The Comedy Store Players: The Comedy Store, London, 1995 – 2019 (various dates)
Paul Merton’s Impro Chums: Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh, 2005
Phill Jupitus Quartet: Made Up: Gilded Balloon Teviot, Edinburgh, 2011
The Comedy Store Players 30th Birthday Shows: The Comedy Store, London, 2015
Andy Smart began his career as a street entertainer before becoming one half of the sketch group The Vicious Boys (with Angelo Abella), who in the mid-Eighties appeared on various TV shows including Channel 4’s iconic music show, The Tube. The duo split up in 1990 when Smart then began a new career as a stand-up.
He has been a permanent member of the Comedy Store Players improv team since 1995 (I saw him many times perform as part of the group over the years), and in 2019, he celebrated an incredible 40 years of performing at the Edinburgh Fringe.
I have also watched Smart as part of Paul Merton’s Impo Chums with Merton, Mike McShane, Richard Vranch, Lee Simpson and Smart at my first Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2005. Then in 2011, comedian Phill Jupitus experimented with the improv formula with the show Quartet: Made Up at the Fringe featuring Jupitus, Ian Coppinger, Steve Steen and Smart. I then saw a joyous celebration of the Comedy Store Players 30th Birthday shows in 2015 with regulars Paul Merton, Suki Webster, Neil Mullarkey, Josie Lawrence, Richard Vranch, Lee Simpson, Mike McShane, Steve Steen, Jim Sweeney and Smart.
Always intensely watching others improvising on stage, chuckling to himself at funny scenes and then jumping in to take over. He has an extremely likeable stage presence and always appears to be enjoying himself.
I was shocked to read in May 2023 that Smart had died suddenly at the age of only 63. Sadly, I never got the chance to meet him, but I will always remember his infectious giggle, regularly watching him on stage at The Comedy Store. It was a joy and, I hope, a fitting tribute when he was a guest on my blog and podcast. He will be greatly missed and the link to the interview is here:
www.arichcomiclife.blog/2022/08/06/episode-69-andy-smart/