Arthur Smith (I)

Portrait of the artist: Arthur Smith, comedian

My worst heckle? In Edinburgh, a bloke poured a pint of urine over me.'

Programmes that pull together a bunch of festival turns are often ragged and random - not this one. As your compere Arthur Smith explains at the top of the show, all the acts have at least a modicum of BBC4 sensibility about them. Alex Horne and his, um, Horne Section offer silly but dazzling musical comedy, while Tim Key does something similarly clever and stupid with his poems. David O'Doherty has a Bontempi organ and a unique way with words, while Nina Conti offers an ingenious and brilliantly improvised variation on her familiar ventriloquist routine.

Arthur Smith's Slippers Speak

Good day to you. A year ago we were sitting in a shop in Crewe as we had been doing for several weeks, when a man came in, bought us for £7.99 and took us down South to Balham in London. We are Arthur Smith's slippers.

For those not aware of this show, The Unbelievable Truth is a panel game, and as is law when it comes to panel games, it involves David Mitchell.

He acts as host of "the panel game built on truth and lies", in which four comics deliver a lecture on a subject which is mostly lies, except for five pieces of unlikely true information which have to be smuggled past the rest of the panel.

In this week's edition, Tony Hawks gave a 'lecture' on mice, Arthur Smith on Sir Walter Raleigh, Rhod Gilbert on soup, and Mitchell's 10 O'Clock Live co-star Charlie Brooker on his specialist subject of television.

The show is rather like QI, in that it is partly about unlikely trivia. Among the things mentioned were the fact that Bruce Forsyth first appeared on the TV before World War Two began and that Raleigh's widow kept his severed head in a velvet bag which she carried around with her (although this fact has already been on QI).

Mind you, a lot of the lies mentioned are things you really hope are true, such as Swindon having a "Day of the mouse" in which the mice get to rule the town, or Raleigh farting during the coronation of Charles I.

My only problem with The Unbelievable Truth is that I think some of the facts might be wrong. One of the things that regularly crop up is obscure but daft American laws, like how in Nebraska you have to brew soup if you are also selling beer. I always suspect that these 'laws' are just made up and just included because they sound funny.

Arthur Smith interview

Last time I spoke to Arthur Smith, he was hiking up a hill overlooking the river Dart in Devon, where he was filming for the BBC's The One Show. Today, however, he's a little more sedentary.

Rufus Hound joins Radio 4 Extra's comedy line-up

Rufus Hound is to host a show called What's So Funny? on new digital station BBC Radio 4 Extra, which will also include Comedy Club, a series featuring comics such as Arthur Smith.

Audio: What is the secret of comedy?

What is it about the language of comedy that makes us laugh?

The British Library has been hosting a series of lectures and events on the evolution of the English language.

Comedian Arthur Smith shares his thoughts.

'Being grumpy is fun' says Cockney comic Arthur Smith

Grumpy Old Men star back at the Edinburgh festival for the 33rd time and he still loves a good moan.

Interview: Arthur Smith

An interview with Arthur Smith, comedian and author.

Book Review: My Name Is Daphne Fairfax

With increasing age, Smith appears to have found his metier, as one of the original contributors to the TV phenomenon Grumpy Old Men. Having become "moderately famous - the best kind of famous to be", he has now embraced his true calling as a professional bad-tempered old sod.