Mike Smash and Dave Nice were two fictional television characters who first appeared in the early 1990s TV

sketch show Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and i ...

Harry Enfield's Television Programme ''Harry Enfield & Chums'' (originally titled ''Harry Enfield's Television Programme'') is a British sketch show starring Harry Enfield, Paul Whitehouse and Kathy Burke. It first broadcast on BBC2 in 1990 in the 9 pm slot on Thursday night ...

''. They were played by comedians

Paul Whitehouse Paul Julian Whitehouse (born 17 May 1958) is a Welsh actor, writer and comedian. He was one of the main stars of the BBC sketch comedy series '' The Fast Show'', and has also starred with Harry Enfield in the shows ''Harry & Paul'' and '' Har ...

and

Harry Enfield Henry Richard Enfield (born 30 May 1961) is an English comedian, actor, writer and director. He is known in particular for his television work, including ''Harry Enfield's Television Programme'' and '' Harry & Paul'', and for the creation and ...

respectively. They are

parodies A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its su ...

of a certain style of ageing celebrity

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, includin ...

disc jockey who started out with the station in the 1960s and stayed there until the mid-1990s. The characters incorporated the personalities,

character trait In psychology, trait theory (also called dispositional theory) is an approach to the study of human personality. Trait theorists are primarily interested in the measurement of ''traits'', which can be defined as habitual patterns of behaviour, tho ...

s and lifestyles of several different real-life DJs. The characters reference such DJs as

Tony Blackburn Anthony Kenneth Blackburn (born 29 January 1943) is an English disc jockey, singer and TV presenter. He first achieved fame broadcasting on the pirate stations Radio Caroline and Radio London in the 1960s, before joining the BBC, on the BBC L ...

Dave Lee Travis David Patrick Griffin (born 25 May 1945), known professionally as Dave Lee Travis, is an English disc jockey, radio presenter and television presenter. Travis began his broadcasting career on the pirate radio station Radio Caroline in 1965. He ...

Simon Bates Simon Philip Bates (born 17 December 1946) is an English disc jockey and radio presenter. Between 1976 and 1993 he worked at BBC Radio 1, presenting the station's weekday mid-morning show for most of this period. He later became a regular pres ...

Alan Freeman Alan Leslie Freeman, MBE (6 July 1927 – 27 November 2006), nicknamed "Fluff", was an Australian-born British disc jockey and radio personality in the United Kingdom for 40 years, best known for presenting ''Pick of the Pops'' from 1961 to 200 ...

Mike Read Michael David Kenneth Read (born 1 March 1947) is an English radio disc jockey, writer, journalist and television presenter. Read has been a broadcaster since 1976, best known for having been a DJ with BBC Radio 1, and television host for musi ...

, Peter Powell,

Noel Edmonds Noel Ernest Edmonds (born 22 December 1948) is an English television presenter, radio DJ, writer, producer, and businessman. Edmonds first became known as a disc jockey on Radio Luxembourg before moving to BBC Radio 1 in the UK. He has presente ...

and

Jimmy Savile Sir James Wilson Vincent Savile (; 31 October 1926 – 29 October 2011) was an English DJ, television and radio personality who hosted BBC shows including '' Top of the Pops'' and '' Jim'll Fix It''. During his lifetime, he was well kno ...

amongst others. Enfield's parody of Radio 1's increasing irrelevance to the youth audience it supposedly catered for was a factor in Matthew Bannister's decision to terminate the employment of many older presenters when he became controller of Radio 1 in 1993. The characters had their own TV special in 1994, following which Enfield retired them, reflecting the changes at Radio 1. However, they returned for

Comic Relief Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene, or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension. Definition Comic relief usually means a releasing of emotional or other tension resulting from a comic epis ...

in 1997. Whitehouse and Enfield also reprised their roles to present a special edition of ''

Pick of the Pops ''Pick of the Pops'' is a long-running BBC Radio programme originally based on the Top 20 from the UK Singles Chart and first broadcast on the BBC Light Programme on 4 October 1955. It transferred to BBC Radio 1 (simulcast on BBC Radio 2) from 19 ...

'' in 2007, commemorating the 40th birthday of Radio 2 following the death of Alan Freeman. They have been called "one of the great comic creations of our time"

Development

Harry Enfield stated that his choice of characters for his show was a calculated move to gain the biggest possible audience by creating

archetype The concept of an archetype (; ) appears in areas relating to behavior, historical psychology, and literary analysis. An archetype can be any of the following: # a statement, pattern of behavior, prototype, "first" form, or a main model that o ...

s people could relate to. Whereas he aimed many of his characters at a young audience, Smashie and Nicey were created for a segment of the programme designed to appeal to "older people". Enfield described them as "a bit more highbrow" than the other characters.

Character profile

"Smashie and Nicey" are two disc jockeys working at Radio Fab FM, a parody of BBC Radio 1. Each sketch would involve the two talking a stereotypically, obsessively self-regarding disc jockey spiel: reminiscing about their careers, modestly shrugging off their many works of " charidee", and generally being bland and irrelevant, before using a fader (in the form of a giant lever) to play their favourite record " You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet" by

Bachman–Turner Overdrive Bachman–Turner Overdrive, often abbreviated BTO, were a Canadian rock band from Winnipeg, Manitoba, founded by Randy Bachman, Robbie Bachman and Fred Turner in 1973. Their 1970s catalogue included five top-40 albums and six US top-40 singl ...

. The characters reference a stereotype of Radio 1 DJs at the time, in that they are egotistical, bland, and out of touch with their younger listenership.

Mike Smash

Mike Smash, played by Whitehouse, was loosely based on

, although he resembled

and

in appearance, his vocalisation had similarities to Mike Read and pop star

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is an Indian-born British musican, singer, producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist who holds both British and Barbadian citizenship. He has total sales of over 21.5 million s ...

. His DJ persona is shown as more lightweight and chirpy than Nice, although he is revealed as a troubled individual in private. The television special introduced elements of Noel Edmonds and

into Smashie's character, with the Nice character played out similar stories to those from the lives of Mike Read,

Bill Grundy William Grundy (18 May 1923 – 9 February 1993) was an English journalist and broadcaster, best known for his work as anchor of ''Today'', a regional magazine programme on Thames Television in London. In the latter role, Grundy gained ...

and

Kenny Everett Kenny Everett (born Maurice James Christopher Cole; 25 December 1944 – 4 April 1995) was an English comedian, radio disc jockey and television presenter. After spells on pirate radio and Radio Luxembourg in the mid-1960s, he was one of the fi ...

. In the 1994 TV special, reflecting real events at Radio 1, the DJs were sacked from Fab FM, in a manner that deliberately mirrored Simon Bates' and Dave Lee Travis' departures from Radio 1, being replaced with young, "irreverent" DJs. They were banished to "Radio Quiet" and left to reminisce about the good old days and pretend to themselves that they were still a powerful cultural force. One notable catchphrase used by Smash was "lodda work for charidee" (although he does not like talking about it). He also describes things "quite lidderally" (literally) and as "poptastic", "pop-a-doodle-doo", "popadopoulos" and other words beginning with "pop", which Nicey will change to "rock".

Dave Nice

Played by Harry Enfield, quasi-Australian-accented ageing rocker Davenport "Dave" Nice was a mixture of the then Radio 1 Rock Show presenter

(whose radio persona, perhaps deliberately, bordered on self-parody) and

, with elements of

and

Tommy Vance Richard Anthony Crispian Francis Prew Hope-Weston (11 July 1940 – 6 March 2005), known professionally as Tommy Vance, was an English radio broadcaster. He was an important factor in the rise of the new wave of British heavy metal (NWOBHM), al ...

. Nice was portrayed as more aggressive and angry than Smash, liking heavy rock and being very opinionated. In the 1994 TV special ''Smashie and Nicey: The End of an Era'' he was shown to be a misanthropic alcoholic. He frequently mentions spending time with a "young friend" in his on-air chats with Smashie, and reveals in their private conversation during the record being played that the "young friends" are male.

Appearances

The characters first appeared in ''

'' in 1990 and continued to appear in the second series and a 1994 special entitled ''Smashie & Nicey: End of an Era''. The characters became very popular, appearing in adverts, featuring on their own compilation album, ''Let's Rock'', and presenting episodes of ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of ...

'', including the 30th anniversary special edition on New Year's Day 1994. They were dropped by Enfield in 1995 after the changes at Radio 1 had removed the need for such satire, although they returned for

in 1997. Whitehouse and Enfield also reprised their roles to present a special edition of ''

'' on 30 September 2007, commemorating the 40th birthday of Radio 2 and following the death of Alan Freeman.

Dale Winton Dale Jonathan Winton (22 May 1955 – 18 April 2018) was an English radio DJ and television presenter. He presented the shows '' Dale's Supermarket Sweep'' from 1993 until 2001 and again in 2007, the National Lottery game show '' In It to ...

made the opening announcement but was quickly evicted by Smashie and Nicey who proceeded to play the

top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or " con ...

from 27 September 1967. During the show Nicey accidentally

came out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

(which was previously alluded to in the 1994 special, and may be an allusion to Alan Freeman's admission, also in 1994, that he had been bisexual before he became celibate). At the end of the show he emotionally begged the Controller of BBC Radio to give him a job, "even if it's only on ictional stationDigital Radio 8". Dave Nice briefly appeared in the 2015 special ''An Evening with Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse'', revealing that he had been cleared of "all but one of the charges" by

Operation Yewtree Operation Yewtree was a British police investigation into sexual abuse allegations, predominantly the abuse of children, against the English media personality Jimmy Savile and others. The investigation, led by the Metropolitan Police Service ( ...

, echoing what had happened to Dave Lee Travis. Whitehouse reprised the role of Smashie for a two-part special ''Smashie's Xmastastic Playlist'', which aired on

Gold Gold is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a Brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, s ...

on 23 and 24 December 2017. It is revealed in these specials that Smashie is asexual.

1994 TV special

A TV special named ''Smashie and Nicey: The End of an Era'' was shown on

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's Flagship (broadcasting), flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News ...

in 1994. The special begins in the 1960s, with Nicey presenting ''

Blue Peter ''Blue Peter'' is a British children's television entertainment programme created by John Hunter Blair. It is the longest-running children's TV show in the world, having been broadcast since October 1958. It was broadcast primarily from BBC Tel ...

'' and dancing on stage with

Freddie and the Dreamers Freddie and the Dreamers were an English beat band that had a number of hit records between 1963 and 1965. The band's stage act was enlivened by the comic antics of Freddie Garrity, who would bounce around the stage with arms and legs flying ...

in doctored footage of the band's appearance on the show performing " You Were Made for Me", interviewing

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

, and becoming a DJ on offshore station " Radio Geraldine" where Smashie is initially his teaboy. It combines elements from the careers of several real DJs, with Smashie seen hosting a Saturday night TV show called ''Smashie's House Party'', a parody of ''

Noel's House Party ''Noel's House Party'' is a BBC light entertainment series that was hosted by Noel Edmonds. Set in a large house in the fictional village of Crinkley Bottom, leading to much innuendo, it ran from 23 November 1991 to 26 March 2000 on BBC One, ...

'', and having turned his show into a plea for his wife (named specifically as "Tessa") to come back after she has left him, repeatedly playing

Bobby Goldsboro Robert Charles Goldsboro (born January 18, 1941) is an American pop and country singer and songwriter. He had a string of pop and country hits in the 1960s and 1970s, including his signature No. 1 hit " Honey", which sold over 1 million copies i ...

's "

Honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...

" (

did precisely this in the mid-1970s when his wife, actress Tessa Wyatt, left him). Similarly, Nicey is revealed to have advertised "Deptford Draylons", alluding to Alan Freeman's ads for Brentford Nylons, to have interviewed the

Sex Pistols The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they were one of the most groundbreaking acts in the history of popular music. They were responsible for ...

(in doctored footage of their famous interview with

) and to have fronted ''The Dave Nice Video Show'', a parody of ''

The Kenny Everett Video Show ''The Kenny Everett Video Show'' (later renamed ''The Kenny Everett Video Cassette'') is a British television comedy and music programme that was made by Thames Television for ITV from 3 July 1978 to 21 May 1981. Overview Philip Jones, Tham ...

''. The duo are also said to have performed on the Band Aid single "

Do They Know It's Christmas "Do They Know It's Christmas?" is a charity song written in 1984 by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise money for the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia. It was first recorded by Band Aid, a supergroup assembled by Geldof and Ure consisting of pop ...

". Freeman himself makes a cameo appearance, as do Blackburn,

David Jensen David Allan "Kid" Jensen (born 4 July 1950) is a Canadian-born British radio DJ and television presenter. Born in Victoria, British Columbia, Jensen began as a radio DJ on Radio Luxembourg. Jensen was later a broadcaster for the BBC from 1976 ...

and

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...

. The programme was repeated on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream a ...

in August 2015, however, some material (such as Smashie asking a member of the ''

'' audience how old she was) was edited out.

Relevance to Radio 1

The sketches proved very popular, largely because they reflected the image that Radio 1 had at the time. Much of the station's output was widely considered dull and unchallenging, and the average age of both listeners and presenters had risen above thirty, when it was intended to cater to a young audience. When Matthew Bannister arrived at Radio 1 in 1993 with a mission to rejuvenate the station, he referred directly to the characters in stating that his goal was to rid it of its "Smashie and Nicey" image. Whitehouse later expressed his unease after being congratulated by BBC Director-General

John Birt John Birt, Baron Birt (born 10 December 1944) is a British television executive and businessman. He is a former Director-General (1992–2000) of the BBC. After a successful career in commercial television, initially at Granada Television an ...

for assisting this process, stating that Birt was a "greater menace" than any of the DJs who were "harmless". In 1993, Dave Lee Travis commented on the characters in '' Q'' magazine, saying "This Smashie and Nicey crap that they keep bringing up. Is that funny? It doesn't raise a smile with me."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smashie And Nicey Comedy sketches Comedy television characters British sitcom characters Male characters in television Fictional DJs Fictional radio personalities Television duos Harry Enfield Fictional gay males