Having made a big impression at the 2019 NZ Comedy Festival Ian was due to return in 2020 until the Festival was cancelled due to covid.

We have finally got Ian back in 2024 on the back of a storming season at the 2023 Edinburgh Fringe where he was nominated for all the major comedy awards.

Don't miss Mark's latest highly acclaimed show ' CRUSHING'.

Ian Smith is an award-winning comedian, actor and writer.

Since starting at a young age, Ian has developed a reputation as an exciting, creative comic. Mixing conversational, energetic storytelling and observations with unique set pieces and an exceptional skill for improvisation – Ian is a regular at the biggest comedy clubs in the UK.

Ian has appeared on BBC Three at the Fringe, BBC3 panel show Sweat the Small Stuff and Channel 5 series The Funny Thing About… He was also one third of popular Dave podcast, The Magic Sponge, alongside Rob Beckett, which has previously topped the iTunes comedy charts.

Ian’s Edinburgh Fringe shows have received critical acclaim, award-nominations and runs at Soho Theatre. In 2015 he was also part of the hugely successful, multi-award winning, Richard Gadd – Waiting for Gaddot. The show had a two week run in the main house at Soho Theatre, which was then extended. His fourth solo show, Snowflake, was a big success, winning an Amused Moose Comedy Award and a ThreeWeeks Editors’ Award. He was then invited to perform the show at New Zealand Comedy Festival. In 2018, Ian took his fifth solo show, Craft, to the Edinburgh Fringe – receiving further acclaim, touring the show in Dubai, returning to New Zealand and transferring to Soho Theatre.

Ian is also a talented actor – starting off as a lead in BBC2 sitcom Popatron and award-winning short film, Bonsai. He has gone on to star alongside Katherine Parkinson in Sky comedy, Officially Special, and have a leading role in major BBC1 drama, The Ark, starring David Threlfall – as well as a number of supporting roles including Siblings, Pls Like and BBC drama The Syndicate.

Ian has also presented on The Football Republic and FullTimeDevils – two YouTube channels with over 300,000 subscribers each, where his videos have reached over 1 million combined views.

2019 saw Ian return to New Zealand Comedy Festival and perform on the New Zealand Comedy Gala (TVNZ). Over the past few years Ian has cemented regular writing work on The News Quiz, The Now Show and Newsjack (BBC Radio 4), written two of his own web series’ (Hope You Come Up Here and 100 Reasons to Hate…) and written for various comedians (including for Mock the Week).

This Edinburgh Fringe, Ian’s sixth solo show, Half-Life, was again critically acclaimed, playing to sold out crowds and gaining seven four star reviews. He also directed Jack Gleadow’s debut show, which was nominated for Best New Show at Leicester Comedy Festival. He is currently developing a number of scripted and format projects.