Full Name Will Smith Role Screenwriter Name Will Smith | Known for TV and radio comedy Nationality British | |
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Occupation Actor, writer, stand-up comedian Books The Joy of No Sex: A Guide to Life Without Lovemaking, How to Be Cool: Make Social Blunders a Thing of the Past! Awards Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Comedy Series Nominations Writers Guild of America Award for Television: New Series Similar People Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche, Simon Blackwell, Ian Martin, Chris Addison | ||
William James Smith (born 8 June 1971) is an English stand-up comedian, screenwriter, novelist, actor and producer. Smith has won two Emmys and has been Golden Globe-nominated. He is a two-time Writers Guild of America Award-winner and a nominee for the Producers Guild of America Award for Best Episodic Comedy.
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Early life and education
Though born in Winchester, Hampshire, Smith grew up in Jersey and was educated there at Victoria College. His brother is the TV presenter and wine critic Olly Smith.
Stand up comedy
Smith started his career in stand-up comedy, winning awards including Chortle Best Headliner 2005 and Time Out Comedy 2004. One critic called him 'the Hugh Grant of comedy', and he appeared in The 11 O'Clock Show with Sacha Baron Cohen and Ricky Gervais as the character 'Posh Boy'. He took critically acclaimed solo shows to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival every year from 2003 to 2006: "Will Smith Is Much Obliged", "Misplaced Childhood" (inspired by his love of the rock band Marillion and their 1985 album of the same name), "Ten Arguments I Should Have Won", and "How To Be Cool". Smith supported Gervais on his record-breaking sell-out 2007 "Fame" tour, and supported Ardal O'Hanlon and Johnny Vegas on national tours.
Television
With Armando Iannucci and Roger Drew he devised BBC future comedy Time Trumpet, six episodes that screened in 2006.
Smith is involved with both British and American political satire. He is a writer and one of the executive producers on HBO's Emmy-winning sitcom Veep, starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus. He wrote or co-wrote the Veep episodes: Chung (Season 1); Midterms, Running (Season 2); Some New Beginnings, Fishing (Season 3); Storms and Pancakes, Testimony (Season 4); Thanksgiving, C**tgate (Season 5). Smith also wrote on the BAFTA-winning BBC political comedy The Thick of It. He was the only writer on the programme who acted in it – as MP Peter Mannion's inept adviser, Lord of the Rings-obsessive Phil Smith. He also has a cameo role in the closing credits of "In the Loop", the Anglo-American film spin-off.
Books
Comedy books by Smith include How To Be Cool (Harry Enfield said of it 'Will Smith is the coolest guy in the world (if uncool is the new cool) – he's also terrifically funny'), and The Joy of No Sex, published by Penguin, a parody of The Joy of Sex.
Smith writes for various publications, including the magazine Intelligent Life, in which he learns something new for each issue. Articles have included banjo-playing, ice-sculpting, circus skills and making a soufflé.
In 2015 Smith published his first novel, Mainlander (4th Estate, a division of HarperCollins), a thriller about a schoolboy who goes missing on Jersey. The Independent described it as 'John le Carré meets Middlemarch', and ShortList called it a 'knockout'. The Daily Mail also gave it a positive review, hailing it as 'a proper work of fiction... A carefully worked plot, seen through the viewpoints of a clutch of cast members, builds nicely to a satisfying climax.'
Smith reflects on the difference between writing for television and writing a novel in The Guardian. "The chain from author to reader is short and simple – agent, editor, proofreader, shop/website. In TV, the script will have to be signed off by producers, executive producers, genre commissioners and channel commissioners, and that’s still only a starting point". He cites as his influences John Cleese and Stephen Fry, as well as Charlotte Bronte and George Eliot.
Radio
Smith appears on BBC Radio 4, both as a guest in comedy panel shows, as well as in his own shows.