Ian Smith
Stand-up comedian

Ian Smith

Who Ian Smith is

Ian Smith is a stand-up comedian, actor and writer from Goole in East Yorkshire whose fast, exasperated stories about everyday stress have made him a two-time Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee. His 2023 Fringe show Crushing was nominated for Best Comedy Show at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards, shortlisted for Best Show at the (ISH) Edinburgh Comedy Awards and nominated for a Chortle Award, and his 2025 show Foot Spa Half Empty was nominated for Best Comedy Show at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards and long-listed by the (ISH) awards; earlier, Snowflake won an Amused Moose Comedy Award and a ThreeWeeks Editors' Award in 2017.

He has been seen on Live at the Apollo, Have I Got News For You and 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, has his own BBC Radio 4 series Ian Smith is Stressed, and co-hosts the Northern News podcast with Amy Gledhill. As an actor he led the BBC Two sitcom Popatron and starred in Sky's Officially Special and BBC One's The Ark. In 2026 he toured Foot Spa Half Empty to Soho Theatre, the Machynlleth Comedy Festival on 3 May, the Wells Comedy Festival on 22 May and the Aberystwyth Comedy Festival on 3 October.

At a glance

Stand-up specials
Half-Life
Podcasts
Northern News and The Magic Sponge
On screen
Live at the Apollo, Have I Got News For You, 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown and 4 more
Official site
iansmithcomedian.co.uk ↗

On stage

No dated show on D.O.C.'s Comedy Calendar right now — their own site has their dates: iansmithcomedian.co.uk ↗.

Lineups belong to the rooms and the comedians, and can change; each listing has the last word. Their nights on the Comedy Calendar →

Specials, shows and podcasts

Stand-up specials

On screen

Podcasts

Comedians like Ian Smith

Each linked to them by something on the record — a stage they both came through, a bill, a show, a style or a home town.

Six Degrees of Komic Bacon: how they connect to anyone →

Every stand-up comedian with a page, A to Z →

Career timeline

  1. 2023Northern News (co-host, with Amy Gledhill, 2023) Podcast or book
  2. 2025Live at the Apollo (BBC Two, 2025) On screen
  3. 20258 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown (Channel 4, 2025) On screen

Questions and answers

Where is Ian Smith performing next?

No date is on D.O.C.'s Comedy Calendar right now; their own site has their dates: iansmithcomedian.co.uk ↗.

What stand-up specials have they released?

Half-Life.

What podcasts do they host?

Northern News and The Magic Sponge.

What TV shows and films are they in?

Live at the Apollo, Have I Got News For You, 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, The Stand Up Sketch Show, Popatron and Officially Special, among 7 credits.

Who are some comedians like them?

Amy Gledhill (also in 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown), Kiri Pritchard-McLean (also in Have I Got News for You), Finlay Christie (also in 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown), Huge Davies (also in 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown) and Alfie Brown (also in The Stand Up Sketch Show).

The full SUCDb record

The full record — the career in order, the specials and credits, and the sources for each — is on SUCDb, with a button to add them to your D.O.C., your twelve.

Their SUCDb record →Their own site ↗

Sources

Updated 9 October 2026 · the record checked 6 October 2026