Rik Mayall

That boy was bizarre, OP.

Loved that show and I also had a crush on him. I always had strange taste.

Didn't he realize he was so accomplished until I read his obit. Until then, I only knew him from Drop Dead Fred.

He hadn't been himself for years. He couldn't work anymore because of brain damage.

The bench they're sat on in the opening from "Bottom" is now a permanent tribute to Rik after it was originally removed by Hammersmith council. I think he used to live in Richmond, and there are a few paintings of him in various odd locations around the borough.

It's so odd to read words like 'Hammersmith Council' and 'borough' on Datalounge.

His friendship with Ade was touching. I remember my heart sinking for Ade when I heard Rik had died.

R6 has never been in a thread about NYC if he's never seen the latter.

I remember when he died, Popbitch ran lots of stories from people who all concluded that he was generally a nice bloke. There are always flowers at the bench in Hammersmith.

Anyone here like the Human League? Okay!

Have you been to the bench, R9?

I've passed it many times, but I've never gone specifically to see it R11

Rik was quite handsome when he wasn't making faces.

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Still love this movie.

R16 DDP is the one movie in my life I can't watch a second time. I loved it but it tore my heart to pieces.

One of those underrated gems of creative filmmaking with a deceptive cover of crude silliness.

* DDF

I think he'll always be Lord Flasheart in Blackadder II for me.

Or Alan B'Stard in The New Statesman.

I was out of the UK when he died, forgot how many great shows he made.

You want soft toilet paper? You go to hotel gay boy!

I'm in the industry. Never worked with him personally, but saw him around at various functions in the past. I'm a lesbian, but he was sexy. He just had an "it" factor.

He had a good reputation. Crew loved him. He was fun, warm and kind to everyone - funny in real life and enjoyed making others laugh without being needy or insincere. Cared about what he did but didn't take himself seriously. RIP, Rik.

I loved drop dead Fred when I first saw it at 10 years old in the theatres and love it even more now as an adult. I didn't realize until rewatching it several years ago how it really was a movie for adults. It really does a great job at showing the devastating psychological effects that break ups and emotionally abusive relationships cause- loss of your sense of self, personality, joy for life and self esteem. Fred was a coping mechanizm Lizzie imagined as a child to deal with her controlling mother and again as an adult to deal with her failed marriage. Carrie Fisher was great in this. I wish phoebe cates hadn't quit acting.

I used to see him at The Comedy Store before he became famous. A good friend of mine was very into going and knew them all. Trouble is Rik didn't like my friend, so I discovered when my friend introduced us. If looks could kill...

Then I went to live in America and when I came back to London they're were all famous and all over the TV. TV in England in those days was SO good. This reminds me. It's AWFUL now.

I was never that into stand-up comedy. It used to give me a headache. But I remember Rick's schtick "People say - Ask Vanessa Redgrave!" - "But I don't KNOW Vanessa Redgrave!"

Actually, the only ones of that bunch who I thought were very funny were French & Saunders.

The rest just seemed immature and not especially talented.

He tried to crack America and FAILED, dismally.

I loved rik from the young ones. He was the people's poet.

Yes - he really was actually very good looking when he wasn't mugging. That must have been kind of disabling in real life. You expect some strange funny comedian, but then meet him and he's pretty stunning.

Unfortunately, once I get Doctor Maarten's Boots in my head, It's not easy to dislodge.

Loved him in Blackadder.

English 10 = American 2

That's true r30, but it's not just his look, there's something about him, a mischievous glint in his eye that seems subtly sexy.

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Rik in The Young Ones predicted the rise of today's SJW.

I was surprised at how good looking he was. The first time I saw his work was on The Young Ones.

I knew he had been in a decline since his accident. The first thing I wondered when I heard about his death was if it was suicide.

R7 a few days after Rik died, the tribute Ade gave during his band's festival appearance featured an Eddie Hitler laugh. Ade also called him a tosser. Rik would have loved it.

Rik and the work he did on Bottom was about as close to anarchism as you can get in mainstream entertainment. Whatever you think of his comedy style, you can't deny it was a strong left-turn from the establishment of the time.

Wish I could have met him. If I had a time-machine I'd head to the 80s and see some rubbish punk band with him.

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Did he have a big dick?

Brits are small to average.

Never heard of him.

Brits have bigger dicks than Americans on average.

How sad for R41. Go now and educate yourself.

Seems to be packing here.

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Do you understand nothing? How can Rik be dead when we still have his poems?

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How ironic that he's dead and Cliff Richard is still alive.

His comedy style was too outrageous to appeal to Americans in the 80s and 90s. That sort of comedy would go over much better today.

Dawn French describes Rik in her book 'Dear Fatty'.

Rik demanded equal pay for French & Saunders?

My crush intensifies.

R50 I don't know where you were in the 80s but The Young Ones was VERY popular here in the US. We watched it on MTV. just because you missed it don't assume everybody was the same.

But Rik himself was never able to achieve mainstream success in the US. I think adults at the time just didn't get it.

Rik had been offered an American television deal in the late 1980s/early 1990s but he turned it down due to too many restrictions placed by the network.

Alexei Sayle was supposed to be the original cook on [italic]Golden Palace[/italic] before Eisner replaced him with Cheech Marin whom he'd known since his Paramount days.

Good for Rik for not compromising.

Naughty...

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Always loved him in everything he did. And he was absolutely gorgeous when he wasn't in character. There's a lovely bio of his career on YouTube with interviews from all his friends and coworkers.. He was every bit as filthy-mouthed off-camera and people either loved him or hated his guts. It was kind of sad to watching him in "Man Down" because he was trying very hard but he just didn't have the spark or timing anymore. The character was perfect for him though, a psycho dad that only someone like Rik could make work. It must have been very hard for him to accept the changes he went through after the accident.

Every time I have seen or read Ade talk about Rik since his death, Ade still gets very emotional like it just happened yesterday. Not to mention Ade and Jennifer were already in emotional hell since she was going through treatment for breast cancer. Ade also seemed to have a lot of residual guilt over refusing to do more Bottom Live shows when Rik was begging him. But, he knew Rik had lost his gift of timing and just couldn't tell him.

R60 Ade was a true friend & brother to Rik, and it's a shame they weren't as close toward the end. Ade has more than made up for that with his moving yet understated eulogies and tributes since, though.

People who saw them perform on the Comic Strip back in the 80s have no idea how lucky they were.

Even on DL no one has a bad word to say about him.

[quote]People who saw them perform on the Comic Strip back in the 80s have no idea how lucky they were.

I'm one of them. Trust me. They weren't so great.

[quote]But Rik himself was never able to achieve mainstream success in the US. I think adults at the time just didn't get it.

Or maybe there was nothing to get if you were an adult or if you had half a brain.

I think they were overwhelmed by the commercial success of AbFab.

They were very mediocre. They appealed to the silly = funny brigade

[quote]Wish I could have met him. If I had a time-machine I'd head to the 80s and see some rubbish punk band with him.

How old are you, out of interest? You sound like a 14 year old fangurl. No wonder you're into his juvenile nonsense.

I always thought he would have been the perfect Peeves from the Harry Potter books. Then I read he was cast as Peeves in the first movie and it wa cut.

"Back in a mo. (beat) A SEX MO." has been one of my signature quotes for years.

Did he ever do the homosex?

The only thing I remember about Jackanory is Rik's reading of George's Marvellous Medicine

His static bedhair there is sweetly sexy, R69. I want to pet it down.

I wish it had been Stephen Fry who keeled over instead of Rik.

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[quote]Even on DL no one has a bad word to say about him.

This assumes that people know who he actually was

If they don't know who he was why the hell would they open this thread?

The New Statesman was fantastically funny, loved him as Alan B'Stard.

[quote]I wish it had been Stephen Fry who keeled over instead of Rik.

Don't we all.

[quote]If they don't know who he was why the hell would they open this thread?

All sorts of hot men get posted on DL all the time. This isn't one of them.

R78 = Lord Snot

I highkey relate to Nigel Planer in The Young Ones. He must have had a hell of a time working on it.

Young Rik

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bump

Why did he fail with American audiences?

I don't think he was trying very hard to cross over. Though I don't know why Bottom didn't seem to get a foothold in America, it was very popular in the UK.

Odd this thread was bumped...just a couple of days ago I happened across a movie with Rik Mayall playing Merlin. It was so incoherent that even Rifftrax couldn't save it, but seeing Rik did put a smile on my face.

Merlin was a real low point for Rik.