Ian Smith: Anything

A man with a dull name performing a show with a dull name in a venue with a dull name (the Pleasance Courtyard’s curious ‘That’). And that’s even a dull introduction. These things are worryingly contagious.

Thankfully Ian Smith flags up this unfortunate predicament early in Anything, and proceeds to keep the interest high through sheer force of his likably self-deprecating personality, and—let’s not be coy—one of those regional accents that offers an immediate head-start on the standup superhighway. Smith is from the Yorkshire town of Goole, the name of which turns out to be ripe for comedy, ironically, particularly in its similarity to a certain search engine (try typing it in: the results must really rile the locals).

As the title suggests, this debut show is one of those ‘shoehorn in all my best material’ affairs, but does hang together nicely. Being largely anecdotal there’s an autobiographical arc, from Goole, through school, and on to his semi-successful career, the highlight of which is an obscure sitcom called Popatron which, again, proves ripe for repetitious ridicule.

Despite the air of cheery innocence it’s clear that Smith is a savvy operator, flagging up a fictitious story early on (thus planting a seed to suggest that everything else genuinely happened, however far-fetched), leaping into extended physical bits to keep things fresh, and frequently breaking off from stories to make sure we’re all still on board.

This first solo hour works well, then. The test will come when he needs to conjure a whole new one.