Comedy legend Arthur Smith has a new regular column with us, writes Tom Hodgkinson

I’m delighted to announce that we’ve signed up Arthur Smith as a columnist for the Idler. For those of you not aware of this exciting, fresh young talent, I first met the gravelly voiced, rubber-faced comedian and Grumpy Old Men star when he was a heavy-drinking nineties party animal.

I loved his brilliant and philosophically Idlerish shows at the Edinburgh Festival and went on his surrealist walks, which were invariably followed by a visit to the pub. He even did a walk for us, at a one-off, absinthe-fuelled festival we held at the Broomhill Art Hotel in Devon, when he roped in John Cooper Clarke as his assistant.

More recently, I devoured his brilliant book, 100 Things I Meant to Tell You, of which Jo Brand commented: “With a voice like pork scratchings tumbling over gravel and a face you could snuggle into, Arthur Smith is a wonder of comedy, charm and down-to-earthiness who has poured the loveliness in his brain onto the page for you to devour.”

So I was really pleased when Arthur joined us for A Drink with the Idler a few months ago, totally thrilled when he wrote a piece for us in the current issue, and completely ecstatic when he accepted my invitation to become an Idler columnist.

He’s enormously likeable, inventive and funny and will feel like an old mate in our pages.

Arthur had this to say when asked for a comment about his new job: “I am honoured to become a new columnist for this mighty magazine – will that do Tom?”

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