Interview with Arthur Smith ahead of his performance with Phil Nice in 'Oof!'

Interviewed by Deborah Russell and Sarah James

Why do men's ears get bigger as they age?

Much like ourselves, Arthur Smith is indeed a Londoner, Born & Bred.

The self-appointed Night Mayor of London has had a varied career ranging from stand-up, acting, poetry and musical comedy such as ‘Arthur Smith Sings Leonard Cohen,’ which was broadcast on Radio 4. He is possibly most well-known for ‘Grumpy Old Men’ (he was one of the stars as well) and ‘An Evening with Gary Lineker’, which he co-wrote with Chris England.

At least three members of the LB&B team have met or seen Arthur over the years, at Jongleurs in Clapham, the Bedford Pub in Balham and one of us (well, Deborah actually) was even his cleaner a few decades ago. All of which gave rise to an amusing conversation with our favourite south London comedian.

Arthur has lived in the same Balham flat for a good while. In Deborah’s “Mrs Mop” days it was a real batchelor pad, messy but sparse, not a cushion to be seen and with post-it notes on the walls from ideas sessions with the likes of Caroline Quentin and Tony Hawks.

Since those days he’s been “civilised by my lovely wife”, fellow writer Beth Kilcoyne, who he’s been with for over 20 years. Beth is currently working on a play by her about Liz Truss and Therese Coffey being locked in a toilet in Downing Street!

Arthur Smith's about to begin a short run of ‘OoF’ with Phil Nice at the Soho Theatre. A title inspired by the noises Phil makes whenever he gets up. Yep, he’s not the only one.

It isn’t the first time these two have worked together as they’d previously been in an Edinburgh review with 3 others in 1977, then formed a double act as the alternative comedy circuit got going during the Thatcher years. This was followed by a Channel 4 mockumentary touring Lochness, the M1, and Marbella - interesting choices. So many celebrities do this now, but they were possibly the first.

As Arthur moved into his solo stand-up, Phil and he worked together less and less but always stayed in touch, always made each other laugh. They wanted to collaborate on something again and developed this 3 act play, which mainly consists of gags about two old guys who meet on a bench and don’t realise they know each other until the 2nd act, whereupon they reminisce about the old days, then fight and make up.

Arthur describes it as a cross between ‘Waiting for Godot’ and ‘Morecombe & Wise’, with perhaps a touch of ‘Grumpy Old Men’, who as they grow older feel increasingly penalised for a crime they haven’t committed and their failure to understand young people.

There’s friction between the two but also love. It’s about old friendships, the types where even if you haven’t seen them for years, you can still remember the good times together, and cherish them.

Arthur says it’s been wonderful getting back together again and yes ‘Oof’ it is fairly autobiographical and much of it is based on their real relationship, minus the fighting because they really didn’t do any.

Our final question for Arthur was what next? He really has done so much over the decades. Was he thinking of moving into Shakespearean territory and doing a one man Hamlet like Eddie Izzard? We obviously didn’t do well enough in our research because he did apparently do a 45 minute version some years ago. No, serious acting isn’t for Arthur Smith

but he is very tempted to take on King Lear, a comedy version of course. Perhaps King Lear the Panto! That’ll be an interesting ending but maybe not one for the kids.

We're looking forward to seeing Oof! at the Soho Theatre next week - why not join us?

Where: Soho Theatre Downstairs, 21 Dean Street London W1D 3NE

When: Thursday 3rd to Saturday 5th April

7.15 pm, Running time 60 minutes

Age 16+

Tickets from £18

Book here