next to nothin' about Sweden, besides the flatpack furniture, classic 70s cinema intended for lone enjoyment and of course the chef from The Muppets.

"As with any trip abroad, I prepared by learnin' the vitals of the language: how to order bevvy as well as perfectin' two serviceable chat-up lines."

The Wee Man, the alter ego of Neil Bratchpiece, who became an internet sensation with his song Here You (That'll be Right) and featured regularly on Colin Murray's Radio 1 show, travelled to Örebro last month as part of The Braw Partnership, an international exchange with the Citizens' Community Company.

Community drama director Neil Packham took five members of the company to Sweden for six days, at the end of which they performed excerpts from their recent production My Clydeside Valentine at the Länsteatern theatre in Örebro.

Now the Swedish theatre troupe is in Glasgow paying a return visit.

And seeing six of his Swedish peers on his home patch brought back fond memories for the Wee Man.

He added: "I actually blended into the Swedish culture seamlessly. I've often been told I look a bit like a Swede - I just thought folk were meant I looked like a bit like a small yellow turnip.

"There were surprisin' similarities in the vocabulary. For instance, in both dialects braw (bra) means good, and also Abba means somethin akin to utter rubbish.

"I did, however, teach them a few handy Scottish phrases, such as the defensive refrain: An whit, big chap? Eh? AN WHIT?!' "The lassies there are top quality. Hunners of them adhere to the stereotype of six-foot Nordic goddesses, which left little ol' me with the ideal view.

"The fashions were wide-rangin', but I did see a lot of adverts for heavy metal bands. I suppose if your country's usually that freezin', you would want to listen to tunes about violent goblin torture.

"There were some tellin' differences. One night we went to a firework display at the city castle and surroundin' river, where there were 10,000 spectators standin' there aw attentive and polite.

"Now if you had 10,000 folk assembled round a river watchin' fireworks in Glasgow, I think it's safe to say that 10,000 of them would be steamin'.

"Of that number, 8000 would be sloshin' about in the river and the remainin 2000 would be in the back of meatwagons headin' for a cosy night at Her Majesty's Pleasure.

"In sayin' that, beers over there cost at least a fiver each. Luckily paint thinner was dirt cheap."

The exchange came about after the Citizens' Theatre was contacted by its Swedish counterparts, who were interested in setting up a community drama company.

The Citizens' Community Company celebrates its tenth anniversary this year, and both Scottish and Swedish groups will stage a final production for invited guests tonight at the Gorbals theatre. Check out Wee Man's Comedy Pub Quiz at the Arches, Argyle Street on Thursday July 2, or see the Wee Man's stand-up show at the Stand Comedy Club, Woodlands Road on Tuesday June 23 and Sunday July 5.