Arthur Smith (comedian)

English comedian and writer (born 1954)

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Arthur Smith

Impersonating Leonard Cohen in the cabaret tent at the 2008 Glastonbury Festival

Born|  (1954-11-27) 27 November 1954 (age 70)

London, England

Education| University of East Anglia (BA)
Occupation(s)| Comedian, presenter, writer
Years active| 1977–present
Relatives| Richard Smith (brother)Nicholas Smith] (Brother)

Brian Arthur John Smith[1][2] (born 27 November 1954) is an English alternative comedian, presenter and writer.

## Early life

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Smith was born on 27 November 1954 in Bermondsey, south London. His eldest brother is Richard Smith, a medical doctor, editor and businessman. His younger brother is Nick Smith, a civil servant who was also a stand-up comic but in recent years has turned to amateur dramatics. Arthur was a student and school captain at The Roan School for Boys, a grammar school, now The John Roan School in Blackheath, London. He then studied at the University of East Anglia, where he was chairman of the poetry society, wrote for the student newspaper and contributed sketches for a student revue. He graduated with a 2:1 BA degree in Comparative literature in 1976.[3]

## Career

[edit]

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Smith was one of many stand-up performers on the alternative comedy scene in the 1980s, and still performs today in much the same manner. He has regularly attended the Edinburgh Fringe comedy festival since 1977, and still comperes the long-running Hackney Empire New Act of the Year competition final. He has also written a body of serious or semi-serious work, including stage plays such as An Evening with Gary Lineker, which he cowrote with Chris England.

In addition to stand-up comedy, Smith has performed musical comedy shows such as Arthur Smith Sings Leonard Cohen (later broadcast on Radio 4). He returned to this theme for the Edinburgh Fringe in 2013 with "Arthur Smith Sings Leonard Cohen (Volume Too).[4] He is also a radio presenter on such BBC Radio 4 programmes as Excess Baggage and Loose Ends, and appears on television comedy panel games. He took over as narrator of the TV series A Life of Grime after the death of John Peel and was one of the Grumpy Old Men in the television series of that name. Both of the latter two series used "What a Wonderful World" as their theme song. For Grumpy Old Men, Smith was one of the cast members who contributed to a montage rendition of the song.

In December 1985, Smith and Phil Nice made a short series of parody documentaries for Channel 4 television network called Arthur and Phil Go Off. One episode, titled "Nessie – Real or Pretend" about the Loch Ness Monster, was aired in America on the A&E cable channel in 1986.

In 1989, Smith provided voices for an Aardman Animations short called Ident with Nice and later. In 1989 he appeared in The Bill ("Quiet Life"). In the mid and late 1990s, he lent his voice to some television animations including the TV short The Animal Train as Jim Jam (veteran voice actor Rick Jones voiced the character in the US version), the BBC clay animated series Rex the Runt (also made by Aardman) as Arthur Dustcart in five episodes, and the British-French children's animated series Romuald the Reindeer as the big bully Clint.

One of Smith's more unusual roles was in the sitcom Red Dwarf in the episode "Backwards". He plays a bar manager on backwards Earth who has hired Kryten and Rimmer as a forward novelty act. He gave a speech (in reverse) blaming Kryten and Rimmer for starting a fight. If, however, the speech is played forwards, he is heard to be insulting the listener who has flipped the recording over trying to find out what he was saying ("What a poor sad life he's got").[5][better source needed]

Smith being sent off during a charity football match in 2010

A night of watching football[when?] with Tony Hawks ended with him challenging Hawks to beat the entire Moldovan football team at tennis. Hawks took him up on this bet, and wrote a book about it.[6] Hawks won the bet, and Smith had to stand on Balham High Road and sing the Moldovan National Anthem whilst naked.[citation needed]

Smith also appeared in a cameo role in the first series of the BBC science fiction radio comedy Married. He played a version of himself from a parallel universe who eked out a living as a children's party entertainer. This role expanded in the second and third series.

In 2006, Smith played "Clarrie" in the Doctor Who audio, The Kingmaker.

He is currently[when?] one of the hosts of "The Comedy Club" on BBC Radio 4 Extra and also narrates the BBC series Money for Nothing.[7] He makes a cameo appearance in the music video of the song "Happy Goddamn Christmas",[8] by Loretta Maine and Matt Roper, released on 13 December 2012 via BBC Three.

In August 2016, he appeared in the role of Mr Harman in the revival of the BBC sitcom Are You Being Served.[9]

Debrett's lists his full books and publication list as Trench Kiss (1990), An Evening With Gary Lineker (with Chris England, 1992), Pointless Hoax (1997), Sit-Down Comedy (2003), That Which Is Not Said (poetry, 2006), and My Name is Daphne Fairfax (autobiography, 2009).[10]

## Awards

[edit]

In 2005, Smith turned down a lifetime-achievement award from the Perrier Award organisers. He said: "Comedians rather dislike the Perrier Awards and the public aren't interested. Basically, they wanted to tell me I was old and cool: well, I know that already, and anyway, my ego is bloated enough."[11] In 2007, he went on to win the Panel Prize at the Edinburgh Fringe.[citation needed]

## Personal life

[edit]

Smith has been a longtime resident of Du Cane Court in Balham, London, and has described himself as the "Night Mayor of Balham – I don't do days".[12] In 2009, he broadcast a comedy series for BBC Radio 4 from his own home, Arthur Smith's Balham Bash.

As of 2009 he was engaged to Beth Kilcoyne, a performer and screenwriter,[1][needs update] who co-wrote the BBC TV series Roger & Val Have Just Got In.

Smith is a socialist and a supporter of the Labour Party.[13]

## Books

[edit]

* Sit-Down Comedy (contributor to anthology, ed Malcolm Hardee & John Fleming) Ebury Press/Random House, 2003. ISBN 0-09-188924-3; ISBN 978-0-09-188924-1
* My Name is Daphne Fairfax (audiobook read by the author) Random House Audio, May 2009. ISBN 978-1-84657-179-4
* 100 Things I Meant to Tell You: Rants, Rhymes, & Reportage from the Original Grumpy Old Man Author AA Publishing, October 2019. ISBN 978-0749581947

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b Arthur Smith. My Name is Daphne Fairfax: A Memoir. London: Hutchinson (2009). ISBN 0-09-192103-1
2. ^ Arthur Smith, IMDb. Retrieved 2020-90-18.
3. ^ Arthurian legend returns to his comic roots at UAE. Uea.ac.uk, Retrieved 8 October 2013
4. ^ "ARTHUR SMITH SINGS LEONARD COHEN (VOLUME TOO) AT EDINBURGH FRINGE » Arthur Smiths' Blog". Arthursmith.co.uk. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
5. ^ "Red Dwarf Backwards - Played Forwards". YouTube. 16 November 2008. Archived from the original on 12 December 2021. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
6. ^ Hawks, T., Playing the Moldovans at Tennis, (ISBN 0091920353)
7. ^ "Money for nothing". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 18 November 2016.
8. ^ "Happy Goddamn Christmas, Comedy Snacks - BBC Three". BBC. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
9. ^ "How similar are the new Are You Being Served? cast to the TV originals?". Radio Times.
10. ^ "Arthur Smith, Esq Authorised Biography – Debrett's People of Today, Arthur Smith, Esq Profile". Archived from the original on 5 October 2013. Retrieved 4 October 2013.
11. ^ "Historic Perrier win for female comic". thescotsman.scotsman.com. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
12. ^ "Du Cane Court, in Balham, could have been Adolf Hitler's Nazi headquarters during Second World War, it's rumoured". Wandsworth Times. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
13. ^ "Gallery 2012". Standupforlabour.co.uk. Archived from the original on 24 June 2016. Retrieved 23 July 2016.

## External links

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Arthur Smith.

* Official website
* Arthur Smith at IMDb
* Arthur Smith at British Comedy Guide

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Edinburgh Comedy Award winners

Best Comedy Show

* 1981: Cambridge Footlights (Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Tony Slattery, Emma Thompson, Penny Dwyer and Paul Shearer)
* 1982: Writer's Inc (Gary Adams, Steve Brown, Vicki Pile, Trevor McCallum, Helen Murry, Jamie Rix, and Nick Wilton, with additional material by Kim Fuller)
* 1983: Los Trios Ringbarkus
* 1984: The Brass Band
* 1985: Theatre de Complicité
* 1986: Ben Keaton
* 1987: Brown Blues... (Arnold Brown with Barb Jungr and Michael Parker)
* 1988: Jeremy Hardy
* 1989: Simon Fanshawe
* 1990: Sean Hughes – A One Night Stand
* 1991: Frank Skinner
* 1992: Steve Coogan – In Character with John Thomson
* 1993: Lee Evans
* 1994: Lano and Woodley
* 1995: Jenny Eclair – Prozac & Tantrums
* 1996: Dylan Moran – Dylan Moran Is Indisposed
* 1997: The League of Gentlemen
* 1998: Tommy Tiernan – Undivine Comedy
* 1999: Al Murray as The Pub Landlord – And a Glass of White Wine for the Lady
* 2000: Rich Hall – Otis Lee Crenshaw
* 2001: Garth Marenghi's Netherhead (Matthew Holness, Richard Ayoade and Alice Lowe)
* 2002: Daniel Kitson – Something
* 2003: Demetri Martin – If I...
* 2004: Will Adamsdale – Jackson's Way
* 2005: Laura Solon – Kopfraper's Syndrome
* 2006: Phil Nichol – The Naked Racist
* 2007: Brendon Burns – So I Suppose THIS Is Offensive Now
* 2008: David O'Doherty – Let's Comedy
* 2009: Tim Key – The Slutcracker
* 2010: Russell Kane – Smokescreens and Castles
* 2011: Adam Riches – Bring Me the Head of Adam Riches
* 2012: Doctor Brown – Befrdfgth
* 2013: Bridget Christie – A Bic for Her
* 2014: John Kearns – Shtick
* 2015: Sam Simmons – Spaghetti for Breakfast
* 2016: Richard Gadd – Monkey See Monkey Do
* 2017: Hannah Gadsby – Nanette & John Robins – The Darkness of Robins
* 2018: Rose Matafeo – Horndog
* 2019: Jordan Brookes – I've Got Nothing
* 2022: Sam Campbell – Comedy Show
* 2023: Ahir Shah – Ends
* 2024: Amy Gledhill – Make Me Look Fit on the Poster

Best Newcomer

* 1992: Harry Hill – Flies!
* 1993: Dominic Holland – Red Hot Dutch with Dominic
* 1994: Scott Capurro – Risk Gay
* 1995: Tim Vine – The Tim Vine Fiasco
* 1996: Milton Jones – The Head
* 1997: Arj Barker – Arj Barker's Letter to America
* 1998: The Mighty Boosh (Julian Barratt, Noel Fielding and Rich Fulcher)
* 1999: Ben'n'Arn's Big Top (Ben Willbond and Arnold Widdowson)
* 2000: Noble and Silver
* 2001: Garth Cruickshank & Eddie McCabe – Let's Have a Right Royal Shambles
* 2002: The Consultants – Finger in the Wind
* 2003: Gary Le Strange – Polaroid Suitcase
* 2004: Wil Hodgson – The Passion of the Hodgson
* 2005: Tim Minchin – Dark Side
* 2006: Josie Long – Kindness & Exuberance
* 2007: Tom Basden – Won't Say Anything
* 2008: Sarah Millican – Sarah Millican's Not Nice
* 2009: Jonny Sweet – Mostly About Arthur
* 2010: Roisin Conaty – Hero, Warrior, Fireman, Liar
* 2011: Humphrey Ker – Humphrey Ker is Dymock Watson: Nazi Smasher
* 2012: Daniel Simonsen – Champions
* 2013: John Kearns – Sight Gags For Perverts
* 2014: Alex Edelman – Millennial
* 2015: Sofie Hagen – Bubblewrap
* 2016: Scott Gibson – Life After Death
* 2017: Natalie Palamides – LAID
* 2018: Ciarán Dowd – Don Rodolfo
* 2019: Catherine Cohen – The Twist? She's Gorgeous
* 2022: Lara Ricote – GRL/LATNX/DEF
* 2023: Urooj Ashfaq – Oh No!
* 2024: Joe Kent-Walters – Joe Kent-Walters is Frankie Monroe: LIVE!!!

Panel Prize

* 2006: Mark Watson
* 2007: Arthur Smith – Arturart
* 2008: All the performers
* 2009: Peter Buckley Hill – Peter Buckley Hill Free Fringe
* 2010: Bo Burnham – Words Words Words
* 2011: Max & Ivan – The Wrestling
* 2012: The Boy With Tape On His Face – More Tape
* 2013: Adrienne Truscott – Adrienne Truscott's Asking For It: A One Lady Rape About Comedy
* 2014: Funz and Gamez
* 2015: Karen Koren
* 2016: Iraq Out & Loud – Heroes of Fringe
* 2018: Angela Barnes, Sameena Zehra and Pauline Eyre – Home Safe Collective
* 2019: Fringe of Colour
* 2022: Best in Class
* 2023: A Show for Gareth Richards
* 2024: Rob Copland: Gimme (One With Everything)
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