From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Melvin Kenneth "Mel" Smith (1952 -2013 ) was an English comedian, writer, film director, producer, and actor. He is most famous for his work on the sketch comedy shows Not the Nine O'Clock News and Alas Smith and Jones along with his comedy partner Griff Rhys Jones. Description above from the Wikipedia article Mel Smith, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.