Malcolm Hardee 10 years gone. January 24th, 2015 by Arthur Smth

Malcolm Hardee 10 years gone. This is what I wrote about him in my memoir anything you do not understand please regard as significant (Arnold Brown)   …..But the most striking example of the overlapping of venue and person was to be found down the rough end of Greenwich, the natural habitat of one of […]

Rape Jokes November 29th, 2014 by Arthur Smth

Originally published in The Stage Nov 2014   There has been much discussion in comedy circles recently about the rise of sexist material peddled by young male stand ups and especially the rape ‘jokes’ that have become increasingly common. Enter comic Dapper Laughs with his profoundly misogynistic ITV 2 show ‘On the Pull.’ He was […]

Ask Dr Smith March 11th, 2014 by Arthur Smth

(Orig published in Balance Magazine)   Your question answered. This month a letter has flooded in to me from Mr Ralph Wilson…. “Dear Arthur, My two greatest pleasures in life have been making money and drinking treacle. Alas, now I have type 2 diabetes I am barred from the treacle, so my question to you […]

Oh Hazel February 25th, 2014 by Arthur Smth

Originally Published here: http://www.dementiablog.org/oh-hazel/ About 20 minutes into Arthur Smith sings Leonard Cohen (Volume 2) I speak a poem I have written that drastically shifts the mood of the show. Tonbridge, Kent Pulling up late after the party, they see her, their neighbour, standing in the street. She is looking, she says, for a lift to London. […]

Just before Christmas January 2nd, 2014 by Arthur Smth

Just before Christmas, as the gales and the sirens blew wildly outside, I heard the sad news of the death of comedy’s number one mover-and-shaker, Addison Creswell. Ruthless, abrasive and extravagant, Addison was beloved by (most of) those who knew and worked with him and he engendered almost as many outlandish stories as his old […]

UAE October 26th, 2013 by Arthur Smth

  The end of summer and the sun is flowing across the concrete campus of the University of East Anglia where I was a student from 1973-77. It’s late September and I really am back at school – to take part in the celebrations for the University’s 50th birthday.   There are loads of activities […]

Edinburgh 2013 August 1st, 2013 by Arthur Smth

As I write I am in London in my warm garden. As you read I am in Edinburgh in a cold flat. Soon I will pack my bags, forgetting, as is traditional, to stuff in any socks at all. The Fringe is beckoning me back into its bony arms and I have been having my […]

Glasto July 5th, 2013 by Arthur Smth

Apart from a marathon compering session, I did 2 solo performances at Glastonbury last week, both of which were utterly different from any other gig I have ever done. I arrive at the first in the backstage bar of one of the bigger arenas to find a band rocking away and dancing going on. Oh […]

Happyness May 27th, 2013 by Arthur Smth

“Happiness….”, sang John Lennon in 1968, “is a warm gun.” But what Lennon didn’t know was that, in fact, Happyness is a new comedy festival that takes place in Inverness over the May bank holiday. I have just returned from its golden shores and am brushing the heather from my hair as I type (Auld […]

6 ways to stave off misery May 20th, 2013 by Arthur Smth

6 ways to stave off misery Do you ever feel utterly miserable? If you answer ‘no’ to this question then you are either lying, or you are a children’s TV presenter. Feeling down is a part of life as surely as is breathing or finding Piers Morgan a pompous, smarmy idiot. But worry not, sad […]