Rik Mayall

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Rik Mayall
Born	March 7, 1958 (age 49) Harlow, Essex, England
Notable roles	Rick (The Young Ones) Richie (Bottom) Alan B'Stard (The New Statesman)

Richard 'Rik' Mayall (born on March 7, 1958 in Harlow, Essex) is an English comedian and actor. He is well known for his comedy partnership with Adrian Edmondson and his over the top, energetic portrayal of characters. He was one of the pioneering members of the alternative comedy scene in the early 1980s.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career chronology 3 Trivia 4 Notes 5 External links

[edit] Early life

When he was three, Mayall and his parents — both of whom taught drama — moved to Droitwich Spa, Worcestershire, where he spent the rest of his childhood and performed in his parents' plays. He studied drama at the University of Manchester and gained fame by appearing at The Comedy Store with Edmondson, debuting there in 1980. They starred as "20th Century Coyote".

[edit] Career chronology

Mayall first broke into television with the character Kevin Turvey on the series A Kick Up the Eighties, which was first broadcast in 1981. A role as sociology student and Cliff Richard devotee Rick Pratt in The Young Ones sitcom in 1982 ensured wide public acclaim. The series was written by Mayall with long-standing friend Ben Elton and then-girlfriend Lise Mayer. Additional material was provided by comedian and actor Alexei Sayle. With many of his alternative contemporaries, Mayall went on to star in a number of the The Comic Strip films. He starred on Saturday Live with Edmondson as "The Dangerous Brothers", a pair of naive but anarchic daredevils, and would perform comedy stunts on stage, often involving the likes of setting each other on fire. They effectively brought slapstick to the alternative comedy scene, albeit in a typically extreme fashion.

Mayall subsequently starred in Filthy Rich & Catflap (1986) with Edmondson and Nigel Planer; and Bottom (1991-92, 1995), again with Adrian Edmondson (in which the two of them played similar roles to those they played in The Young Ones). His first notable solo work was as Conservative MP Alan Beresford B'Stard in the sitcom The New Statesman (1987-92) for Yorkshire Television, thereby also giving him a presence on ITV. He reprised the role in 2006 for the stage but this time as a Labour MP.

In 1986, Mayall achieved a number one hit in the UK singles charts when he and his co-stars from The Young Ones teamed up with Cliff Richard to record a new (and somewhat offbeat) version of "Living Doll" for the inaugural Comic Relief campaign. Mayall played Rick one last time in the subsequent stage show and has been a supporter of the Comic Relief cause ever since.

In 1989, he was the start of a series of ‘bit’ shows for the BBC called Grimm Tales. Grimm Brothers fairy tales are presented with narration and general insanity by Mayall and occasional puppets to act out the stories.

He has also appeared in films, notably Carry On Columbus and Drop Dead Fred; as well as six individual comedy dramas under the umbrella title Rik Mayall Presents in 1993. He famously appeared in Blackadder series 1 as Mad Gerald, series 2 and 4 as Lord Flashheart and on the millennium special episode Blackadder: Back & Forth as Robin Hood. In 1981, Mayall played the character of "Rest Home' Ricky" in the movie Shock Treatment, a sequel of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.^[1]

Mayall took his turn among many hundreds of other celebrities to read a story on the children's series Jackanory, relating extracts of Roald Dahl's George's Marvellous Medicine. Mayall lived up to his own slapstick past by pouring the medicine's ingredients over himself while telling the tale. He also made a little known film appearance in An American Werewolf in London as the second chess player alongside Brian Glover.

Mayall has also played the role of Professor Adonis Cnut in the sitcom Believe Nothing and was Peeves the poltergeist in the first Harry Potter movie (Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone) but was cut out of the final edit.

In 2000, he appeared in the video production of Jesus Christ Superstar as King Herod. He joked in the "Making of" documentary, which was included on the DVD release, that "the reason why a million, billion people want to come and see this is because I'm in it! Me and Jesus!"

Mayall provided the voice of Cufflingk, one of the German falcons in the 2005 computer-animated film Valiant, and is also the voice of Edwin the Eagle in ShoeBox Zoo.

In a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, he was voted amongst the top 50 comedy acts ever by fellow comedians and comedy insiders.

Mayall released an 'in-character' semi-fictionalised autobiography in September 2005 entitled Bigger than Hitler, Better than Christ (ISBN 0-00-720727-1). At the same time he was starring in a new series for ITV entitled All About George.

As of 2006, he is starring once again as Alan B'stard in a stage version of The New Statesman entitled The New Statesman 2006: Blair B'stard Project.

In 2000, Mayall also narrated the battles in Hogs of War, a turn-based strategy game for the Playstation and PC.

Bottom has now finished. Adrian Edmondson told Rik that he was no longer interested in the project. This seems to have also effectively dissolved their partnership for the time being. Rik maintains that they will work together again in the future, they just need "a good idea."

The implication is that Rik would have continued the "Live" shows but that Ade was bored with it. Although unlikely, it has also been suggested that Ade finds Rik more difficult to work with since a 1998 accident in which Rik was seriously injured and spent a few days in a coma. They remain very close friends.

Rik returned to the stage in 2006 with a reprisal of his role as Alan B'Stard in the The New Statesman. Penned by original Emmy winning screenwriters Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran, the production is about to play London's West End for a 2 month run at The Trafalgar Studios (formerly Whitehall Theatre), before going out on tour again from March 2007.

Rik currently does the voice of the Andrex puppy in the UK TV commercials for Andrex toilet paper.

He is married and has two daughters and a son.

[edit] Trivia

• In the 1995 he crazily revealed a replica gun — a prop in a London play in which he was appearing - to a passer-by in the street. He was later cautioned over the incident, which could have ended in tragedy as armed Police were actually in the vicinity looking for a fugitive. Mayall later conceded that " I have been incredibly stupid, even by my standards. " ^[2]

• In 1998 he was seriously injured when he crashed a quad bike near his home in Devon, although he later made a full recovery. Both he and Edmondson have subsequently joked about this event in the various stage versions of Bottom, and the pair wrote the first draft of their Bottom feature film Guest House Paradiso while Mayall was in hospital ^[3].

• In 1995 during a production of the play Cell Mates, Stephen Fry, overcome with nerves and depression, walked out of the production. Mayall's comedy partner Adrian Edmondson would later poke fun of the event during their stage tour Bottom Live 2, when, after Mayall gave mocking gestures to the audience and insulted their town in a silly voice, Edmondson said "Are you done yet? It's just I'm beginning to understand why Stephen Fry fucked off!" Mayall then bowed down to Edmondson, having been outdone.

• A similar joke was used in Bottom Live 2003: Weapons Grade Y-Fronts Tour. In the scene, Rik accidentally puts his hand in Ade's trousers and performs a sexual act (although nothing sexual is shown on stage). Realising his mistake, Rik takes his hands out of Ade's pocket to which Ade replies. "I'm beginning to understand why Stephen Fry left that play." Rik retorts back (of a sexual nature) and then Ade makes a witty and sexual comeback.

• In his autobiography 'Bigger Than Hitler, Better Than Christ' Rik claims to be the youngest person in Britain ever to have passed the '11 Plus' examination.

• He was described as "putrid" by late comedian Spike Milligan.

[edit] Notes

1. ^ "Shock Treatment" entry at IMDb
2. ^ Police Rebuke Rik Mayall for 'Stupid' Gun Prank
3. ^ Comedian Rik Mayall 'seriously ill'

[edit] External links

• Rik Mayall fansite
• Rik Mayall at the Internet Movie Database
• Interview with Rik Mayall on Theatre.com