Arthur Smith

Comedian

1954-11-27

English alternative comedian, presenter, and writer active in stand-up, radio, and television. He has hosted and appeared in numerous BBC and stage productions since the late 1970s. He was born in 1954.

Quotes by Arthur Smith

It was Julie Burchill who decreed that, beyond a certain age, a man should not be seen in a leather jacket.
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I am 54 and age is slowly writing itself on my face.
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Occasionally I find a travel book that is both illuminating and entertaining, where vivid writing and research replace self-indulgence and sloppy prose.
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I read 'Crime and Punishment' years ago and don't recall the details of it, but I do retain a strong sense of the creeping paranoia and panic.
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Sky and clouds and trees and little figures relaxing in the perfect rural rhythm of their surroundings: these are the staples of a Gainsborough landscape.
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The history of the relationship between comedy and swimming is short indeed. Of course it is always funny when someone falls into water, but that's about it.
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Only the pun remains. The pun, beloved of Shakespeare, children and tabloid headline-writers, is normally eschewed in the modern, sophisticated circles in which I move.
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A female friend who caught me watching Fashion TV reckons its audience is largely made up of slobbering men who are just taking a break from the appalling Men & Motors channel. I don't agree.
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Global warming, the ongoing destruction of the planet, Third World debt, the uselessness of the railways, the takeover by the corporations, the scary George Bush person: all these things are important and should be animating me into outrage. Yet somehow they do not.
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My sister-in-law believes that few narratives are so tightly constructed that you can't skip boring bits and still keep abreast of what's going on.
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My eyebrows could do with a trim.
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I abhor nothing more than bumping into someone I know on the Tube.
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The real change that paintings undergo is in the perceptions of the viewer.
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The best way to prepare for a night out with a Shakespearean tragedy is to do a bit of reading up in the afternoon, eat a light supper - perhaps Welsh rarebit - and then arrive early to do some stretching exercises in the foyer before curtain-up.
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