Prompted by Mel Smith's death

Griff Rhys Jones is to embark on his first solo comedy tour, inspired by the death of his long-term professional partner Mel Smith.

The show, Jones & Smith, will revolve around anecdotes and stories about his 30-year association with Smith, who died at the age of 60 in 2013.

They were united on Not The Nine O’Clock News in 1979 before branching out to create their sketch show Alas Smith and Jones and making a fortune from establishing TV company Talkback Productions, which they sold for £62 million.

They appeared on the big screen in the sci-fi comedy movie Morons from Outer Space and 1989’s Wilt.

In 2012 the comedy duo reunited for what was to be the last time in The One Griff Rhys Jones.

Jones has also presented travelogues; starred in Three Men In A Boat and its sequels alongside old friends Rory McGrath and Dara O Briain; presented It’ll Be Alright on the Night since 2008; and acted in shows such as Agatha Christie’s Marple.

The announcement of his new tour – which so far comprises 13 dates in October and November, follows the news that he is to return to the stage for the first time in more than six years, in a revival of Molière’s classic comedy The Miser when it opens next year.

Rhys Jones was last seen in the West End playing Fagin in Oliver! from 2009 to 2011. He has won two Olivier awards for best comedy performance, a decade apart: for Charley’s Aunt in 1984 and An Absolute Turkey in 1994. He also appeared as Toad in The Wind in the Willows at the National Theatre in 1990.

But for all this it is probably still his 30-year partnership with Smith for which he remains best known.

Soon after his comedy partner’s death, Jones told the Radio Times: ‘We were not similar.... I invited Mel to my country cottage and he never took his coat off. He took me to the races and I read a book.

‘He loved a drink. I am teetotal. He never carried a credit card. I never have cash. He never went for a walk. I run 10 miles a week. It is a long list and a weird one and not exactly a marriage made in heaven. We used to joke that we stayed together for the money.’

But he said when they made the best of their comedy together ‘it was sheer bliss to perform with Mel’

Click here for the Jones & Smith tour dates.

Published: 23 Jun 2016