Encouraged by producers at the BBC, Smith attended a BBC industry gig in January 2008 at a small venue in London's Great Portland Street named The Albany, where he performed a comic song and told an anecdote regarding being the first rapper to work for Radio 4. By his own admissions in an interview from 2009, Smith claimed he "ran out of things to say" and called for the audience to offer words, names and places, with which he improvised a comic rap. According to Smith, the venue managers were impressed and invited him to perform a short set at a late-night variety show named "Spank!"