Ian Smith's Unforgettable 5 gigs

Ian Smith’s comedy special Crushing – which won him a nomination for the Edinburgh Comedy Award in 2023 – is released today. Here he recalls five of his most memorable gigs…

First gig

My first stand-up gig was when I was 17. My parents drove me to a City Screen cinema in York where Dan Atkinson used to run the brilliant Other Side Comedy Club in the basement. I didn’t want them to watch, so they had to sit upstairs in the bar and gauge how I was doing from the muffled laughter and drunken feedback of audience members going to the toilet in the interval. 

I was relieved to be performing post-smoking ban as we’d been to see a gig there six months earlier and there was a nicotine smog so thick I couldn’t see my own hands, never mind the expressions of any of the comedians on stage.

I distinctly remember sitting in the back of the car on the way there wondering why I hadn’t written the required 10 minutes of material considering the gig was happening in a few hours and I’d been telling my parents I wanted to do stand-up for a year. 

I got it to five minutes, had said everything I had planned, so improvised about March Of The Penguins for the remaining time, which frustratingly went much better than whatever it was I’d planned.

Gig that changed my life

My last run at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2023 was my most successful show – but I really hated the first three days and after my third show I called the very funny comedian, and my good friend, Jack Gleadow to complain to him about how shit it was. He has since told me he was in the bath for the entirety of this phone call and that I ‘spoke for half a fucking hour’ while he  didn’t say anything.

I stayed up until about 4am the first three nights tweaking the show and on Day 4 it all fell into place and I had the most fun I’ve had at the Fringe, which ended with the dream come true of getting nominated for the Edinburgh Comedy Award. 

It might not have changed my life completely, but if it wasn’t for some very astute feedback from Pierre Novellie and the  unbelievable patience of a fully submerged Jack Gleadow, I wouldn’t be in the same position I am now.

Most physically and mentally painful gig

I’ve just got back from a week in France where I had a gig at a ski resort. I have a bruise under my armpit, which I didn’t think was possible. I have no idea how I managed to fall over and absorb all the impact on my armpit, but I did it. I’d never skied before, I can't ski now and I’m not sure I’llever attempt skiing again.

Everything else about the week was great - fantastic company, great food and a wooden chalet with some complimentary granola… but there’s something uniquely confidence-sapping about being taught to ski for three days, thinking you’ve got the hang of it and then immediately falling over when the instructor leaves. 

We were also told we had a late checkout so stayed up until 4am playing Mafia on the last night, only to find out at 10.30am we had to be out at 11. A harrowing 30 minutes of miraculously quick showering and packing.

Worst journey from a gig

Moving away from stand-up, a while ago I got a part in a BBC One adaptation of Noah’s Ark, filming in Morocco. I spent a month out there with a brilliant cast, got sunburnt beyond belief and came fourth in a cast and crew ping-pong tournament. A fantastic time. Until…

At the end of filming we were booked a taxi to take us over the winding roads of the Atlas Mountains and back to the airport. I wasn’t over the moon to find out that there was no longer a seat belt on my side of the car and that the driver was, with all due respect, an absolute madman with no regard for his own life. 

We sped around a corner on the mountain when I saw a lorry coming directly at us. I closed my eyes instinctively, convinced I was going to die, only to open them five seconds later to see the driver looking in the mirror, doing a sitcom-esque wipe of his brow and laughing hysterically.

Weirdest gig as a punter

Last year I went to see Daniel Bedingfield with some friends and it was a lot of fun, but very odd. I don’t have time to go into why I was happy to spend £60 on Daniel Bedingfield tickets, but at least I didn’t go for the £120 ‘meet and greer’ option.

He started the gig sat among the crowd, dressed head-to-toe in his own fluorescent fashion brand and started a call and response: ‘I love myself, I love myself…’ but didn’t seem to realise that he was doing new music and that absolutely no one in the gig knew what came next. 

He then performed largely new material except for brief excerpts of old songs, prefaced with how much he didn’t like them any more. He jokingly said he wouldn’t sing Gotta Get Thru This and I thought there was going to be a riot. 

Another highlight was him explaining that he didn’t need a bass guitarist because he could do it with his voice and then proceeding to beatbox. I know this all sounds like I’m saying it was a bad gig, but it wasn’t and I’d fully recommend going if he comes back.

FYI: You just sing back: ‘I love myself, I love myself.’

• Ian Smith’s Crushing is released today on 800 Pound Gorilla. Order it here. 

Published: 24 Feb 2025