RIP Rik Mayall

I was at a bus stop in Melton when I learned of the death of Rik Mayall and I can say it was quite a shock to know someone so iconic had died at such a relatively young age. He is someone that defined a style of comedy that will go on passed his death and into the future.

Like a lot of people that watched in 1980's television he will be first remembered for his comic acting in the "Comic Strip Presents..." and especially the "Young Ones" which he co wrote with Ben Elton and Lise Mayer. A friend of mind at the time went to see an episode of the  "Young Ones" being filmed and at the time described it as the funniest and most chaotic thing she had ever seen. The actors would deviate from their lines and go off on one long improvisation which was so funny that nobody wanted it to end. What marvelous television those out takes would make today if they didn't get wiped.

One of the roles I loved him that was a beautifully observed characterture of the right wing of the Conservative party in the ITV programme the "New Statesman". In this programme he played Alan B'Stard, a selfish, greedy, dishonest, devious, lecherous, sadistic, ultra-right-wing Conservative backbencher. Whatever crises and scandals swirled around the evil B'Stard, he would always come up smelling of roses. The running joke throughout the series was that, despite his extreme good looks and how easy it was for him to pursue his constant womanising, B'Stard was very under-endowed and suffered from premature ejaculation, and disappointed ever woman he slept with including his wife who was having constant affairs. It was a classic of it age well written and well acted all round, not just by Rik Mayall.

Of course he will also be remembered by many for the role of Richie in the BBC comedy "Bottom" in which he co-stared and co-wrote with his best friend Adrian Edmondson. They played two flatmates who live in Hammersmith, London, who are crude, perverted lunatics with no jobs, very little money, who spend their time concocting desperate schemes to acquire sex, attacking each other violently, and getting into dodgy situations. It takes the idea of slap stick comedy to the extreme with  heads being crushed in fridge doors, fingers being cut off, penises set on fire, legs being chainsawed off, forks shoved in eyes, and pencils forced up noses, to name just a few. Yet again another master piece of its time.

I know personally that he influenced my acting and I can remember doing improvisations at the West Yorkshire Playhouse with larger than life characters based on his acting style in programmes like "Bottom" and a "New Statesman" in particular. I can see why he enjoyed his acting, it required lots of energy and a quick mind to pull off what he did and make it funny. It was all over the top and lived on the edge of what people would find socially acceptable and shocking. Like a large cartoon on what he saw and observed of life.  

Like many I will miss not having him about on this planet, and over the years he has given me many laughs to the point of crying. Like always my heart goes out to his family and his friends and all that met and worked with this great man.