WILL SMITH
If you're going to carry on a career as an actor and comedian with the same name as one of the biggest stars on the planet, you had better make sure that that is where the similarity ends.
And if that was the intention of British comedian, actor and writer Will Smith then he has certainly achieved it. For while the other Will Smith (remember him) is young, American, black and streetwise. The home version is middle-aged, British (via Jersey, white, posh and thinks Channel Islands TV cop Bergerac is the epitome and font of cool.
Born in Jersey in 1971 but now based in London, Will Smith emerged, or so it seemed at the time, as the finished article of a story-telling stand-up comedian at the age of 33 when he performed his first solo show Will Smith Is Much Obliged at Edinburgh as recently as 2003. He has never looked back since and stands today as one of the most in-demand comedians and comic writers in the UK.
So impressive was that debut outing that Will Smith was immediately offered a solo run in London's West End and was also asked to co-present Channel 4's spoof royal dating show A Wife For William as the posh alternative to professional northerner Vernon Kay. Think a funny Hugh Grant without the irritating bits and you're close enough.
Will Smith’s other TV credits include roles in Time Gentlemen Please, Happiness, Days, Ruddy Hell! It's Paul And Harry and the part of inept Tory researcher Phil Smith in Armando Iannucci's multi-award winning sitcom The Thick Of It as well as guest appearances on The Charlotte Church Show, Never Mind The Buzzcocks, The Last Word, The C Word: How We Came To Swear By It and, by way of contrast, a reporter's role on Richard and Judy.
On radio, Will Smith was one of the stars of Iannucci's Sony award winning Charm Offensive and is a regular guest on both BBC Radio 4's Banter, Clive Anderson's Chatroom, The Personality Test, The Lee Mack Show, and has written and performed two of his own shows Midlife Crisis Management and The Tao of Bergerac, where he demonstrates to the world how every movie and actor is no more than six steps away from an episode of the TV detective series. Much of the material from both of these shows has been adapted for his numerous stage appearances at comedy clubs up and down the country.
Equally popular and successful as a writer, alongside writing partner, Roger Drew, Will Smith has written for a host of big names and shows in TV comedy and radio, including as main writers on Armando Iannucci's Time Trumpet.
The pair have also written a book together called The Joy Of No Sex which has earned guffaws and acclaim wherever it is read although it is not recommended on buses due to the embarrassment of continuous snorting.
Will Smith also writes occasional journalism, notably for Intelligent Life magazine where he learns something new for each issue, including banjo-playing, ice-sculpting, circus skills and how to make a soufflé.
WHAT THE CRITICS SAID
"Elegantly structured, blissfully witty and features a central performance that is so polished you can see your face in it." - EVENING STANDARD
"Such craft and energy that you don't want the hour to end" - THE TIMES
"Fantastic… Faultless… Genius… Brilliant… Magnificent" - THE OBSERVER
WHAT THE COMICS SAID (ABOUT THE JOY OF NO SEX)
"In the morass of self-help literature, The Joy of No Sex stands out like a big cock" - ARDAL O'HANLON
"This is far, far funnier than that Da Vinci Code spoof you were thinking of buying" - DARA O'BRIAIN
"Hilarious... alarmingly effective at conveying the agony of slamming your bell end 'twixt a couple of bin lids" - LAUREN LAVERNE
"For those of you wishing to avoid sex for the rest of your lives, look no further than this book." - PAUL WHITEHOUSE