Arthur Smith interview
The daddy of stand up comedy Arthur Smith brings his wit to The Roptackle this week. Victoria Nangle finds out more.
Hello! How are you today?
“I am surprisingly handsome.”
Was your BBC Radio 4 series Arthur Smith’s Balham Bash really recorded in your home – and if so how tricky was that logistically?
“Yes it really was – look it up on YouTube. In these days of ‘transparency’ the BBC would have had to call it something else if it wasn’t.
The engineer sound guy would arrive at 10.30am and set up. I did my best to tidy. The musos turned up for a sound check about 1pm and the comics at 2. The audience (about 30) got here for 3 and the show proceeded more or less as live. After, a couple of drinks but by 6 everyone was gone and it was all like a dream…”
I really enjoyed what felt like a hand-selected mix of entertainers gathered together. You got the impression it was a snapshot of a most excellent knees-up. Are any more on the horizon?
“It was great fun and I can now say I had Paloma Faith singing in the kitchen and Stephen K amos in my bath… alas the series are no more…”
There are so many rumours about you at the Edinburgh Fringe – or perhaps myths. Do you really have a motorised throne that you drive up to Arthur’s Seat each year?
“More or less. I spent a couple of festivals driving round on a motorised sofa for the Culture Show and then 2 years ago I was carried to the top on a sedan chair by six wheezing men.”
What should we expect from your show ‘At Your Service’ at the Ropetackle?
“Laughs, singing, railing, some poems, a history of Shoreham, maybe some twerking and maybe an appearance from Leonard Cohen…”
Before this you took up a residency at the Soho Theatre singing the songs of Leonard Cohen. I saw My Cohen play last year and the atmosphere was electric. When were you first drawn to music alongside your own performances?
“Many years ago I sang in a band and we used to do comic songs in the shows I did in my early days of the Edinburgh festival so it was always there. The Cohen show started with the title which was a bit of a joke but then I found I enjoyed singing the songs – and I have always been a fan of the great man.”
What’s the most bizarre story you’ve ever heard about yourself?
“That I was once the British UK disco dancing champion.”
You’re a bit of a creative Renaissance Man – playwright, comic, actor, musician, author…
Is there anything you really want to do that you keep on the backburner and we’ll find in your shed one day? A sculpture of Neil Kinnock made from pine cones or an epic novel?
“I want to write a play in French (I was the first English stand up to do it in french) and I partly have… c’est vrai je vous assure.”
What are your plans for 2014?
“Keep breathing and dancing.”
What is the best fun to be had (other than at an awesome show)?
“Sleeping is pretty good or dreaming up mountains or canoodling with your lover.”
Is Balham really the gateway to the South, as claimed by Peter Sellers?
“With its broad boulevards and pulsating night life Balham is like a cross between Paris and Rio de Janeiro.”
Arthur Smith: At Your Service, The Ropetackle, Saturday
22 March, 8pm, £15,
01273 464440, ropetacklecentre.co.uk
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