On review night, comedian Ian Smith is a little foxed as to why 40 Danish students, aged between 17-19, have rocked up to his show. He asks their teacher why they have come. “Am I a module? “he inquires. “It’s for cultural exchange”, the professor yells back. Smith looks worried, as his very funny show is not about foot spas at all. It’s about sperm.
Indeed, foot spas, half empty or otherwise, never get a mention in his hour-long set. Instead, the focus of his comedy is on providing a semen sample at the hospital to check his fertility. He quickly asks one of the students what semen is in the Danish language. “Sæd” is the fearless reply. While obviously perturbed about the forthcoming subject matter, Smith takes it all in his stride.
His banter with the audience is marvellously old-school, a feat that seems to be going out of fashion in the stand-up world. Smith is as quick as mercury when he involves the audience in his routine, whether it’s one of his many asides to the Danish students or to a man in the front row who has as many fancy middle names as a crown prince. In comparison, Smith’s own name is very ordinary, and if you Google it, he remarks, the first hit is the racist ex-prime minister of old Rhodesia.
With so much going on in the first 10 minutes of Smith’s show, it initially lacks structure, despite the jokes coming thick and fast. However, when the Danish lessons are over, he hits the road running, although the sperm takes a while to catch up. First, we have a story about a murderous seagull and another about a girl getting stuck in a basketball hoop.
Tantalisingly, Smith also gives us the punchlines of jokes he has yet to make. There’s a fast-forward, like the one in EastEnders two years ago, a mysterious reference to the colour green and strange helpline numbers are recited. And when these jokes are completed later on in his set, the laughs flow easily, and the audience realises that his routine is finely crafted after all.
Let’s hope more foreign students make the journey to see Smith on his tour. His self-deprecating and social class-based comedy is as British as it gets. He may even decide to make some merch; he’s already got the T-shirt design sorted.
Runs until 29 November 2025 and continues to tour
