Man! I miss Rik and Ade.

Timcito · May 25

They were the darlings of the 'Thatcher, wot a cunt' generation. With them and various others, alternative humour departed from the public school and Oxbridge belt to clever boys at provincial universities. In their case, a lot of it seemed concerned with shattering taboos, with volleys of four-letter words and references to hitherto unmentionable sexual behaviour. The only trouble with comedy based on shocking the audience into laughter, however, is that the shock value pretty soon wears off.

TheMarlin · May 25

It was nice seeing Ade in the Three Body Problem
on Netflix. Great to see him in a serious role

TimmyO · May 25

Timcito said:

They were the darlings of the 'Thatcher, wot a cunt' generation. With them and various others, alternative humour departed from the public school and Oxbridge belt to clever boys at provincial universities. In their case, a lot of it seemed concerned with shattering taboos, with volleys of four-letter words and references to hitherto unmentionable sexual behaviour. The only trouble with comedy based on shocking the audience into laughter, however, is that the shock value pretty soon wears off.

Bottom is no less brilliant and hilarious now than it ever was.

Timcito · May 26

TimmyO said:

Timcito said:

They were the darlings of the 'Thatcher, wot a cunt' generation. With them and various others, alternative humour departed from the public school and Oxbridge belt to clever boys at provincial universities. In their case, a lot of it seemed concerned with shattering taboos, with volleys of four-letter words and references to hitherto unmentionable sexual behaviour. The only trouble with comedy based on shocking the audience into laughter, however, is that the shock value pretty soon wears off.

Bottom is no less brilliant and hilarious now than it ever was.

Much of the humour seemed to rest on whether the audience engaged with the 'repugnant neurotic' persona that Mayall had played in The Young Ones. In some ways, it's an extension of the Basil Fawlty meltdown thing: the exasperated loser who 'goes off' when provoked.

Kittyfrisk · May 27

Saturday evening Radio 4, Rik Mayall https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001zv68

darius · May 28

Glad I found this thread. It has reminded me to watch Bottom again. And I will wet myself with laughter again. Thanks OP.

GAS MAN! GAS MAN!
Soundtrack to my uni years.
I saw them live the Bottom tour in Nottingham, I still remember all our faces ached for hours after from just cracking up the whole night.

They were just the best together.

darius · May 28

Damn it. Where can I watch it for free? It’s not on Netflix the blighters.

Kurtis · May 28

TheMarlin said:

It was nice seeing Ade in the Three Body Problem
on Netflix. Great to see him in a serious role

I've noticed him in a few things recently, playing it fairly straight.

tone1 · May 28

The ‘Dangerous Brothers’ exploded into my life at just the right time….The Young Ones & Bottom were my must see TV, and I saw Bottom live. I guess it was of it’s time and I don’t miss them, as they left us with a massive back catalogue (steady at the back & no sniggering)….I loved Rik in Man Down…..but my favourite performance was this…..

https://youtu.be/1jjFEFyI8FU?si=fsPJvOvFviUZolWS

SPECTRUM001 · May 29

Ahhhh - Ade and Rik - untouchable.

In 1981, it was actually quite confusing for a provincial teenage dolt. Kevin Turvey had me in stitches, but also the Dangerous Bros, 20th Century Coyote and The Young Ones - Rik was suddenly everywhere.

I got to see The Comic Strip live in 1982 - Ade played very metal guitar and we all cried with laughter.

Have probably mentioned this before, but think (aside from Kevin Turvey) my fave Rik moment is A Fistful of Travellers Cheques. Although Keith Allen’s “You want soft toilet paper ? You go to Hotel Gayboy” vies to steal the show.

I do believe to have such an amazing sense of humour and understanding of character suggests both Ade and Rik to be genuinely good people. And the incredible warmth towards both of them must come from genuine and anecdotal experiences.

No idea about Ade having any bitterness - guess I will have to read his book…

beed84 · May 29

tone1 said:

The ‘Dangerous Brothers’ exploded into my life at just the right time….The Young Ones & Bottom were my must see TV, and I saw Bottom live. I guess it was of it’s time and I don’t miss them, as they left us with a massive back catalogue (steady at the back & no sniggering)….I loved Rik in Man Down…..but my favourite performance was this…..
https://youtu.be/1jjFEFyI8FU?si=fsPJvOvFviUZolWS

Wis. Along with Steve Jobs’ honorary speech, I often return to Rik’s, too. His five mantras offer such good advice on being able to achieve, what matters in life and how to enjoy it – I’d love to have graduated at the university that day. Such a great moment.

Jfingers · May 29

I still have a VHS tape with no means to play it. It has mostly The Young Ones on it plus The Cramps on The Tube and also The Gun Club on the same programme.

I adored The Young Ones. Rik and Ade are/were both fantastic. I'd seen Kevin Turvey and was blown away by it. Ade as a Cancer victim on Eastenders not so much.

Pjon · May 31

RobDavies said:

Big fan of both here also.

Bambi is probably the finest half an hour of television I've ever seen.

My issue is not so much Ade's 'truth-telling' about Rik, more about how dismissive he is of The Young Ones. Having read the first part of Ade's autobiography, he had a very, very tough upbringing.

In his book he mentions that The Young One took 14 weeks of his life. (I may have got the figure wrong, but the point is that it was over very quickly and he's done a lot more in his life.) I didn't read it as being dismissive, more that it means more to other than it does to him.

equalsql · June 3

I remember the first time seeing the Dangerous Brothers and couldn't believe what I was watching. I'd ever seen anything as anarchicly(?) funny and violent. Just brilliant.

ToneControl · June 3

SPECTRUM001 said:

Ahhhh - Ade and Rik - untouchable.

In 1981, it was actually quite confusing for a provincial teenage dolt. Kevin Turvey had me in stitches, but also the Dangerous Bros, 20th Century Coyote and The Young Ones - Rik was suddenly everywhere.

I got to see The Comic Strip live in 1982 - Ade played very metal guitar and we all cried with laughter.

Have probably mentioned this before, but think (aside from Kevin Turvey) my fave Rik moment is A Fistful of Travellers Cheques. Although Keith Allen’s “You want soft toilet paper ? You go to Hotel Gayboy” vies to steal the show.

I do believe to have such an amazing sense of humour and understanding of character suggests both Ade and Rik to be genuinely good people. And the incredible warmth towards both of them must come from genuine and anecdotal experiences.

No idea about Ade having any bitterness - guess I will have to read his book…

my deceased mate (deceased around 1990) used to quote so much from that, that every time I pick up a hammer when I am with with my Mrs, I say "Everybody happy? La la la la la"

I bought that show from whatever platform years ago to rewatch - it's in my youtube library

and I still have my Kevin Turvey VHS tapes

theatreanchor · June 10

For everyone in this thread - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001zv68?at_mid=fxadMH4bbU&at_campaign=Radio_4_Archive_on_4_Rik_Mayall_Panglobal_Phenomenon&at_medium=display_ad&at_campaign_type=owned&at_audience_id=SS&at_product=sounds&at_brand=b00hg8dq&at_ptr_name=bbc&at_ptr_type=media&at_format=image&at_objective=consumption&at_link_title=Radio_4_Archive_on_4_Rik_Mayall_Panglobal_Phenomenon&at_bbc_team=BBC

Adey · June 11

This is brilliant early Rik Mayal

NelsonP · June 11

mudslide73 said:

TheMarlin said:

mudslide73 said:

RIP Rik. Bad News is probably my favourite of theirs. There's not a band practice where it doesn't get referenced in some way. Incredibly Ade wrote the first one between the first and second series of the Young Ones. Mr Jolly is another favourite.

I didn’t like Bad News.

Spinal Tap did it first, and did it much better.

OK. They were made concurrently and imo they're both indispensable.

Agree. The scene where Colin treads in dog shit is one of the funniest bits of physical comedy I've seen.

Neilybob · June 11

Timcito said:

TimmyO said:

Timcito said:

They were the darlings of the 'Thatcher, wot a cunt' generation. With them and various others, alternative humour departed from the public school and Oxbridge belt to clever boys at provincial universities. In their case, a lot of it seemed concerned with shattering taboos, with volleys of four-letter words and references to hitherto unmentionable sexual behaviour. The only trouble with comedy based on shocking the audience into laughter, however, is that the shock value pretty soon wears off.

Bottom is no less brilliant and hilarious now than it ever was.

Much of the humour seemed to rest on whether the audience engaged with the 'repugnant neurotic' persona that Mayall had played in The Young Ones. In some ways, it's an extension of the Basil Fawlty meltdown thing: the exasperated loser who 'goes off' when provoked.

British wit at it's best I dare say.

mudslide73 · June 11

NelsonP said:

mudslide73 said:

TheMarlin said:

mudslide73 said:

RIP Rik. Bad News is probably my favourite of theirs. There's not a band practice where it doesn't get referenced in some way. Incredibly Ade wrote the first one between the first and second series of the Young Ones. Mr Jolly is another favourite.

I didn’t like Bad News.

Spinal Tap did it first, and did it much better.

OK. They were made concurrently and imo they're both indispensable.

Agree. The scene where Colin treads in dog shit is one of the funniest bits of physical comedy I've seen.

"Mummy! Mummy!"

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Man! I miss Rik and Ade.

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