Farewell to very special talent

One of the great wits of British comedy died this week, a man much loved in this country along with the rest of the western world.

Mel Smith - the chubby half of the Alas Smith and Jones duo - made me and anyone else who claims to have a sense of humour laugh, and laugh heartily.

He was an extremely funny man, a master of the deadpan joke but whether he was funny off stage is anyone's guess.

According to his fellow comedians he was. That, say those in the entertainment business, is not always the case.

The reality is being a comedian is primarily a way to make a living for which not everyone is suited but it is impractical for us to believe the life of the comedian is one big laugh.

For Smith, who died on July 19 aged 60, life appeared to have treated him kindly at least in material goods (he owned homes in Britain and in the Caribbean and was a collector of Rolls Royce cars) and he appeared to have had a happy home life with his wife and former model Pam.

He was certainly well thought of by his peers as is evidenced by the tributes pouring in from the likes of Stephen Fry, Rowan Atkinson and Smith's special comedy partner the Welsh comedy wizard Griff Rhys Jones.

It has to be said though he carried a lot of bulk which could not have helped his health long-term and he had a relatively recent history of health problems that may well have culminated in the heart attack that killed him.

In 1999 he was hospitalised with severe stomach ulcers and following on from that came an addiction to prescription tablets.

He had gout and had suffered from pharyngitis but his humour was undiminished through it all.

Well we remember Not the Nine O'Clock News and Alas Smith & Jones but there were many, many other masterpieces like Smith's role as a London hotel receptionist in National Lampoon's European Vacation or as Inspector Flint in Wilt.

Then, of course, there was the remarkable performance with Eric Sykes in the ageless skit The Plank.

All in all not a bad achievement from a boy who started life as the son of a County Durham coal miner and betting shop owner who married a greengrocer's daughter in a class conscious country as England was 60 years ago.

In death Smith will join many other great comedians who journeyed to the after-life before him.

Who can forget the one and only Tommy Cooper - master of the one-liners who also, unfortunately, died of a heart attack but in a rather more public place than his home.

Cooper suffered a massive heart attack on stage in 1984 and for a time had the audience fooled.

They thought Cooper's collapse was part of his comedy routine.

It wasn't and poor Tommy died soon after.

Another who springs to mind is that rascal Les Dawson who could pull a face a mother wouldn't recognise.

He specialised in jokes that took the mickey out of his wife and mother-in-law but his life was cut short in 1993.

On a slightly more zany level Smith will encounter three others in the afterlife who set British comedy alight in the 1950s, The Goons.

Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers and Harry Secombe were unique and the likes of them will never again be enjoyed, not on our mortal coil anyway.