Comedian Robin Ince will give the 2021 Linda Smith Lecture at the Gulbenkian Theatre on Tuesday 2 November (7:30pm).
The Linda Smith Lecture was established in 2015 as an annual University of Kent event to celebrate the much-missed comedian’s life and work, and to reflect on the comedy business. It was founded and is presented by the British Stand-up Comedy Archive and Dr Oliver Double, Head of Comedy and Performance in the University’s School of Arts and a stand-up comedian in his own right.
Robin Ince is one of the UK’s best known comedians. He is a regular contributor to television and radio, his shows including his long-running BBC Radio 4 programme The Infinite Monkey Cage with physicist Professor Brian Cox. He is also an acclaimed writer and podcaster, his many accolades including the Chortle Awards’ Innovation Award and Time Out’s Outstanding Contribution to Comedy Award.
Dr Double said: ‘I’m looking forward to welcoming Robin to the Gulbenkian Theatre for this year’s lecture and to hearing his memories of Linda, as well as his thoughts and insights on the world of comedy. The event is called the Linda Smith Lecture but, as you can imagine with a speaker like Robin, it will be as much a comedy show as a lecture – and that’s the point.’
Linda Smith (1958 – 2006) was one of the best known performers on the UK comedy scene. She wrote and starred in her own Radio 4 sitcom, Linda Smith’s A Brief History of Timewasting, as well as being a regular panellist on The News Quiz, Just a Minute, I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue, Have I Got News for You, Mock the Week, Countdown and QI.
The British Stand-Up Comedy Archive was made possible by the generous donation of Linda Smith’s personal archive by her partner Warren Lakin in 2013. This material of diaries, scripts, audio-visual recordings, photographs, press cuttings and correspondence that have been used in teaching and research ever since.
The previous Linda Smith Lecture speakers were Mark Thomas (2015), Andy Hamilton (2016), Susan Calman (2017), Barry Cryer (2018) and Jo Brand (2019).
More information on the lecture and how to obtain tickets is available here.