You are all barking mad!
Fm

Actually prolonged use of ibuprofen ( main ingredient in nurofen, the drug he was said to have an addiction to) in large quantities - or even just very prolonged use can result in strokes, heart attacks etc
Every time you 5b4call me a girls name i die a little inside

Considering his condition it was brave and honourable of him to appear so publically
nismo power r34gtr

No me neither, but if they say thats all it is then fair enough, hope he gets better.

I hope that is all it was, but it certainly didn't seem like a throat infection to me.
"If there's such a thing as reincarnation, knowing my luck I'll come back as me."

http://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2009/01/02/8061/mel_smith_health_fears_a llayed
Mel Smith health fears allayed
Fans alarmed after Mastermind show
Worried fans have been reassured over Mel Smiths health after he appeared frail, breathless and shaky during his appearance on Celebrity Mastermind.
His alarmingly unhealthy demeanour prompted some viewers to speculate that the 56-year-old comic was suffering the after-effects of a stroke.
Fears were such that the BBC had to issue a statement that the star was suffering a serious throat infection.
But because his appearance on the New Years Eve programme was for charity, he decided to press ahead anyway.
We were grateful he went ahead with the recording despite not being at his best, the corporation spokesman said.
During the show, Smith repeatedly twitched his head, and his answers were slurred. However, he still managed to score 16 correct answers on his specialist subject of Shakespearean comedies. He ended up with a total of 22 points, making him second after actress Sally Lindsay.
Smith has suffered with a number of health problems in the past. In 1999, he was hospitalised after he took an accidental overdose of more than 50 Nurofen tablets. It came after a long addiction to sleeping pills, which he blamed on work and pain caused by gout.
The programme can be seen here [
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00ggw3z/b00ggvw7/Celebrity_Maste rmind_2008_2009_Epi2000sode_4/
].

Success i think, this in todays daily mail
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1104136/Mel-Smiths-frail-anxious-appearance-quiz-sparks-fears-comic-legends-health.html
Seems we aint the only concerned people

Yeah, well thanks for that observation Hirschfelder.
"If there's such a thing as reincarnation, knowing my luck I'll come back as me."

This message has been deleted.

I thought it looked like he had a really bad cold maybe not.

This message has been deleted.

This message has been deleted.

Actually, someone suggested on mumsnet that it could be a condition called myasthenia gravis. on wikipedia it says:
The hallmark of myasthenia gravis is fatiguability. Muscles become progressively weaker during periods of activity and improve after periods of rest. Muscles that control eye and eyelid movement, facial expression, chewing, talking, and swallowing are especially susceptible. The muscles that control breathing and neck and limb movements can also be affected. Often the physical examination is within normal limits.
A link to this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myasthenia_gravis
"If there's such a thing as reincarnation, knowing my luck I'll come back as me."

I just read that too Clairus.
However, it doesn't seem to look like Parkinson's though. Isn't that what Michael J F5b4ox has and what Muhammed Ali had? I'm not any authority on this obviously.
"If there's such a thing as reincarnation, knowing my luck I'll come back as me."

sure - it's his business as to whether he wishes to publicise what is wrong but it must have occurred to him that people would wonder
just read on other forums people making the same kind of suppositions someone on mumsnet said that griff rhys jones let slip that he was in the early stages of parkinson's disease don't how true that is just looked up the symptoms and it doesnt seem to make sense

i missed the start of the programme, did they not address it at all?
seems very strange that he would appear on mastermind like this without any mention of it at all in the press!

Was looking for the same thing don't you think if he'd had an op it'd be on the net somewhere? Strange things are afoot

This message has been deleted.

Here you go you cocky prick.
"Griff Rhys Jones had already stated in an earlier television appearance that Smith was suffering the effects of the early stages of Parkinsons Disease."
Although I bet you have since checked this.

Maybe he was trying to keep it private. Thing is it's not very well hidden, whatever's wrong with him, poor man.
"If there's such a thing as reincarnation, knowing my luck I'll come back as me."

Thank you clairus, I will pass on your message to her.
No it hasn't offended me in the slightest, What I think everyone is most intrigued by is the fact that no-one has mentioned it in the media.

good luck to your friend hope my comment before wasnt offensive to anyone (it's not the one that was deleted).
whatever is up with mel, all the best to him, i think we can all say that.

It was he speech that was definitely affected, my friend has a long going battle with cancer in her mouth, nose and throat and has the same difficulty with her speech like Mel appeared to. (obviously to a more extreme level)
I believe it's possibly this, the auidence seemed very aware too, hence the larger applause.

no i checked on wiki earlier but i dont think even that many nurofen would have done that to him - esp having problems 9 years afterwards. i mean, i'm not a chemist so i could be wrong - but we thought it at first it was a stroke, but the cancer thing sounds intriguing
not meaning to sound morbid at all, having had a few relatives and a friend die of cancer and all