Life's a cabaret for Arthur Smith in his House of Fun

The chuckle reaches you before the voice, that deep rasping timbre revealing more about this stellar old-time comedian than half the things he tells me. “Come on, Katherine, what else do you want to know?” he continually chides me, before side-stepping the majority of my questions, refusing to be pinned down.

A lot actually. I want to know about Arthur Smith’s new show The House of Fun and how the South Londoner chose the acts, about his part in the cabaret line-up, what it’s like being teetotal after decades of well-documented debauchery, about survival and reinvention, about being a living legend.

“I should have you doing my PR,” he replies laughing. See what I mean?

The 60-year-old is, however, looking forward to the Oxford Playhouse gig tomorrow night.

“I expect the usual lot of yobs will turn up,” he smiles, adding: “Oh and Jo, she’s local”. It turns out that Jo is one of his protégées, hanging gladly on to his coat tails for all she’s worth as she launches her own stand-up career.

She comes from Wolvercote, apparently, and they met in Greece at a comedy workshop he was running. “Another good gig,” he says blithely.

Does the ‘alternative’ comedian get lots of wannabes trailing around after him? “Yes, I’ve got a group of acrobats trying to climb through my window right now, and some plate spinners breaking down the door as we speak. ‘Leave me your number’,” he mimics.

“I’ll get back to you,” which has me giggling despite my exasperation.

This sounds like one of his old Radio 4 shows, when he broadcast Arthur Smith’s Balham Bash across the nation from the safety of his own house.

Mad times then? “Yes we’d have Paloma Faith singing in the kitchen, Stephen K Amos in the bathroom, and The Alabama 3 rock band playing in the sitting room. I think Health and Safety closed it down eventually and I moved on to something else.”

The party lasted for three years but Arthur said his other half, Beth, a writer, got cross about the endless interruptions (how unreasonable of her!) and he had to tone it down, which he did by diversifying his Radio 4 career — he is one of the hosts of The Comedy Club on BBC Radio 4 Extra — and launching a series of one-man show comedy tours.

Having changed the format again for The House of Fun, Arthur admits going it alone had been “a bit lonely” and that he “fancied a bit of an adventure myself”, hence the new cabaret show, which sounds like a cross between a Madness gig and a comedy version of the Jools Holland Show.

“That’s a very good description, Katherine. Do you want to come and do my PR?” he asks again, still chuckling.

“It’s a great collection of ludicrous and colourful people and different to a regular comedy night. I just get to be the party host. I enjoy it.”

He will be joined on stage by Hal Cuttenden, already a well-known comedian, as well as rock-and-roll magician Pete Heat, 70s band Slapper, comedy sketch duo Shirley and Shirley, quick draw cartoonist Jo Sandelson, and insightful comedian David Whitney.

What about his part in the show? “I don’t know yet,” says Arthur, laughing. “I’ll probably just wing it and introduce a few people, or I might not. I might recite a poem or temporarily take up dance. Who knows? I’ll let you know when I do.”

He’s like a favourite uncle perched for too long at the bar, except he doesn’t drink now, which surely must be hard?

Comedy sketch duo Shirley and Shirley

“Not as hard as getting pancreatitis,” he points out, having nearly died of the disease. Quite.

So what does he do after his gigs when everyone else is carousing in the local boozer? “I like a bit of peace and quiet actually after all that noise, so I tend to go for walks, usually down by the river,” he informs me.

He must still be enjoying it, though, to stay on the comedy circuit after all these years? “Yes, but I’d hate to know what I was doing this time next year. That would really depress me,” he says.

“Some people like to know that they will be in work. I just move on.”

But then Arthur has always been different, impossible to quantify or pin down, constantly changing his spots while maintaining the same cheeky chappy demeanour.

“Yep, that’s me, I’m marvellous,” he retorts, like a naughty schoolboy.

Admitting defeat, I’m well aware I’ve been Arthur Smith’d and am none-the-wiser about the famous comedian, but regardless, I’m still smitten.

Which is just the way he likes it.

Arthur Smith’s House of Fun
* Oxford Playhouse
* Friday, January 23
* Box office: 01865 305305 or oxfordplayhouse.com