Arthur Smith (comedian)
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Arthur Smith (born 1954) is a British alternative comedian and writer. He was born in Bermondsey, South London. Perhaps ironically, he describes himself as a "semi-professional" comedian.
He was one of many stand-up performers on the alternative comedy scene in the Eighties. He still performs today in much the same manner, regularly attending the Edinburgh Fringe comedy festival, although has several 'serious' writing titles under his belt, including stage plays such as An Evening with Gary Lineker.
In addition to stand-up comedy, such as his recent hit Arthur Smith Sings Leonard Cohen (later broadcast on Radio 4), he is also a radio presenter on such BBC Radio 4 programmes as Excess Baggage and Loose Ends, although he also fulfills a "rent-a-comedian" role on some television comedy panel games (he recently was one of the Grumpy Old Men in the television series of that name).
He attended the University of East Anglia, where he undertook one of the pioneering creative writing courses under Malcolm Bradbury. In 1977 he stood for Student's Union President on a "don't vote for me" platform, and finished second out of nine candidates.
His comedy is best described as observational comedy with a strong flavour of the absurd, although he is an expert at telling one-liner jokes. He also would venture into extreme comedy, sometimes stripping off during his performances and, during his Edinburgh shows, taking the entire audience out of the theatre for a guided tour of the Scottish city.
His near death from alcoholism made him tee-total, an experience which he turned into a poignant comedy monologue entitled Arthur Smith's Last Hangover.
One of his most interesting roles was in the comedy Red Dwarf in the episode Backwards. He gave a speech (in reverse) blaming Kryten and Rimmer for starting a fight. If however you play the speech in forwards, he is actually insulting the person who is translating his speech.
He also appeared in a cameo role in the first series of the BBC science-fiction radio comedy Married. He played an alternate-universe version of himself who eked out a living as a children's party entertainer.