1 00:00:01,420 --> 00:00:03,700 SIMON CALLOW: Of all the people who ever lived, 2 00:00:03,700 --> 00:00:08,060 only one can say, "I am Rik Mayall" - 3 00:00:08,060 --> 00:00:10,620 creator of The Young Ones, 4 00:00:10,620 --> 00:00:13,140 a pan-global phenomenon, 5 00:00:13,140 --> 00:00:15,220 loved by millions. 6 00:00:16,900 --> 00:00:19,940 On the day he was born, the gods cried, 7 00:00:19,940 --> 00:00:22,180 "Let there be light entertainment." 8 00:00:22,180 --> 00:00:24,220 And there was. 9 00:00:24,220 --> 00:00:26,460 He dreamt the impossible dream. 10 00:00:26,460 --> 00:00:29,460 And there will never be another. 11 00:00:29,460 --> 00:00:33,140 With Rik's death, I think people remembered 12 00:00:33,140 --> 00:00:36,700 just how golden he was in his youth. 13 00:00:36,700 --> 00:00:38,860 He was a golden youth. 14 00:00:38,860 --> 00:00:42,300 He was very beautiful. An extremely handsome man. 15 00:00:42,300 --> 00:00:44,940 LAUGHTER What is it? 16 00:00:44,940 --> 00:00:48,780 LAUGHTER 17 00:00:48,780 --> 00:00:50,300 Right on. 18 00:00:50,300 --> 00:00:52,860 He did more wonderful stuff than most 19 00:00:52,860 --> 00:00:56,380 and when it was wonderful, it was very, very wonderful. 20 00:00:56,380 --> 00:00:58,020 HE LAUGHS 21 00:01:01,780 --> 00:01:04,980 GRUNTS PASSIONATELY 22 00:01:04,980 --> 00:01:07,580 If there's been a funnier person, I don't know who it is. 23 00:01:07,580 --> 00:01:09,500 I...you know, I couldn't name anyone 24 00:01:09,500 --> 00:01:12,140 who's made me laugh any more than that man did. 25 00:01:12,140 --> 00:01:14,620 LAUGHTER 26 00:01:14,620 --> 00:01:19,580 As the one person in The Young Ones who was both performer and writer, 27 00:01:19,580 --> 00:01:23,540 you know, he was the central driving force of The Young Ones - 28 00:01:23,540 --> 00:01:26,180 you know, he was the greatest of us all in that way. 29 00:01:26,180 --> 00:01:29,020 MICHAEL PALIN: Rik seemed to be able to produce this stuff 30 00:01:29,020 --> 00:01:32,260 and be fairly sane and normal, 31 00:01:32,260 --> 00:01:33,980 which is great, you know? 32 00:01:35,340 --> 00:01:36,940 And everybody... Action! 33 00:01:36,940 --> 00:01:38,140 LAUGHTER 34 00:01:38,140 --> 00:01:42,100 When you're Rik Mayall, why worry about being funny? He didn't have to worry about anything. 35 00:01:42,100 --> 00:01:44,140 He was Rik. He just had to be Rick. That was that. 36 00:01:44,140 --> 00:01:48,300 Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho, Vyvyan! 37 00:01:48,300 --> 00:01:49,940 Comedy weapon. 38 00:01:49,940 --> 00:01:52,540 Joke machine! Gag apocalypse! 39 00:01:52,540 --> 00:01:54,620 I pick my nose, women get pregnant. 40 00:01:54,620 --> 00:01:57,020 If he was a mathematician, you'd go, "Genius." 41 00:01:57,020 --> 00:01:59,260 If he was Einstein, he'd get a Nobel Prize. 42 00:01:59,260 --> 00:02:01,980 That's how brilliant his brain was. 43 00:02:01,980 --> 00:02:04,340 Not that many are beautiful and that funny. 44 00:02:05,460 --> 00:02:08,860 CALLOW: We can't believe he's gone, because he's still here - 45 00:02:08,860 --> 00:02:12,540 in interviews, films and photographs never seen before. 46 00:02:12,540 --> 00:02:15,620 Some things last forever, 47 00:02:15,620 --> 00:02:18,460 like the legend of Rik Mayall. 48 00:02:19,620 --> 00:02:23,060 Why isn't Rik Mayall in a three-hour program? 49 00:02:23,060 --> 00:02:24,900 Why is he only in a 40-minute program, 50 00:02:24,900 --> 00:02:26,820 with other actors in it, for God's sake?! 51 00:02:26,820 --> 00:02:30,740 Surely, it should just be Rik talking about himself, on his own... 52 00:02:30,740 --> 00:02:32,980 ..for...ever. 53 00:02:32,980 --> 00:02:35,220 BRASS FANFARE PLAYS 54 00:02:35,220 --> 00:02:38,700 CHEERING AND APPLAUSE 55 00:02:44,380 --> 00:02:46,700 Rik, from the first second I met him, 56 00:02:46,700 --> 00:02:48,660 I knew that I was in the presence 57 00:02:48,660 --> 00:02:53,180 of a great and extraordinary comic spirit. 58 00:02:53,180 --> 00:02:57,060 I can remember, absolutely, the moment I first laid eyes on him. 59 00:02:57,060 --> 00:02:59,460 It was at a freshers entertainment. I was a first-year. 60 00:02:59,460 --> 00:03:02,060 He and Ade were third-years at Manchester University 61 00:03:02,060 --> 00:03:05,500 and he just said, "Hi. I'm Rik Mayall." 62 00:03:05,500 --> 00:03:08,260 And he said it with such... HE LAUGHS 63 00:03:08,260 --> 00:03:11,140 ..utter confidence, such utter joy in himself. 64 00:03:11,140 --> 00:03:13,220 I mean, he had some quite good lines. 65 00:03:13,220 --> 00:03:16,540 He said something about the first rule you have to do if you're a first-year 66 00:03:16,540 --> 00:03:18,940 is, if you're a girl, you have to shag Rik Mayall 67 00:03:18,940 --> 00:03:23,260 and if you're a guy, you have to introduce Rik Mayall to a girl that he can shag, or something like that. 68 00:03:23,260 --> 00:03:26,220 But it was the wonderful comedic confidence. 69 00:03:26,220 --> 00:03:31,100 He enjoyed being Rik Mayall enormously and hilariously. 70 00:03:31,100 --> 00:03:34,580 He certainly wasn't shy in proclaiming that he was the best. 71 00:03:34,580 --> 00:03:36,900 But you can do that if you are the best, can't you? 72 00:03:36,900 --> 00:03:38,620 SIMON PEGG: His kind of shtick 73 00:03:38,620 --> 00:03:40,740 was these layers of fake modesty 74 00:03:40,740 --> 00:03:42,580 and fake arrogance. 75 00:03:42,580 --> 00:03:44,700 You know, you never could tell which was which, 76 00:03:44,700 --> 00:03:46,740 but you knew, ultimately, 77 00:03:46,740 --> 00:03:49,380 that he was a big-hearted and warm person 78 00:03:49,380 --> 00:03:50,980 and he didn't, you know... 79 00:03:50,980 --> 00:03:53,460 As much as he kind of grandstanded 80 00:03:53,460 --> 00:03:56,780 this insane sort of boasty personality, 81 00:03:56,780 --> 00:04:00,420 he had a huge amount of humility. 82 00:04:00,420 --> 00:04:04,220 Am I pleased to see you or did I just put a canoe in my pocket?! 83 00:04:04,220 --> 00:04:07,660 LAUGHTER Down, boy! Down! 84 00:04:07,660 --> 00:04:09,900 I have always been known as 85 00:04:09,900 --> 00:04:12,500 the man with the largest penis on the planet. 86 00:04:12,500 --> 00:04:14,260 I've always kept quiet about that. 87 00:04:14,260 --> 00:04:16,860 What does a man with a two-foot cock have for breakfast? 88 00:04:16,860 --> 00:04:18,620 This morning, I had a boiled egg. 89 00:04:18,620 --> 00:04:21,260 LAUGHTER 90 00:04:22,860 --> 00:04:24,220 HE LAUGHS 91 00:04:24,220 --> 00:04:26,540 Oh, Rik's penis. Good times. 92 00:04:26,540 --> 00:04:29,180 It wasn't two-foot. He claims it was. It wasn't. 93 00:04:29,180 --> 00:04:31,460 Um, but in Rik's world, 94 00:04:31,460 --> 00:04:33,300 you know, it is that big 95 00:04:33,300 --> 00:04:36,300 and in Rik's world, you know, anything goes. 96 00:04:36,300 --> 00:04:39,540 No, no, he did have the biggest knob in show business. 97 00:04:40,900 --> 00:04:44,340 CALLOW: Rik Mayall was born on the 7th of March, 1958. 98 00:04:44,340 --> 00:04:46,060 A Pisces - 99 00:04:46,060 --> 00:04:47,940 the poet of the zodiac, 100 00:04:47,940 --> 00:04:51,220 destined to fill the world with love, anarchy 101 00:04:51,220 --> 00:04:53,420 and wonderful violence. 102 00:04:54,580 --> 00:04:56,820 METAL CLANGS 103 00:04:56,820 --> 00:05:00,260 RHYTHMIC THUMPING AND CLANGING 104 00:05:01,460 --> 00:05:03,540 THUMPING CONTINUES 105 00:05:03,540 --> 00:05:07,780 LAUGHTER 106 00:05:10,100 --> 00:05:12,060 CLANGING 107 00:05:12,060 --> 00:05:15,180 THUMPING AND CLANGING 108 00:05:18,340 --> 00:05:20,780 Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! 109 00:05:20,780 --> 00:05:23,420 Aaaah! Brrrrrlllll! Ha-ha! 110 00:05:23,420 --> 00:05:27,060 When comedy is at its purest, at its most sublime, 111 00:05:27,060 --> 00:05:29,020 is when it comes out as nothing. 112 00:05:29,020 --> 00:05:31,140 It's not a clever line, it's not some observation, 113 00:05:31,140 --> 00:05:34,180 and that's what was really sublime about Rick - 114 00:05:34,180 --> 00:05:38,460 that he could make you laugh just without...with saying nothing. 115 00:05:38,460 --> 00:05:39,780 What? 116 00:05:39,780 --> 00:05:41,500 LAUGHTER 117 00:05:41,500 --> 00:05:44,220 What is it? What's going on? 118 00:05:44,220 --> 00:05:46,380 DAVIES: It was the first time it felt like, 119 00:05:46,380 --> 00:05:48,420 "These characters are for ME to laugh at." 120 00:05:48,420 --> 00:05:52,580 Not having to struggle to work out why he's funny. He just is funny. 121 00:05:52,580 --> 00:05:55,700 You know, my grandparents disapproved of him, 122 00:05:55,700 --> 00:05:57,260 which was perfect. 123 00:05:57,260 --> 00:05:59,340 You know, it was like, "Brilliant. 124 00:05:59,340 --> 00:06:01,580 "I'm glad you don't like him cos he's not FOR you." 125 00:06:01,580 --> 00:06:02,620 Yeah. 126 00:06:05,580 --> 00:06:08,620 CALLOW: Rik Mayall's words were his weapons 127 00:06:08,620 --> 00:06:10,580 and he was armed to the teeth. 128 00:06:10,580 --> 00:06:13,580 He was young, he was angry, 129 00:06:13,580 --> 00:06:16,420 he was the voice of a generation. 130 00:06:16,420 --> 00:06:18,500 APPLAUSE 131 00:06:18,500 --> 00:06:20,220 My name's Rik, OK? 132 00:06:20,220 --> 00:06:21,700 And, uh... 133 00:06:21,700 --> 00:06:23,500 I've got a couple of, uh... 134 00:06:23,500 --> 00:06:25,460 This...this is probably a waste of time. 135 00:06:25,460 --> 00:06:27,420 LAUGHTER I've got... 136 00:06:30,860 --> 00:06:31,860 Right. 137 00:06:31,860 --> 00:06:33,820 I've got a couple of poems here. 138 00:06:33,820 --> 00:06:37,700 Uh, I don't know if any of you are into poetry at all. 139 00:06:37,700 --> 00:06:39,300 LAUGHTER Shut up! 140 00:06:40,540 --> 00:06:42,340 I've always liked being crap. 141 00:06:42,340 --> 00:06:43,860 Um... 142 00:06:43,860 --> 00:06:47,620 ..playing people who are really crap at doing things. 143 00:06:47,620 --> 00:06:50,140 "Perhaps I should ask Vanessa Redgrave." 144 00:06:50,140 --> 00:06:51,780 LAUGHTER 145 00:06:51,780 --> 00:06:54,180 "But I don't know Vanessa Redgrave." 146 00:06:54,180 --> 00:06:55,940 LAUGHTER 147 00:06:55,940 --> 00:06:59,060 "And neither do you, theatre." 148 00:06:59,060 --> 00:07:02,140 RUBY WAX: First of all, he was so beautiful, your eyes hurt. 149 00:07:02,140 --> 00:07:06,620 And then, uh, he did that poem about Vanessa Redgrave 150 00:07:06,620 --> 00:07:09,340 and I've never had that experience since, 151 00:07:09,340 --> 00:07:12,740 is that you saw the total star. 152 00:07:12,740 --> 00:07:14,340 LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE 153 00:07:14,340 --> 00:07:15,780 Shut up! 154 00:07:18,380 --> 00:07:22,340 CALLOW: The Mayall family was Rik and his brother and two sisters. 155 00:07:22,340 --> 00:07:24,220 His parents were teachers... 156 00:07:24,220 --> 00:07:25,700 ..of drama. 157 00:07:25,700 --> 00:07:28,740 Rik's dad was a very funny guy 158 00:07:28,740 --> 00:07:32,140 and, you know, used to...you know... 159 00:07:32,140 --> 00:07:35,340 They'd do bits of amateur drama and everything, 160 00:07:35,340 --> 00:07:37,740 but he would, you know, do, you know... 161 00:07:37,740 --> 00:07:41,140 You'd suddenly see him walking behind you on the pavement, 162 00:07:41,140 --> 00:07:43,580 you know, pretending to have a limp 163 00:07:43,580 --> 00:07:46,820 or...or, you know, making a silly face or something. 164 00:07:46,820 --> 00:07:51,500 And a lot of...you know, a lot of Rik came from that. 165 00:07:51,500 --> 00:07:53,300 # All things bright and... # 166 00:07:53,300 --> 00:07:56,780 There would never be anything ordinary about Rik Mayall. 167 00:07:56,780 --> 00:07:59,740 And the sign of things to come happened at his school 168 00:07:59,740 --> 00:08:01,660 in Droitwich, Worcestershire. 169 00:08:01,660 --> 00:08:04,300 The children were there to praise the Lord, 170 00:08:04,300 --> 00:08:07,540 but they found the Rik Mayall. 171 00:08:07,540 --> 00:08:09,980 My teacher said to me, "Now, Richard, 172 00:08:09,980 --> 00:08:12,940 "I don't want you to sing at all because your voice is horrible! 173 00:08:12,940 --> 00:08:15,260 "You have got a horrible voice, Richard. 174 00:08:15,260 --> 00:08:17,060 "Now, I'm quite serious about this, 175 00:08:17,060 --> 00:08:20,580 so I want you to move your mouth as if you are singing the hymns 176 00:08:20,580 --> 00:08:22,700 "but I don't want you to make any sound at all 177 00:08:22,700 --> 00:08:24,220 "with that horrible voice of yours. 178 00:08:24,220 --> 00:08:25,820 "Do you understand?" 179 00:08:25,820 --> 00:08:27,020 "Yes, Miss." 180 00:08:27,020 --> 00:08:28,420 THEY CONTINUE SINGING 181 00:08:28,420 --> 00:08:31,020 So, up we stood, in front of the teachers, 182 00:08:31,020 --> 00:08:32,940 and I was going... 183 00:08:35,060 --> 00:08:36,980 ..and pulling all sorts of faces. 184 00:08:36,980 --> 00:08:40,020 And I started getting laughs, which was fantastic. 185 00:08:40,020 --> 00:08:42,700 I was getting laughs off the audience, during the hymns, 186 00:08:42,700 --> 00:08:45,340 and pulling all sorts of grotesque faces 187 00:08:45,340 --> 00:08:48,540 and moving my mouth out of time with the music. 188 00:08:48,540 --> 00:08:53,060 And occasionally going kind of, "Nah, nah, nah, nah!" 189 00:08:53,060 --> 00:08:55,580 Big laughs, and I liked that a lot. 190 00:08:55,580 --> 00:08:58,140 So, I thought, "Oh, I like this. 191 00:08:58,140 --> 00:09:00,580 "I like these laughs." 192 00:09:02,980 --> 00:09:05,460 The young Rik lived for kicks. 193 00:09:05,460 --> 00:09:07,300 It was 1975 - 194 00:09:07,300 --> 00:09:10,100 time to follow his star to the English north, 195 00:09:10,100 --> 00:09:11,740 to Manchester, 196 00:09:11,740 --> 00:09:14,180 to change his life forever. 197 00:09:14,180 --> 00:09:16,300 There was a load of us got in 198 00:09:16,300 --> 00:09:18,100 to Manchester University, 199 00:09:18,100 --> 00:09:22,500 uh, who were kind of the sleazy, naughty boys. 200 00:09:22,500 --> 00:09:25,540 That's from Ade, who's a very sleazy, naughty boy, 201 00:09:25,540 --> 00:09:27,340 and, um... 202 00:09:27,340 --> 00:09:29,820 ..uh, God, a couple of my mates from school, 203 00:09:29,820 --> 00:09:31,860 Mike Redfern, Mark Dewison. 204 00:09:31,860 --> 00:09:34,900 And I met Lloyd Peters. He was an important person. 205 00:09:34,900 --> 00:09:36,900 He's from Leeds. 206 00:09:36,900 --> 00:09:38,220 We liked the physical. 207 00:09:38,220 --> 00:09:40,980 We were very into, um, not just Python, 208 00:09:40,980 --> 00:09:43,500 but Laurel & Hardy and the Marx Brothers. 209 00:09:43,500 --> 00:09:45,780 And he could do this amazing party trick 210 00:09:45,780 --> 00:09:49,100 where he bent the top of his ear into his earhole. 211 00:09:50,780 --> 00:09:54,300 LAUGHTER 212 00:09:58,260 --> 00:09:59,900 LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE 213 00:09:59,900 --> 00:10:02,940 A very strange thing to be able to do, let's be honest. 214 00:10:02,940 --> 00:10:05,780 And it was kind of just sort of weirdly funny. 215 00:10:05,780 --> 00:10:09,060 There's quite a few talented young comedians doing some... 216 00:10:09,060 --> 00:10:10,580 HIS VOICE FADES 217 00:10:10,580 --> 00:10:14,100 LIVELY PIANO MUSIC 218 00:10:18,940 --> 00:10:20,380 # Uh-oh... # 219 00:10:20,380 --> 00:10:22,940 CALLOW: Destiny decided the University of Manchester 220 00:10:22,940 --> 00:10:25,100 would be the start of it all. 221 00:10:25,100 --> 00:10:27,100 Rik was amongst friends... 222 00:10:27,100 --> 00:10:28,500 # Let's go... # 223 00:10:28,500 --> 00:10:32,380 ..and they called themselves 20th Century Coyote. 224 00:10:32,380 --> 00:10:36,260 Blood, sugar, sex, magic. 225 00:10:36,260 --> 00:10:39,260 Love and violence - Rik and Ade. 226 00:10:40,500 --> 00:10:43,540 We thought, "We need someone bigger and louder and..." 227 00:10:43,540 --> 00:10:46,220 HE EXHALES "..more dangerous." 228 00:10:46,220 --> 00:10:48,980 And I'm saying, "What about that blond guy?" 229 00:10:48,980 --> 00:10:50,860 And everybody was really scared of Ade. 230 00:10:50,860 --> 00:10:52,700 He had this fantastic long blonde hair 231 00:10:52,700 --> 00:10:54,220 and these John Lennon spectacles on. 232 00:10:54,220 --> 00:10:57,380 But I do remember going up and saying, "Um, hi, Ade." 233 00:10:57,380 --> 00:11:00,380 HE LAUGHS NERVOUSLY "Uh... Hi." 234 00:11:00,380 --> 00:11:02,140 He's..."What do you want?" 235 00:11:02,140 --> 00:11:03,260 HE LAUGHS 236 00:11:03,260 --> 00:11:05,380 And immediately, the relationship was born. 237 00:11:05,380 --> 00:11:07,900 MUSIC: "Pretty Vacant" by the Sex Pistols 238 00:11:07,900 --> 00:11:11,460 Adrian Edmondson - the prince. 239 00:11:11,460 --> 00:11:14,420 The one who knew what had to be done. 240 00:11:14,420 --> 00:11:16,340 Together, they were everything - 241 00:11:16,340 --> 00:11:19,980 intertwined and ascending to the stuff of legend. 242 00:11:19,980 --> 00:11:23,780 # We're so pretty Oh, so pretty... # 243 00:11:23,780 --> 00:11:26,460 Two stars colliding for a lifetime. 244 00:11:26,460 --> 00:11:29,660 It was fate, and there were pubs. 245 00:11:29,660 --> 00:11:32,380 I'm afraid we used to pass a hat round afterwards 246 00:11:32,380 --> 00:11:35,140 and then, with the meagre money we got from that, 247 00:11:35,140 --> 00:11:37,780 we'd, uh...we'd get drunk... 248 00:11:37,780 --> 00:11:39,620 ..which seemed, like..."Fantastic. 249 00:11:39,620 --> 00:11:42,900 "Go to pub, make a load of people laugh, get drunk." 250 00:11:42,900 --> 00:11:44,740 Where's the problem in that? 251 00:11:44,740 --> 00:11:48,540 "Show off, make some people laugh, get drunk. 252 00:11:48,540 --> 00:11:50,380 "Ask girls to come and see it, 253 00:11:50,380 --> 00:11:53,220 "girls get impressed by the show, shag girls. 254 00:11:53,220 --> 00:11:55,660 "Shag girls, get drunk, have good time." 255 00:11:57,220 --> 00:12:00,500 That is...light entertainment. 256 00:12:02,060 --> 00:12:05,420 Manchester was conquered and London was calling. 257 00:12:07,060 --> 00:12:10,100 To the lawless underworld of Soho they came. 258 00:12:10,100 --> 00:12:12,580 I'll do you, sunshine. 259 00:12:12,580 --> 00:12:14,380 20th Century Coyote, 260 00:12:14,380 --> 00:12:16,380 now just Rik and Ade, 261 00:12:16,380 --> 00:12:19,260 aka The Dangerous Brothers. 262 00:12:19,260 --> 00:12:20,940 I first saw Rik... 263 00:12:20,940 --> 00:12:22,620 I didn't know it was Rik. 264 00:12:22,620 --> 00:12:25,100 I just knew this wonderful, extraordinary double act 265 00:12:25,100 --> 00:12:27,180 that he did with Adrian Edmondson. 266 00:12:27,180 --> 00:12:29,180 And that's the first time I saw it. 267 00:12:29,180 --> 00:12:32,580 And I marked them down at the time as being... 268 00:12:32,580 --> 00:12:35,740 .."These are an extraordinary... This is something pretty extraordinary." 269 00:12:35,740 --> 00:12:37,540 Yeah. "These guys are special." 270 00:12:37,540 --> 00:12:40,260 BOTH SHOUT Once there was a French goose with a beret on, 271 00:12:40,260 --> 00:12:41,980 pecking buttons in a lift with its beak. 272 00:12:41,980 --> 00:12:44,020 And then it goes up and down. What's that? 273 00:12:44,020 --> 00:12:46,420 LAUGHTER 274 00:12:47,860 --> 00:12:49,580 We've got 'em. We've got 'em. 275 00:12:49,580 --> 00:12:50,900 LAUGHTER 276 00:12:50,900 --> 00:12:54,420 A gooseberry! A bloody gooseberry! Gooseberry! Gooseberry! 277 00:12:54,420 --> 00:12:58,020 I'd never seen anybody that confident onstage...ever. 278 00:12:58,020 --> 00:13:00,420 It just seemed like this is where he lived. 279 00:13:00,420 --> 00:13:02,900 He was completely in control of that audience 280 00:13:02,900 --> 00:13:05,740 and people like Jack Nicholson were going to see the show, 281 00:13:05,740 --> 00:13:07,140 and Rik was just... 282 00:13:07,140 --> 00:13:08,660 And Robin Williams was performing 283 00:13:08,660 --> 00:13:11,340 and Rik was just...not even considering them as competition. 284 00:13:11,340 --> 00:13:13,260 He was just onstage, loving it. 285 00:13:13,260 --> 00:13:14,900 He would just stare at the audience 286 00:13:14,900 --> 00:13:17,180 and he'd just start talking and would go... HE GIGGLES 287 00:13:17,180 --> 00:13:20,660 He was just hilariously funny. You thought, "This guy can do anything he likes. 288 00:13:20,660 --> 00:13:22,620 Yeah. HE SNORTS Have you got some, um...? 289 00:13:22,620 --> 00:13:25,940 LAUGHTER 290 00:13:27,100 --> 00:13:30,340 Yeah. It's all a bit wacky here, isn't it? Ha! 291 00:13:30,340 --> 00:13:32,980 We're all a bit mad. We were up till midnight last night! 292 00:13:32,980 --> 00:13:34,060 Ha! HE SNORTS 293 00:13:34,060 --> 00:13:36,420 Eating biscuits, anything. We're crazy! We don't care. 294 00:13:36,420 --> 00:13:38,020 LAUGHTER 295 00:13:38,020 --> 00:13:41,260 The first time I met him, I was going to the Comic Strip to perform 296 00:13:41,260 --> 00:13:43,740 and went into the dressing room 297 00:13:43,740 --> 00:13:46,580 and Rik was sitting on the table, with his back to the mirrors, 298 00:13:46,580 --> 00:13:49,020 with his legs crossed and his hair all spiky. 299 00:13:49,020 --> 00:13:52,460 And he said, "Hello. I'm Rik and I'm a feminist." 300 00:13:53,660 --> 00:13:55,740 And it was...he was so funny, 301 00:13:55,740 --> 00:13:57,940 both in his work and outside his work. 302 00:13:57,940 --> 00:13:59,740 He was hilarious 303 00:13:59,740 --> 00:14:02,300 and there was that kind of glint of mischief and a bit of danger. 304 00:14:02,300 --> 00:14:04,660 I...I adored him. I thought he was wonderful. 305 00:14:04,660 --> 00:14:07,700 I can't get used to somebody that talented being that sweet, 306 00:14:07,700 --> 00:14:09,340 but he always was. 307 00:14:09,340 --> 00:14:11,740 # At the high-school hop last Saturday night 308 00:14:11,740 --> 00:14:14,380 # The moon was out, the stars were bright 309 00:14:14,380 --> 00:14:17,260 # I saw a girl with golden hair 310 00:14:17,260 --> 00:14:19,660 # I asked her to dance and she said, "Yeah!" # 311 00:14:19,660 --> 00:14:20,700 HE SNORTS 312 00:14:20,700 --> 00:14:22,940 # We reeled and rocked and hopped and bopped 313 00:14:22,940 --> 00:14:25,420 # And flipped and flopped, and then we stopped 314 00:14:25,420 --> 00:14:28,300 # And then we started again and danced some more 315 00:14:28,300 --> 00:14:31,260 # I bought a Coke and we shared the straw 316 00:14:31,260 --> 00:14:33,300 # Dah, dah, dah, wop! 317 00:14:33,300 --> 00:14:35,620 # Oh, gosh, I'm so lonely # Aah-aah-aah 318 00:14:35,620 --> 00:14:37,540 # Oh, gosh, won't you help me? 319 00:14:37,540 --> 00:14:40,340 # Aah-aah-aah # Why did you take her life 320 00:14:40,340 --> 00:14:42,020 # When she... Wop! 321 00:14:42,020 --> 00:14:44,060 # Was to be my wife? # 322 00:14:44,060 --> 00:14:45,540 LAUGHTER 323 00:14:45,540 --> 00:14:48,980 Yeah, as I watched them perform, I thought that there was something, 324 00:14:48,980 --> 00:14:52,580 um...something I'd never seen before, really, you know. 325 00:14:52,580 --> 00:14:54,020 Cripes! 326 00:14:54,020 --> 00:14:55,940 # Oh, gosh, I'm so lonely # Aah-aah-aah 327 00:14:55,940 --> 00:14:58,060 # Oh, gosh, won't you help me? 328 00:14:58,060 --> 00:14:59,460 # Aah-aah-aah 329 00:14:59,460 --> 00:15:01,100 # Why did you take her life 330 00:15:01,100 --> 00:15:02,940 # When she... Wop! 331 00:15:02,940 --> 00:15:04,780 # Was to be my wife? # 332 00:15:07,820 --> 00:15:09,260 LAUGHTER 333 00:15:09,260 --> 00:15:13,620 CALLOW: The brightest and the best were drawn to The Comic Strip club. 334 00:15:15,540 --> 00:15:18,380 French and Saunders, Planer and Richardson, 335 00:15:18,380 --> 00:15:22,100 Arnold Brown, Alexei and Rik and Ade. 336 00:15:22,100 --> 00:15:24,700 Delirious, exuberant. 337 00:15:24,700 --> 00:15:27,100 Next stop, television. 338 00:15:28,340 --> 00:15:31,300 I like millions and millions of people 339 00:15:31,300 --> 00:15:35,420 looking at me, just looking AT me. 340 00:15:35,420 --> 00:15:37,460 Cos it's all in my eyes. 341 00:15:37,460 --> 00:15:40,260 It's all in my eyes. 342 00:15:43,180 --> 00:15:47,620 The eyes of the television audience lit up at the sight of Kevin Turvey, 343 00:15:47,620 --> 00:15:49,980 and Rik Mayall became a star. 344 00:15:52,100 --> 00:15:54,140 Do you know how much it costs to go to America? 345 00:15:54,140 --> 00:15:56,060 96 quid - that's how much. 346 00:15:56,060 --> 00:15:57,820 Where am I going to get that kind of money?! 347 00:15:57,820 --> 00:15:59,820 I was mesmerised by Kevin Turvey. 348 00:15:59,820 --> 00:16:02,460 Yes, Kevin Turv-AYE, from Birmingham. 349 00:16:02,460 --> 00:16:05,500 Kevin Turvey - um, peerless. 350 00:16:07,140 --> 00:16:09,140 One day, there was a knock at the door 351 00:16:09,140 --> 00:16:10,980 and...so I answered it, like, 352 00:16:10,980 --> 00:16:13,620 and, uh, it was the milkman and... 353 00:16:13,620 --> 00:16:16,460 ..I paid him and, uh, he went away 354 00:16:16,460 --> 00:16:18,260 and I closed the door again and... 355 00:16:18,260 --> 00:16:20,700 LAUGHTER ..came back inside and... 356 00:16:20,700 --> 00:16:23,260 I mean, that's got nothing to do with the story, like, but... 357 00:16:23,260 --> 00:16:24,860 I just wanted to make it clear 358 00:16:24,860 --> 00:16:27,460 that I'm the kind of person who pays his debts! 359 00:16:27,460 --> 00:16:30,700 It was almost like... it was almost like, uh... 360 00:16:30,700 --> 00:16:33,860 ..the comic diary of a serial killer, you know? 361 00:16:33,860 --> 00:16:35,980 You thought, "God, this guy's weird. 362 00:16:35,980 --> 00:16:38,580 "This is really weird. This is not normal." 363 00:16:38,580 --> 00:16:40,860 So, I went down to the kitchen, right? 364 00:16:40,860 --> 00:16:43,100 That's where I normally have my breakfast, you know? 365 00:16:43,100 --> 00:16:45,500 It's got all the gear in there - all the forks and stuff. 366 00:16:45,500 --> 00:16:48,740 Yeah, no, well, you know, there's a bin there. I've seen it. 367 00:16:48,740 --> 00:16:51,580 So, that's where I went, like... You know, I went down the stairs. 368 00:16:51,580 --> 00:16:53,420 Right? We've got these stairs in our house. 369 00:16:53,420 --> 00:16:56,900 It attaches the first floor, like, to the bottom floor. 370 00:16:56,900 --> 00:16:58,540 No, it's dead convenient, like. 371 00:16:58,540 --> 00:17:01,140 It saves all the trouble of, like, getting out the window 372 00:17:01,140 --> 00:17:03,340 and shinnying down the drainpipe, you know, 373 00:17:03,340 --> 00:17:06,420 breaking into the kitchen window, going in and doing it all in there. 374 00:17:06,420 --> 00:17:08,060 It's a waste of time. 375 00:17:08,060 --> 00:17:09,580 So, I used the stairs, anyway. 376 00:17:09,580 --> 00:17:11,100 LAUGHTER 377 00:17:11,100 --> 00:17:12,740 As per usual. 378 00:17:14,380 --> 00:17:17,420 MAYER: Kevin Turvey was so boring 379 00:17:17,420 --> 00:17:19,420 and so precise. 380 00:17:19,420 --> 00:17:21,900 He saw himself as an investigative reporter 381 00:17:21,900 --> 00:17:25,540 and he would investigate lamp posts or something. 382 00:17:25,540 --> 00:17:27,980 And he was in love with a girl called Theresa Kelly, 383 00:17:27,980 --> 00:17:29,900 who wasn't interested in him. 384 00:17:29,900 --> 00:17:32,020 So I went over to the phone and picked it up, right? 385 00:17:32,020 --> 00:17:33,660 Dialled the number. 386 00:17:33,660 --> 00:17:36,940 I won't actually, like, tell you what the number was, cos it's not important. 387 00:17:36,940 --> 00:17:40,980 It would just waste time if we start talking about telephone numbers. LAUGHTER 388 00:17:40,980 --> 00:17:43,780 And she answered, I got the number right, and she said, "Hello." 389 00:17:43,780 --> 00:17:47,060 I said, "Theresa Kelly? This is Kevin Turvey. 390 00:17:47,060 --> 00:17:49,300 "Would you like to come over and have supper with me? 391 00:17:49,300 --> 00:17:51,980 "What we're having is potatoes and gravy and sausages, 392 00:17:51,980 --> 00:17:53,660 "with nothing on it at all..." 393 00:17:53,660 --> 00:17:54,860 LAUGHTER 394 00:17:54,860 --> 00:17:57,060 "..and then have sex with me afterwards." 395 00:17:57,060 --> 00:17:58,260 LAUGHTER 396 00:17:58,260 --> 00:18:00,100 And she said, "Well, I'd like to, Kevin, 397 00:18:00,100 --> 00:18:03,500 "but I've just been hit by a bus and I'll be in a coma until Wednesday." 398 00:18:03,500 --> 00:18:05,140 LAUGHTER 399 00:18:05,140 --> 00:18:07,980 It's always happening to her, that. 400 00:18:07,980 --> 00:18:09,380 # No, no, no, no, no, no... # 401 00:18:09,380 --> 00:18:13,300 There were other strange characters around in the 1980s, 402 00:18:13,300 --> 00:18:15,620 and confrontation was everywhere. 403 00:18:15,620 --> 00:18:18,300 # Juvenile delinquents... # 404 00:18:18,300 --> 00:18:20,980 Britannia was ruled by fear, 405 00:18:20,980 --> 00:18:24,060 and the kids, punks, skins and Rastas were on the street, 406 00:18:24,060 --> 00:18:26,260 and the cities burned. 407 00:18:26,260 --> 00:18:29,940 From the flames stepped the People's Poet. 408 00:18:31,620 --> 00:18:34,540 LAUGHTER 409 00:18:34,540 --> 00:18:37,100 # The juvenile delinquents... # 410 00:18:37,100 --> 00:18:39,660 This is it! I've been waiting two hours for this! 411 00:18:39,660 --> 00:18:41,900 It's a revolution! LAUGHTER 412 00:18:43,540 --> 00:18:47,100 It was a revolution in the head of Rik Mayall. 413 00:18:47,100 --> 00:18:50,020 A hippie and a poet in the same house - 414 00:18:50,020 --> 00:18:54,500 inspired...explosive...beautiful! 415 00:18:54,500 --> 00:18:56,940 Cos although to you lot, 416 00:18:56,940 --> 00:18:59,860 I seem to have about as much importance as, um... 417 00:18:59,860 --> 00:19:01,820 ..uh...as, um... 418 00:19:01,820 --> 00:19:03,540 A hippie. ..a hippie... 419 00:19:03,540 --> 00:19:06,500 ..it does happen to be me that does all the cleaning round here. 420 00:19:06,500 --> 00:19:08,820 Moan, moan, moan! Bo-RING! 421 00:19:08,820 --> 00:19:12,700 JUST be-CAUSE you DO a little BIT of HOUSE-work! 422 00:19:12,700 --> 00:19:18,260 "Oh, Neil, Neil, orange peel, 423 00:19:18,260 --> 00:19:21,540 "if only I could see you again!" 424 00:19:23,020 --> 00:19:27,340 Into the student house came Ade Edmondson's psychotic Vyvyan... 425 00:19:29,020 --> 00:19:31,060 ..Chris Ryan as the cool guy, Mike, 426 00:19:31,060 --> 00:19:34,460 and all kinds of Alexei Sale. 427 00:19:34,460 --> 00:19:37,180 At just 24 years old, 428 00:19:37,180 --> 00:19:39,380 the sexy genius Rik Mayall 429 00:19:39,380 --> 00:19:41,740 gave the people The Young Ones. 430 00:19:41,740 --> 00:19:43,460 MUSIC: "The Young Ones" theme plays 431 00:19:43,460 --> 00:19:45,780 # Once in every lifetime 432 00:19:45,780 --> 00:19:47,380 # Comes a love like this 433 00:19:47,380 --> 00:19:49,460 # Whoa, I need you 434 00:19:49,460 --> 00:19:51,180 # You need me 435 00:19:51,180 --> 00:19:53,620 # Oh, my darling, can't you see? 436 00:19:53,620 --> 00:19:56,060 # Young ones Darling, we're the... # 437 00:19:56,060 --> 00:19:59,060 SALE: The Young Ones was absolutely a revolutionary series. 438 00:19:59,060 --> 00:20:02,380 It's one of the greatest TV shows of all time, really, 439 00:20:02,380 --> 00:20:04,380 of British...you know, British comedy, 440 00:20:04,380 --> 00:20:06,220 and it was also...it was the... 441 00:20:06,220 --> 00:20:09,900 ..it really was the launching pad for all our careers. 442 00:20:09,900 --> 00:20:13,260 JOHN LLOYD: I definitely thought, "I'm in the presence of greatness here. 443 00:20:13,260 --> 00:20:15,980 "This is...this is terrifically good." 444 00:20:15,980 --> 00:20:18,260 Part of the reason it's so good, it's innocent, you know? 445 00:20:18,260 --> 00:20:20,260 It's unstructured, it doesn't... 446 00:20:20,260 --> 00:20:21,820 It just ignores any of the rules 447 00:20:21,820 --> 00:20:23,700 cos they didn't know what the rules were. 448 00:20:23,700 --> 00:20:26,740 JON PLOWMAN: Young Ones was a hit from the first episode, 449 00:20:26,740 --> 00:20:28,980 and Rik was clearly the star 450 00:20:28,980 --> 00:20:30,580 from the first episode. 451 00:20:30,580 --> 00:20:33,100 And that's rare. That doesn't happen very often. 452 00:20:33,100 --> 00:20:37,300 CHRISTOPHER RYAN: I certainly didn't know whether anything would happen with it, but it did. 453 00:20:37,300 --> 00:20:39,140 And it was amazing, when it took off. 454 00:20:39,140 --> 00:20:42,020 You know, almost immediately, it was responded to. 455 00:20:42,020 --> 00:20:45,180 JOOLS HOLLAND: I thought the Young Ones was one of the best things I'd seen 456 00:20:45,180 --> 00:20:48,620 cos it was different to all the other stuff - it had a different sensibility to it. 457 00:20:48,620 --> 00:20:51,220 It was a moment where the lunatics had taken over the asylum 458 00:20:51,220 --> 00:20:52,540 and it was great. 459 00:20:52,540 --> 00:20:55,540 I was in the audience at a lot of those shows and, uh... 460 00:20:55,540 --> 00:20:57,020 HE LAUGHS 461 00:20:57,020 --> 00:20:59,220 Rik and Ade...I think Rik was... Ade was... 462 00:20:59,220 --> 00:21:02,660 As Vyvyan was chanting, "Virgin! You're a virgin! Virgin!" 463 00:21:02,660 --> 00:21:06,460 They have this big sort of slappy, girly fight, slapping at each other. 464 00:21:06,460 --> 00:21:08,020 Virgin! I'm not! 465 00:21:08,020 --> 00:21:11,220 I'm not! I'm not a virgin! Virgin! Virgin! I am not a... 466 00:21:11,220 --> 00:21:12,820 Virgin! 467 00:21:14,860 --> 00:21:16,300 LAUGHTER 468 00:21:16,300 --> 00:21:18,740 And they went upstairs and you could hear them shouting 469 00:21:18,740 --> 00:21:20,540 and there's...another scene carries on 470 00:21:20,540 --> 00:21:23,140 and then the bed and the roof falls down. 471 00:21:24,620 --> 00:21:25,660 LAUGHTER 472 00:21:25,660 --> 00:21:27,900 I am not a virgin! I am not a virgin! 473 00:21:27,900 --> 00:21:30,340 Virgin! Virgin! 474 00:21:30,340 --> 00:21:32,420 And they continue on fighting. 475 00:21:32,420 --> 00:21:34,180 It was one of the greatest stunts 476 00:21:34,180 --> 00:21:36,260 I've ever seen done in a TV studio, ever! 477 00:21:36,260 --> 00:21:39,460 Honest to God, you just thought, "That is... Who ARE these guys? 478 00:21:39,460 --> 00:21:41,180 "And how are they allowed to do this?" 479 00:21:41,180 --> 00:21:42,660 It was just brilliant. 480 00:21:47,780 --> 00:21:50,020 Nobody had done it like this. 481 00:21:50,020 --> 00:21:51,860 People tried to put them down. 482 00:21:53,260 --> 00:21:56,500 But The Young Ones were talking about their generation. 483 00:21:56,500 --> 00:21:58,140 This wasn't just comedy. 484 00:21:58,140 --> 00:22:01,020 This was comedy for "the kids". 485 00:22:01,020 --> 00:22:04,020 Well, I'm going to tell Thatcher that we've got a bomb, 486 00:22:04,020 --> 00:22:06,380 and that if she doesn't do something to help the kids 487 00:22:06,380 --> 00:22:08,300 by this afternoon... 488 00:22:08,300 --> 00:22:10,740 LAUGHTER ..we're going to blow up England! 489 00:22:10,740 --> 00:22:13,380 Suddenly, there was a strain of comedy 490 00:22:13,380 --> 00:22:15,860 that was directed specifically at young people 491 00:22:15,860 --> 00:22:20,300 and went completely over the heads of the grown-ups 492 00:22:20,300 --> 00:22:22,740 who sort of thought it was crude and stupid. 493 00:22:22,740 --> 00:22:26,900 You know, and it was blisteringly smart and incredibly funny 494 00:22:26,900 --> 00:22:28,580 and so relevant. 495 00:22:28,580 --> 00:22:30,660 God, I'm bored! 496 00:22:30,660 --> 00:22:32,780 Might as well be listening to Genesis. 497 00:22:32,780 --> 00:22:34,380 DAVIES: My friends and I 498 00:22:34,380 --> 00:22:36,820 were disciples of The Young Ones, you know? 499 00:22:36,820 --> 00:22:38,980 As I recall, it was the only thing we thought about. 500 00:22:38,980 --> 00:22:41,180 I just remember running in to school 501 00:22:41,180 --> 00:22:43,860 so I could meet my stupid little gang of mates 502 00:22:43,860 --> 00:22:45,500 at the bottom of the stairs 503 00:22:45,500 --> 00:22:48,300 and we could quote every line of The Young Ones. 504 00:22:48,300 --> 00:22:50,540 And we were all huge Madness fans as well, 505 00:22:50,540 --> 00:22:52,380 so when Madness were on, 506 00:22:52,380 --> 00:22:55,220 our little heads almost exploded. 507 00:22:55,220 --> 00:22:58,060 Do, uh...do any of you lot know Summer Holiday by Cliff Richard? 508 00:22:58,060 --> 00:23:00,500 You hum it, I'll smash your face in. 509 00:23:00,500 --> 00:23:03,500 LAUGHTER I'll go sit over there. 510 00:23:03,500 --> 00:23:05,860 The Young Ones came along and Mum and Dad were going, 511 00:23:05,860 --> 00:23:07,420 "What the hell's this?!" 512 00:23:07,420 --> 00:23:09,420 And kids were going, "Get away. This is ours. 513 00:23:09,420 --> 00:23:11,220 "This is for me. This is not for you." 514 00:23:11,220 --> 00:23:13,500 RIK SNEEZES LOUDLY 515 00:23:13,500 --> 00:23:16,140 PEGG: It was punk for comedy. 516 00:23:16,140 --> 00:23:17,940 I mean, even to the point of Ade Edmondson 517 00:23:17,940 --> 00:23:21,300 tearing down The Good Life, literally, on the screen. 518 00:23:21,300 --> 00:23:23,460 It was kind of like... it was such a statement. 519 00:23:25,700 --> 00:23:27,300 No! No way! 520 00:23:27,300 --> 00:23:30,140 We are not watching The bloody Good Life! 521 00:23:30,140 --> 00:23:32,900 Bloody, bloody...bloody! 522 00:23:32,900 --> 00:23:36,460 I hate it! It's so bloody nice! 523 00:23:36,460 --> 00:23:38,900 The Young Ones was...was sort of... 524 00:23:38,900 --> 00:23:41,060 ..sort of doing with humour 525 00:23:41,060 --> 00:23:43,980 what the Sex Pistols were doing with music and all that, you know? 526 00:23:43,980 --> 00:23:47,220 Saying, "The '80s are a dreadful time. 527 00:23:47,220 --> 00:23:50,260 "You know, we've got all these problems with Thatcher," 528 00:23:50,260 --> 00:23:51,700 and all that sort of thing. 529 00:23:51,700 --> 00:23:54,260 So, it was quite sort of "Destroy and rebuild." 530 00:23:57,780 --> 00:24:00,220 Did you see that?! Did you?! 531 00:24:00,220 --> 00:24:01,820 They did start a revolution, 532 00:24:01,820 --> 00:24:04,100 but when you're doing that, you don't think you are. 533 00:24:04,100 --> 00:24:07,340 It's just that they... this was healthy. 534 00:24:07,340 --> 00:24:10,380 The success of The Young Ones was a huge thrill for everybody. 535 00:24:10,380 --> 00:24:11,780 I mean, you know... 536 00:24:11,780 --> 00:24:14,540 And Rik, in particular, came out of it the most... 537 00:24:14,540 --> 00:24:18,460 ..I think the most successful and loved comic in Britain at that time. 538 00:24:18,460 --> 00:24:21,740 Will you lend it to me if I promise to be your slave all day tomorrow? 539 00:24:21,740 --> 00:24:23,380 LAUGHTER 540 00:24:23,380 --> 00:24:26,180 Yeah, that sounds like a good deal. Yeah. 541 00:24:26,180 --> 00:24:27,820 Tough luck, buster! 542 00:24:27,820 --> 00:24:30,700 LAUGHTER 543 00:24:30,700 --> 00:24:34,380 I had my fingers crossed behind my back all along! 544 00:24:34,380 --> 00:24:37,340 LAUGHTER 545 00:24:37,340 --> 00:24:39,980 APPLAUSE 546 00:24:39,980 --> 00:24:44,140 Rik and The Young Ones was just...breathtaking. 547 00:24:44,140 --> 00:24:46,660 I just thought it was a fantastic comic creation. 548 00:24:46,660 --> 00:24:48,980 I'll probably be disfigured for life, Vyvyan, 549 00:24:48,980 --> 00:24:50,620 and you'll have to pay. 550 00:24:50,620 --> 00:24:52,340 Yeah, and then who'll be laughing? Ha! 551 00:24:52,340 --> 00:24:54,700 Not you, matey. That's for sure. 552 00:24:54,700 --> 00:24:58,100 Yeah, well, just don't break the glass when you tear your face off. That's all. 553 00:24:58,100 --> 00:25:00,020 I won't... I won't because... 554 00:25:00,020 --> 00:25:03,020 LAUGHTER ..it's not true. 555 00:25:03,020 --> 00:25:04,900 It was a joke I made up, 556 00:25:04,900 --> 00:25:07,860 and you fell for it like the fascists you are. 557 00:25:07,860 --> 00:25:09,900 You felt like you were in on a joke. 558 00:25:09,900 --> 00:25:12,900 You were sort of laughing with him and laughing at him. 559 00:25:12,900 --> 00:25:15,940 It was just so...so exciting. 560 00:25:15,940 --> 00:25:19,620 Occupying the refectory! So what?! 561 00:25:19,620 --> 00:25:21,700 This is the real stuff! 562 00:25:21,700 --> 00:25:23,500 LAUGHTER I'm a fugitive! 563 00:25:23,500 --> 00:25:25,700 A desperado! 564 00:25:25,700 --> 00:25:27,980 I'm going to form a new Union society, right? 565 00:25:27,980 --> 00:25:29,580 With me as president. 566 00:25:29,580 --> 00:25:33,220 People Who Don't Pay Their TV Licences Against The Nazis. 567 00:25:33,220 --> 00:25:36,100 LAUGHTER This is only the beginning! 568 00:25:36,100 --> 00:25:39,180 I just loved the kind of weird magical realism of the show. 569 00:25:39,180 --> 00:25:42,980 I used to love the fact that the vermin and the vegetables spoke, in the house, 570 00:25:42,980 --> 00:25:46,260 and it existed in this weird surrealist bubble. 571 00:25:46,260 --> 00:25:48,780 It was...there was something... It was like Narnia. 572 00:25:53,380 --> 00:25:55,100 Fuelling Rik's fire with jokes 573 00:25:55,100 --> 00:25:57,220 were Lise Mayer and Ben Elton, 574 00:25:57,220 --> 00:26:01,540 comrades writing lurid tales of student life in Manchester. 575 00:26:01,540 --> 00:26:04,740 When you were all at university, did you meet people like the people you play? 576 00:26:04,740 --> 00:26:06,580 We were people like the people we... Yes. 577 00:26:06,580 --> 00:26:08,420 You were, were you? They were. I was... 578 00:26:08,420 --> 00:26:10,820 Ben and I both lived in a house, at different times, 579 00:26:10,820 --> 00:26:13,460 that was basically exactly the same, if not a bit worse, 580 00:26:13,460 --> 00:26:15,500 than the house that they live in, in the show. 581 00:26:20,660 --> 00:26:22,780 Inspired by their life in Manchester, 582 00:26:22,780 --> 00:26:27,260 Rik, Ben and Lise had created a completely new flavour of comedy, 583 00:26:27,260 --> 00:26:29,340 and it was a portrait of student life 584 00:26:29,340 --> 00:26:31,540 a million miles away from Oxbridge. 585 00:26:31,540 --> 00:26:34,940 No "dreaming spires", no Footlights. 586 00:26:34,940 --> 00:26:38,460 It was Scumbag College, all day long. 587 00:26:41,700 --> 00:26:43,940 If you went to Oxbridge, you had 588 00:26:43,940 --> 00:26:46,980 a particular kind of sense of entitlement, you know? 589 00:26:46,980 --> 00:26:51,260 And, obviously, Rik and Ade and Nigel and the rest of the gang 590 00:26:51,260 --> 00:26:52,940 didn't have that, you know? 591 00:26:52,940 --> 00:26:56,100 It was central that they hadn't been through Oxford or Cambridge 592 00:26:56,100 --> 00:26:58,140 and they weren't polluted with 593 00:26:58,140 --> 00:27:01,220 that particular kind of... way of doing things. 594 00:27:01,220 --> 00:27:05,060 LAUGHTER 595 00:27:06,260 --> 00:27:09,100 Hello, and welcome to another edition of University Challenge. 596 00:27:09,100 --> 00:27:12,220 It felt more like it belonged to us 597 00:27:12,220 --> 00:27:15,660 than it was us watching some very, very clever people be very, very funny, 598 00:27:15,660 --> 00:27:17,460 which is what Python could often be, you know? 599 00:27:17,460 --> 00:27:20,300 You'd see Python do sketches about philosophers and stuff 600 00:27:20,300 --> 00:27:23,460 and you'd marvel at the brilliance of it, but you didn't feel like... 601 00:27:23,460 --> 00:27:25,140 "I don't know anything about that." 602 00:27:25,140 --> 00:27:27,420 Whereas I knew everything about, you know, bogeys 603 00:27:27,420 --> 00:27:29,580 and Toxteth O'Grady and all that stuff. 604 00:27:29,580 --> 00:27:32,660 That felt..."Yeah, that's definitely in my wheelhouse." 605 00:27:32,660 --> 00:27:34,900 There was something clearly in Ben, 606 00:27:34,900 --> 00:27:36,540 and I suspect in Rik as well, 607 00:27:36,540 --> 00:27:42,020 there was something of Manchester looking out at the rest of the world 608 00:27:42,020 --> 00:27:44,460 and saying, "Come on, we're as good as you. 609 00:27:44,460 --> 00:27:46,700 "We're going to take you on." 610 00:27:49,020 --> 00:27:51,340 CALLOW: The beautiful Young Ones were on a high 611 00:27:51,340 --> 00:27:53,380 and couldn't get much higher. 612 00:27:56,500 --> 00:28:00,100 RIK: I met Little Richard once and we talked about how to give the audience a good time. 613 00:28:00,100 --> 00:28:02,780 He said, "Get the band on the stage and get the audience high." 614 00:28:02,780 --> 00:28:05,980 "When they is high, you get on the stage yourself, then you take 'em higher! 615 00:28:05,980 --> 00:28:08,220 "Take 'em higher till they can't get no higher! 616 00:28:08,220 --> 00:28:10,940 "And when they can't get no higher, you get off that stage." 617 00:28:10,940 --> 00:28:14,420 It was all over for this revolutionary sitcom. 618 00:28:14,420 --> 00:28:17,180 After 12 episodes of anarchy, 619 00:28:17,180 --> 00:28:20,420 The Young Ones crashed and burned. 620 00:28:22,340 --> 00:28:24,900 RIK: That's why we finished The Young Ones after two series. 621 00:28:24,900 --> 00:28:27,340 I could think, "We've done really, really, really well. 622 00:28:27,340 --> 00:28:29,340 "We've always tried to keep the jokes original. 623 00:28:29,340 --> 00:28:31,180 "We can't think of any more originality 624 00:28:31,180 --> 00:28:32,900 "cos their brains are just exhausted. 625 00:28:32,900 --> 00:28:36,060 "They've had a really good shagging. OK? Kill the students." 626 00:28:37,460 --> 00:28:39,300 Drive the bus off the cliff. 627 00:28:39,300 --> 00:28:40,940 Finish. Walk away. 628 00:28:40,940 --> 00:28:43,140 Next one. 629 00:28:45,220 --> 00:28:48,020 Resistance was futile. 630 00:28:48,020 --> 00:28:51,660 The boy from Droitwich was now king of comedy. 631 00:28:51,660 --> 00:28:55,180 And before him lay the corrupt wasteland of showbiz, 632 00:28:55,180 --> 00:28:57,900 in Filthy, Rich & Catflap. 633 00:29:01,660 --> 00:29:03,420 Two, three, four... 634 00:29:03,420 --> 00:29:07,380 HE SINGS BADLY # Happiness, happiness... # 635 00:29:07,380 --> 00:29:10,980 Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. God bless you, one and all. MAN: Shut up and get off! 636 00:29:10,980 --> 00:29:14,460 # The greatest feeling that I possess... # 637 00:29:14,460 --> 00:29:16,820 The smile of a child, a beautiful woman, 638 00:29:16,820 --> 00:29:18,500 just simply being... 639 00:29:18,500 --> 00:29:19,860 ..British. 640 00:29:19,860 --> 00:29:20,940 Oh! Oh! 641 00:29:20,940 --> 00:29:21,980 Ah! 642 00:29:21,980 --> 00:29:24,500 DE LA TOUR: Rik was a very, very handsome man. 643 00:29:24,500 --> 00:29:28,300 In all his comedy, he made himself ugly. 644 00:29:28,300 --> 00:29:31,100 He would give himself this supercilious sneer. 645 00:29:31,100 --> 00:29:33,260 And he discovered that very early on, 646 00:29:33,260 --> 00:29:35,180 literally looking down his nose 647 00:29:35,180 --> 00:29:36,980 and literally sneering and snorting at 648 00:29:36,980 --> 00:29:39,460 what the character would consider to be his inferiors. 649 00:29:39,460 --> 00:29:42,300 Well, well, well, wonders will never cease! 650 00:29:42,300 --> 00:29:44,500 Eddie Catflap's been thinking! 651 00:29:44,500 --> 00:29:46,540 Put out some bunting! 652 00:29:46,540 --> 00:29:49,580 Organise a street party! Let off some fireworks! 653 00:29:49,580 --> 00:29:51,260 Telephone the Queen! 654 00:29:51,260 --> 00:29:53,220 Give everyone a week's holiday! 655 00:29:53,220 --> 00:29:55,260 The Man With No Brain's been thinking! 656 00:29:55,260 --> 00:29:58,140 Everybody go to the lavatory in amazement! 657 00:29:59,940 --> 00:30:03,180 One series was all we saw of Richie Rich. 658 00:30:03,180 --> 00:30:05,380 The young and the restless Rik Mayall 659 00:30:05,380 --> 00:30:07,100 had films to make. 660 00:30:07,100 --> 00:30:09,100 Comic Strip films. 661 00:30:10,140 --> 00:30:12,580 VIM FUEGO: One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. 662 00:30:12,580 --> 00:30:14,460 SUSTAINED ELECTRIC GUITAR CHORD PLAYS 663 00:30:14,460 --> 00:30:16,180 # Bad news! 664 00:30:17,420 --> 00:30:18,900 # Bad news! 665 00:30:20,260 --> 00:30:21,700 # Bad news! 666 00:30:21,700 --> 00:30:24,740 # For you and you and you and you and you... # 667 00:30:24,740 --> 00:30:26,980 One of the best Comic Strips, I think... 668 00:30:26,980 --> 00:30:28,980 Well, God, I mean, if there had been 30 or 40... 669 00:30:28,980 --> 00:30:31,180 But a very good one was Bad News. 670 00:30:31,180 --> 00:30:34,500 # Bad news For you and you... # 671 00:30:34,500 --> 00:30:36,620 RIK: You have British heavy metal 672 00:30:36,620 --> 00:30:40,780 and British documentary-making being ridiculed. 673 00:30:40,780 --> 00:30:44,340 HE GRUNTS 674 00:30:44,340 --> 00:30:46,380 Yeah, I feel a bit wrecked, you know? 675 00:30:47,900 --> 00:30:50,140 Did you see The Whistle Test last night? 676 00:30:50,140 --> 00:30:53,180 Sort of, yeah, but I...I was really stoned, 677 00:30:53,180 --> 00:30:55,180 you know, and I drank a bottle of brandy and... 678 00:30:55,180 --> 00:30:57,020 Yeah? Yeah, I was with this chick. 679 00:30:57,020 --> 00:30:59,300 And we were just about to get down to it. 680 00:30:59,300 --> 00:31:02,300 HE CHUCKLES I went and put my foot through the television set. 681 00:31:02,300 --> 00:31:03,540 VIM: Oh, no! Yeah. 682 00:31:03,540 --> 00:31:06,980 So, it sort of blew up a bit, you know, and set fire to the curtains 683 00:31:06,980 --> 00:31:08,620 and, uh... 684 00:31:08,620 --> 00:31:10,980 ..I missed the second half of the show, so... 685 00:31:10,980 --> 00:31:13,300 I bet your mum was really angry. 686 00:31:14,780 --> 00:31:16,940 Well, she...she wasn't there, was she, Den? 687 00:31:16,940 --> 00:31:20,700 Yeah, but I mean, when she gets back... Den, no... 688 00:31:20,700 --> 00:31:22,740 Den, she won't be getting back. 689 00:31:22,740 --> 00:31:24,060 How come? 690 00:31:24,060 --> 00:31:26,220 Cos...cos she's dead. 691 00:31:26,220 --> 00:31:28,980 Eh? VIM: She's dead, Den. 692 00:31:30,740 --> 00:31:32,380 Oh, I get it. 693 00:31:32,380 --> 00:31:35,420 Alan's called Vim and your mum's dead. 694 00:31:35,420 --> 00:31:38,260 HEAVY METAL MUSIC PLAYS 695 00:31:38,260 --> 00:31:40,260 Bad News was one of those things 696 00:31:40,260 --> 00:31:42,780 that everybody thinks is a copy of Spinal Tap, 697 00:31:42,780 --> 00:31:44,540 but was actually, you know, 698 00:31:44,540 --> 00:31:48,820 just two people having the same idea simultaneously. 699 00:31:48,820 --> 00:31:50,860 HEAVY METAL MUSIC PLAYS 700 00:31:50,860 --> 00:31:52,980 RIVRON: Rik was so in love with himself. 701 00:31:52,980 --> 00:31:55,940 He was the centre of the world. He was the centre of attention. 702 00:31:55,940 --> 00:31:58,460 Um, so, whatever was happening, 703 00:31:58,460 --> 00:32:00,860 whatever Rik was doing, that was the best, you know? 704 00:32:00,860 --> 00:32:03,860 And he wasn't afraid to say that. 705 00:32:03,860 --> 00:32:06,100 Those big eyes fix you 706 00:32:06,100 --> 00:32:09,460 with kind of..."Come on, then, we're going to have fun. 707 00:32:09,460 --> 00:32:10,980 "Whether you like it or not." 708 00:32:10,980 --> 00:32:12,220 HE PLAYS BASS NOTES 709 00:32:12,220 --> 00:32:14,180 Just take me up a bit. 710 00:32:14,180 --> 00:32:17,180 HE PLAYS BASS NOTE Yeah? Up a bit more. 711 00:32:17,180 --> 00:32:18,900 HE CONTINUES PLAYING BASS NOTE 712 00:32:18,900 --> 00:32:20,740 Just a touch more. 713 00:32:20,740 --> 00:32:23,740 HE BANGS DRUMS LOUDLY Shut up. Shh. 714 00:32:23,740 --> 00:32:26,660 It can go up a little bit higher, can't it? I know. 715 00:32:26,660 --> 00:32:30,660 PLAYS BASS NOTE THROUGHOUT All right, just another two or three notches. 716 00:32:30,660 --> 00:32:33,300 Good. Yes. Put... Well, just a little bit more. 717 00:32:33,300 --> 00:32:34,700 OK. 718 00:32:34,700 --> 00:32:36,540 Up a touch. Up just a touch. 719 00:32:36,540 --> 00:32:38,580 PLAYS BASS NOTE REPEATEDLY Lovely. 720 00:32:38,580 --> 00:32:40,220 OK, we'll try it there. 721 00:32:40,220 --> 00:32:42,780 LOUD FEEDBACK Ow! Oh! Ow! Ow! 722 00:32:42,780 --> 00:32:45,100 HEAVY METAL MUSIC PLAYS 723 00:32:45,100 --> 00:32:46,700 # Bad news! 724 00:32:47,860 --> 00:32:48,940 # Bad news! 725 00:32:50,300 --> 00:32:51,180 # Bad news! # 726 00:32:51,180 --> 00:32:53,820 The only good news for Bad News 727 00:32:53,820 --> 00:32:56,540 was the invite from The Tube, 728 00:32:56,540 --> 00:32:59,300 presented by Rik's friend and neighbour, Jools Holland. 729 00:33:03,980 --> 00:33:05,900 You're a very visual band indeed. 730 00:33:05,900 --> 00:33:08,940 You still want to do an interview? Yes. Yes, please. Yes. 731 00:33:08,940 --> 00:33:11,100 Do you want...? I think... It's probably just me. 732 00:33:11,100 --> 00:33:13,540 Well, no, we can have all the band in. Uh, whatever. 733 00:33:13,540 --> 00:33:16,540 I remember when they came up and were doing the Bad News on The Tube, 734 00:33:16,540 --> 00:33:18,580 and they said, "Right, OK, so you do this." 735 00:33:18,580 --> 00:33:20,260 And I was suddenly having to remember... 736 00:33:20,260 --> 00:33:24,300 And it was like, you know, I said, "You'll have to guide me through this cos I haven't really..." 737 00:33:24,300 --> 00:33:26,380 But they assumed, like them, I could do acting. 738 00:33:26,380 --> 00:33:28,180 But that wasn't really my speciality. 739 00:33:28,180 --> 00:33:29,900 And what are you saying to the kids? 740 00:33:29,900 --> 00:33:31,980 What I'm trying to say... 741 00:33:31,980 --> 00:33:34,220 I mean, when I'm writing a song, I look around, right? 742 00:33:34,220 --> 00:33:37,300 And I see everything in the world that's happening 743 00:33:37,300 --> 00:33:41,180 and, uh, I'm just asking for vengeance, that's all. 744 00:33:41,180 --> 00:33:43,580 MUSIC: "Tequila" by The Champs 745 00:33:47,860 --> 00:33:51,500 Mad on mescaline, Rik and the Comic Strip gang 746 00:33:51,500 --> 00:33:53,580 poured ideas onto a vast canvas, 747 00:33:53,580 --> 00:33:56,180 from Dorset to Planet Sex. 748 00:33:57,620 --> 00:33:58,980 Aaagh! 749 00:33:58,980 --> 00:34:01,460 On the way, great minds met. 750 00:34:01,460 --> 00:34:03,300 In Mr Jolly Lives Next Door, 751 00:34:03,300 --> 00:34:05,580 in the same time and the same place, 752 00:34:05,580 --> 00:34:07,580 Rik Mayall and Peter Cook. 753 00:34:07,580 --> 00:34:09,380 BOTH: Come in if you're saucy! 754 00:34:09,380 --> 00:34:11,860 Can I, uh, borrow some Fairy liquid? 755 00:34:11,860 --> 00:34:14,060 What?! A...Again?! Shut up, shut it! 756 00:34:14,060 --> 00:34:15,700 Of course you can, Ralphie. 757 00:34:15,700 --> 00:34:18,340 Ooh. You all right, Ralph? Have you cut yourself shaving? 758 00:34:18,340 --> 00:34:19,740 I'll bring it back! 759 00:34:22,700 --> 00:34:26,060 The films journeyed to the outer limits of Spain 760 00:34:26,060 --> 00:34:29,740 for the guns and poses of the spaghetti western incident. 761 00:34:31,780 --> 00:34:33,900 You start the row. 762 00:34:33,900 --> 00:34:37,020 I went first last time. 763 00:34:37,020 --> 00:34:38,740 No, you didn't. 764 00:34:38,740 --> 00:34:40,860 Did. 765 00:34:40,860 --> 00:34:42,180 Didn't. 766 00:34:43,740 --> 00:34:44,940 Did. 767 00:34:46,260 --> 00:34:48,020 Didn't. 768 00:34:48,020 --> 00:34:49,340 Did! 769 00:34:51,860 --> 00:34:55,100 A Fistful Of Travellers Cheques was absolutely brilliant, 770 00:34:55,100 --> 00:34:56,740 because I just like dressing up 771 00:34:56,740 --> 00:34:58,660 I wonder if... 772 00:34:58,660 --> 00:35:03,420 ..comedy was slightly more...proud in those days. 773 00:35:03,420 --> 00:35:08,100 You could make a larger, prouder twat of yourself. 774 00:35:09,300 --> 00:35:10,540 SPITS 775 00:35:10,540 --> 00:35:12,140 Yes. 776 00:35:12,140 --> 00:35:14,300 The Comic Strip Presents, 777 00:35:14,300 --> 00:35:16,220 the Fistful Of Travellers Cheques, 778 00:35:16,220 --> 00:35:19,660 just knocked my socks off - I mean, totally and utterly changed me 779 00:35:19,660 --> 00:35:22,740 as a fan of comedy and as a person, I think. 780 00:35:22,740 --> 00:35:25,340 MAYER: It was just incredibly good fun. 781 00:35:25,340 --> 00:35:28,820 It was like a holiday of massive drinking, gambling, 782 00:35:28,820 --> 00:35:31,060 getting sunburnt 783 00:35:31,060 --> 00:35:34,500 and making a film at the same time. 784 00:35:35,540 --> 00:35:38,980 The swagger within Rik Mayall was straining at the leash 785 00:35:38,980 --> 00:35:41,620 when along came the biggest of big characters - 786 00:35:41,620 --> 00:35:43,260 Lord Flashheart... 787 00:35:43,260 --> 00:35:45,820 I really did think old Flash would have turned up. 788 00:35:45,820 --> 00:35:48,460 ..best man for Rowan Atkinson's Blackadder. 789 00:35:48,460 --> 00:35:52,180 I remember when he first entered in front of the audience, there was an audible gasp. 790 00:35:52,180 --> 00:35:54,100 It's me. 791 00:35:54,100 --> 00:35:56,020 And he burst onto the set 792 00:35:56,020 --> 00:35:58,300 and the audience just went, "Ohh! Who's that?" 793 00:35:58,300 --> 00:36:01,740 Flash by name, Flash by nature. 794 00:36:01,740 --> 00:36:04,780 Hooray! ALL: Hooray! 795 00:36:04,780 --> 00:36:07,780 MCINNERNY: We were all into our characters and, uh... 796 00:36:07,780 --> 00:36:09,860 ..and letting the comedy take care of itself. 797 00:36:09,860 --> 00:36:14,020 And then...and then this force of nature erupts on the set, you know? 798 00:36:14,020 --> 00:36:16,540 And you kind of get carried along in its wake. 799 00:36:16,540 --> 00:36:18,180 I mean, including Rowan. 800 00:36:18,180 --> 00:36:21,020 You know, you're just kind of hanging onto Rik's shirt-tails, really. 801 00:36:21,020 --> 00:36:23,780 Thanks, bridesmaid! Like the beard! 802 00:36:23,780 --> 00:36:25,500 LAUGHTER 803 00:36:25,500 --> 00:36:27,740 Gives me something to hang onto! 804 00:36:27,740 --> 00:36:29,860 LAUGHTER 805 00:36:29,860 --> 00:36:31,340 Nobody knew it was Rik 806 00:36:31,340 --> 00:36:33,500 cos he was wearing this extraordinary blonde wig 807 00:36:33,500 --> 00:36:36,340 that he'd had commissioned secretly from the make-up ladies, 808 00:36:36,340 --> 00:36:38,980 which was adorned with tiny seashells, which was his idea, 809 00:36:38,980 --> 00:36:40,740 which nobody could possibly have seen. 810 00:36:40,740 --> 00:36:42,740 But he was a kind of mad perfectionist as well. 811 00:36:42,740 --> 00:36:45,220 LAUGHTER I've got a plan! 812 00:36:45,220 --> 00:36:47,220 And it's as hot as my pants! 813 00:36:47,220 --> 00:36:48,420 LAUGHTER 814 00:36:48,420 --> 00:36:51,900 When I joined Blackadder and started writing Blackadder II, 815 00:36:51,900 --> 00:36:54,740 I was determined that there should...Rik should be in it. 816 00:36:54,740 --> 00:36:57,140 He could not be a regular - he wouldn't have wanted to be 817 00:36:57,140 --> 00:36:59,260 and they certainly probably wouldn't have had him. 818 00:36:59,260 --> 00:37:00,620 Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! 819 00:37:00,620 --> 00:37:02,860 Flashheart is a great character. It's well-written. 820 00:37:02,860 --> 00:37:05,940 That was what Rik could do - inspire you to write good stuff for him. 821 00:37:05,940 --> 00:37:08,780 So long, suckers! Next time you get bored with your lives, give me a call. 822 00:37:08,780 --> 00:37:10,580 And I'll come round and kill you! 823 00:37:10,580 --> 00:37:13,220 Bye, Edmund, and thanks for everything! Hooray! 824 00:37:15,540 --> 00:37:19,140 The scene-stealing Flashheart came twice, 825 00:37:19,140 --> 00:37:22,180 returning to make life in the First World War trenches 826 00:37:22,180 --> 00:37:24,380 even worse for Captain Blackadder. 827 00:37:24,380 --> 00:37:25,500 Ha! 828 00:37:25,500 --> 00:37:27,180 Eat knuckle, Fritz! 829 00:37:27,180 --> 00:37:28,740 LAUGHTER 830 00:37:28,740 --> 00:37:32,540 The First World War, you don't really kind of think of it as sex, 831 00:37:32,540 --> 00:37:35,940 but Flashheart comes on and his gear is so sex! 832 00:37:35,940 --> 00:37:38,300 I mean, it's such total, 200% sex. 833 00:37:38,300 --> 00:37:42,060 Mmm! And it just made me moved to be... It was great. 834 00:37:42,060 --> 00:37:44,220 I've got my pistol, I've got my lariat. 835 00:37:44,220 --> 00:37:47,580 I've got everything I need. It's just...I am a living penis! 836 00:37:47,580 --> 00:37:49,780 LAUGHTER Mind if I use your phone? 837 00:37:49,780 --> 00:37:52,660 If word gets out that I'm missing, 500 girls will kill themselves. 838 00:37:52,660 --> 00:37:54,860 LAUGHTER I wouldn't want them on my conscience. 839 00:37:54,860 --> 00:37:56,820 Not when they want to be on my face! 840 00:37:56,820 --> 00:37:58,700 LAUGHTER 841 00:37:58,700 --> 00:38:02,020 He pretty much stole everything he was ever in. 842 00:38:02,020 --> 00:38:03,780 Flash is not dead! 843 00:38:03,780 --> 00:38:05,540 I simply ran out of juice! 844 00:38:05,540 --> 00:38:06,700 LAUGHTER Yeah. 845 00:38:06,700 --> 00:38:10,900 And before all the girls start saying, "What's the point of living any more?" I'm talking about petrol. 846 00:38:10,900 --> 00:38:12,740 Woof, woof! 847 00:38:12,740 --> 00:38:14,580 He made no secret of it - he'd walk in and say, 848 00:38:14,580 --> 00:38:16,180 "Right, I'm going to steal it." 849 00:38:16,180 --> 00:38:17,820 You know, and then he would. 850 00:38:17,820 --> 00:38:20,460 And I think nobody ever minded because... 851 00:38:20,460 --> 00:38:22,900 ..Rik's greatness was so unique to him 852 00:38:22,900 --> 00:38:24,620 that even if he did steal something, 853 00:38:24,620 --> 00:38:27,380 in a way, he didn't detract from anybody else 854 00:38:27,380 --> 00:38:30,020 because he was like this sort of firework in the middle of it. 855 00:38:30,020 --> 00:38:32,580 Rowan was sort of blown out of the water by Rik. 856 00:38:32,580 --> 00:38:35,020 You know, it's like he's playing... 857 00:38:35,020 --> 00:38:37,420 He's not playing by the rules. 858 00:38:37,420 --> 00:38:41,460 He's actually come on and just ripped through the whole episode 859 00:38:41,460 --> 00:38:42,980 and stolen it, lock, stock and barrel. 860 00:38:44,420 --> 00:38:47,260 Iiiiit's me! 861 00:38:47,260 --> 00:38:48,740 Hooray! Hooray! 862 00:38:53,340 --> 00:38:56,940 The UK was now ruled by a new breed of politician, 863 00:38:56,940 --> 00:38:59,460 and Rik wanted to fight back. 864 00:39:00,860 --> 00:39:03,300 He met the writers, Marks and Gran, 865 00:39:03,300 --> 00:39:05,740 to plot his revenge on the government. 866 00:39:09,700 --> 00:39:12,420 I said, "I want a real bastard, a real bastard who's in the..." 867 00:39:12,420 --> 00:39:15,500 And we were talking about how much we hated the Conservative Government 868 00:39:15,500 --> 00:39:17,820 because of the unhappiness that they'd caused. 869 00:39:17,820 --> 00:39:20,460 I mean, real pain and hardship and unemployment and... 870 00:39:20,460 --> 00:39:25,220 They'd...destabilised the only kind of defence that they had - 871 00:39:25,220 --> 00:39:26,900 the union movement. 872 00:39:26,900 --> 00:39:29,300 But, really, we just want to get some laughs. 873 00:39:29,300 --> 00:39:32,180 And I need a target, I need someone I hate, to be. 874 00:39:32,180 --> 00:39:34,660 And, uh...so I said, "bastard", 875 00:39:34,660 --> 00:39:37,660 and someone probably - Laurence or Maurice - 876 00:39:37,660 --> 00:39:40,100 said, "Well, we'll call him B'Stard. Yeah, that's good." 877 00:39:43,220 --> 00:39:45,980 Conservative MP Alan B'Stard 878 00:39:45,980 --> 00:39:49,860 was the super-villain Rik was born to play. 879 00:39:49,860 --> 00:39:53,060 Hello. Alan B'Stard. Biggest majority in the House of Commons. LAUGHTER 880 00:39:53,060 --> 00:39:57,380 He beautifully embodied the evilness of that regime. 881 00:39:57,380 --> 00:39:59,180 Remember the Falklands, guv. 882 00:39:59,180 --> 00:40:00,980 Indeed, I do. I made a fortune. 883 00:40:00,980 --> 00:40:02,580 LAUGHTER 884 00:40:02,580 --> 00:40:08,140 To carry that kind of arrogance and sneer and snobbery and bigotry, 885 00:40:08,140 --> 00:40:12,420 without making it too horrible to watch, 886 00:40:12,420 --> 00:40:14,420 was...was...it's really, really clever. 887 00:40:14,420 --> 00:40:17,580 PALIN: He just...I think Rik had a power to what he did, 888 00:40:17,580 --> 00:40:19,300 which made him always watchable. 889 00:40:19,300 --> 00:40:23,060 I mean, he does Alan B'Stard and all that - nasty, nasty character. 890 00:40:23,060 --> 00:40:25,780 But there was something kind of terribly watchable about him. 891 00:40:25,780 --> 00:40:28,020 I'm your new French mistress. 892 00:40:28,020 --> 00:40:29,660 Yeah. 893 00:40:29,660 --> 00:40:33,100 LAUGHTER 894 00:40:39,380 --> 00:40:41,220 Sex, violence, cash. 895 00:40:41,220 --> 00:40:42,820 And more sex. 896 00:40:42,820 --> 00:40:45,100 It's very sexy, that show. 897 00:40:45,100 --> 00:40:46,660 Very sort of...se... 898 00:40:46,660 --> 00:40:48,940 I mean, it was. It was quite a horny show. 899 00:40:50,660 --> 00:40:52,700 I told you what would happen 900 00:40:52,700 --> 00:40:55,260 if you failed your French oral again. 901 00:40:55,260 --> 00:40:56,580 What? 902 00:40:56,580 --> 00:40:57,460 Ooh! 903 00:40:57,460 --> 00:40:59,100 LAUGHTER 904 00:40:59,100 --> 00:41:00,700 Ow! Ow! 905 00:41:01,980 --> 00:41:03,860 That hurts! I know! 906 00:41:03,860 --> 00:41:06,220 It's supposed to hurt. 907 00:41:06,220 --> 00:41:07,540 Get off! 908 00:41:07,540 --> 00:41:10,420 You wicked boy! Stupid trollop! 909 00:41:11,700 --> 00:41:14,540 I'm not a masochist, I'm a sadist! I pay to beat people. 910 00:41:14,540 --> 00:41:17,380 Fizzing with energy, that performance. 911 00:41:17,380 --> 00:41:20,700 Even though he's playing a Tory Cabinet Minister, I mean... 912 00:41:20,700 --> 00:41:23,100 "Tory Cabinet Minister" and "fizzing with energy" 913 00:41:23,100 --> 00:41:25,300 don't normally sit together in a sentence, do they? 914 00:41:27,740 --> 00:41:29,340 And so to the USA, 915 00:41:29,340 --> 00:41:31,340 to wreak havoc with the big movie, 916 00:41:31,340 --> 00:41:34,020 with Drop Dead Fred. 917 00:41:34,020 --> 00:41:38,220 Some Americans presented me with a script about Drop Dead Fred, 918 00:41:38,220 --> 00:41:39,700 who's an imaginary friend, 919 00:41:39,700 --> 00:41:42,380 which, in 1990, I went over to make in America. 920 00:41:42,380 --> 00:41:45,620 These are good New York writers and it was a huge success. 921 00:41:47,060 --> 00:41:49,460 Bleh! Aaagh! Hello, Snotface! 922 00:41:50,700 --> 00:41:53,340 Yuck! What happened to you?! 923 00:41:53,340 --> 00:41:55,580 Look at you! You're all older! 924 00:41:55,580 --> 00:41:57,260 You're even uglier! 925 00:41:57,260 --> 00:42:00,540 Eugh! I'm sorry. I'm going to have to be sick all over you immediately. Lie down. 926 00:42:01,780 --> 00:42:03,900 After all his adventures, 927 00:42:03,900 --> 00:42:06,540 Rik now returned to his other half, 928 00:42:06,540 --> 00:42:08,060 Ade Edmondson. 929 00:42:08,060 --> 00:42:10,660 They were about to hit the sweet spot. 930 00:42:10,660 --> 00:42:12,860 The only way was up. 931 00:42:12,860 --> 00:42:14,660 Bottom. 932 00:42:14,660 --> 00:42:16,500 The Young Ones was your teens. 933 00:42:16,500 --> 00:42:20,740 Then they say Filthy was about your, uh, 20s. 934 00:42:20,740 --> 00:42:25,540 Let's say that Bottom was about your 30s, where there's just... 935 00:42:25,540 --> 00:42:28,020 Youth has gone, it's just, like, shit now 936 00:42:28,020 --> 00:42:31,220 and life is fucking nothing. 937 00:42:34,020 --> 00:42:38,020 ELTON: When Rik and Ade invented these two absurd, endlessly bickering characters, 938 00:42:38,020 --> 00:42:41,100 living this half-submerged life 939 00:42:41,100 --> 00:42:44,740 in a sort of sleazy world of nothingness, 940 00:42:44,740 --> 00:42:46,380 it was Rik and Ade at their best. 941 00:42:46,380 --> 00:42:49,780 OK. OK, OK. 942 00:42:49,780 --> 00:42:51,660 Let's sort this out. 943 00:42:51,660 --> 00:42:53,940 Now, we're good friends, Eddie. 944 00:42:53,940 --> 00:42:55,900 We've known each other for a long time. 945 00:42:55,900 --> 00:42:57,540 We can talk. 946 00:42:57,540 --> 00:43:00,980 And there is something I have been meaning to say to you for the last 25 years. 947 00:43:00,980 --> 00:43:03,420 LAUGHTER Oh! What's that? 948 00:43:03,420 --> 00:43:05,140 I hate you! I hate you! I hate you! 949 00:43:05,140 --> 00:43:08,420 Go away and crawl away and die in a ditch somewhere, you bastard! 950 00:43:08,420 --> 00:43:10,140 Bottom was fantastic. 951 00:43:10,140 --> 00:43:12,660 It was two people that shouldn't be together, but are, 952 00:43:12,660 --> 00:43:15,900 uh, that just...constantly at...going at each other. 953 00:43:15,900 --> 00:43:19,660 # Someday, I'm gonna smack your face 954 00:43:19,660 --> 00:43:21,500 # Someday, I'm gonna smack your face... # 955 00:43:21,500 --> 00:43:25,780 They were an unbeatable combination of physicality and violence. 956 00:43:25,780 --> 00:43:29,020 They're like a real-life Tom and Jerry, you know? 957 00:43:29,020 --> 00:43:30,820 LAUGHTER 958 00:43:34,700 --> 00:43:37,620 SQUELCHING Aaaagh! 959 00:43:43,940 --> 00:43:46,980 Ade and Rik really spent a lot of time 960 00:43:46,980 --> 00:43:49,500 working out exactly where the camera should be 961 00:43:49,500 --> 00:43:52,100 so that...it really looks like 962 00:43:52,100 --> 00:43:54,180 you've hit somebody properly with a frying pan. 963 00:43:54,180 --> 00:43:56,220 It takes a lot to do. 964 00:43:56,220 --> 00:44:00,500 They were capable of really, really smart, blistering satire, 965 00:44:00,500 --> 00:44:05,300 fantastic sort of politically skewed, you know, contemporary comedy. 966 00:44:05,300 --> 00:44:08,620 And, yet, you could see what they loved doing 967 00:44:08,620 --> 00:44:10,820 was punching each other in the face, you know? 968 00:44:11,980 --> 00:44:13,260 LAUGHTER Right. 969 00:44:16,740 --> 00:44:19,060 Yes, it was crass and, yes, it was stupid. 970 00:44:19,060 --> 00:44:21,220 It was REALLY stupid. But it wasn't half funny. 971 00:44:21,220 --> 00:44:23,020 I mean, I'm laughing now, remembering it. 972 00:44:23,020 --> 00:44:25,900 But him and Ade were... It was priceless, you know? 973 00:44:25,900 --> 00:44:31,980 No-one did...uh, crude comedy so poetically, I don't think. 974 00:44:31,980 --> 00:44:34,020 It had an unreality. 975 00:44:34,020 --> 00:44:36,860 That was absolutely what Rik and Ade were about. 976 00:44:36,860 --> 00:44:37,860 Yeah! 977 00:44:37,860 --> 00:44:40,100 An absurd unreality of two idiots 978 00:44:40,100 --> 00:44:43,140 who could never really compete in the real world. 979 00:44:43,140 --> 00:44:47,020 RIVRON: People sort of fell for him and were worried for him, you know? 980 00:44:47,020 --> 00:44:50,220 Because he was this sort of... just complete idiot, 981 00:44:50,220 --> 00:44:53,900 but trying to...trying to mean well, but getting it wrong. 982 00:44:53,900 --> 00:44:55,700 And it was like, "Oh!" 983 00:44:55,700 --> 00:44:57,380 You know, they just wanted to cuddle him 984 00:44:57,380 --> 00:45:01,060 and sort of, you know, befriend him and take him under their wing. 985 00:45:01,060 --> 00:45:04,460 The whole soliloquies about life and not having a bird, 986 00:45:04,460 --> 00:45:06,740 living with each other and being miserable. 987 00:45:06,740 --> 00:45:08,260 I love that. 988 00:45:08,260 --> 00:45:09,860 It's Friday night, 989 00:45:09,860 --> 00:45:12,780 and everywhere you look, there's buildings full of people, 990 00:45:12,780 --> 00:45:14,380 all doing it. 991 00:45:14,380 --> 00:45:15,460 LAUGHTER 992 00:45:15,460 --> 00:45:18,500 They're all doing it and doing it and then stopping and having a fag 993 00:45:18,500 --> 00:45:20,100 and then doing it a bit more. 994 00:45:20,100 --> 00:45:22,340 There's not a single one of them saying, 995 00:45:22,340 --> 00:45:24,780 "Hang on a minute, this really isn't fair. 996 00:45:24,780 --> 00:45:27,380 "I mean, here's us, doing it and doing it and doing it, 997 00:45:27,380 --> 00:45:30,260 "and there's poor old Richie and he hasn't done it...ever. 998 00:45:30,260 --> 00:45:32,140 "He hasn't got anyone to do it TO. 999 00:45:32,140 --> 00:45:35,380 "I'll tell you what - I'll pop down and do it to him for a bit and then pop back up. 1000 00:45:35,380 --> 00:45:37,180 "Would that be all right?" 1001 00:45:37,180 --> 00:45:40,380 CHEERING AND APPLAUSE 1002 00:45:42,260 --> 00:45:44,980 Bottom was the Rik and Ade masterpiece - 1003 00:45:44,980 --> 00:45:47,940 men leading lives of noisy desperation 1004 00:45:47,940 --> 00:45:50,780 had never been so spectacularly funny. 1005 00:45:50,780 --> 00:45:54,100 And Rik's adoring fans loved every minute. 1006 00:45:54,100 --> 00:45:56,700 APPLAUSE CONTINUES Thank you! 1007 00:45:56,700 --> 00:45:58,420 Thank you. 1008 00:45:58,420 --> 00:45:59,660 APPLAUSE STOPS 1009 00:45:59,660 --> 00:46:01,780 Ohhh! 1010 00:46:01,780 --> 00:46:03,580 I mean, as soon as he comes on... 1011 00:46:03,580 --> 00:46:05,420 I mean, Rik would, you know... 1012 00:46:05,420 --> 00:46:08,460 Immediate...rapport with the audience. 1013 00:46:08,460 --> 00:46:12,100 Immediate. That's who he's...that's who he's relating to, really. 1014 00:46:12,100 --> 00:46:14,140 He was a big show-off, you know? 1015 00:46:14,140 --> 00:46:16,780 He...he loved...he loved performing. 1016 00:46:16,780 --> 00:46:18,380 He loved showing off. 1017 00:46:18,380 --> 00:46:23,460 He didn't really mind people looking at him, you know? 1018 00:46:23,460 --> 00:46:25,380 "Hey, look, everyone. Yes, it's me." 1019 00:46:25,380 --> 00:46:29,180 LLOYD: Rik's public loved him, adored him, even, 1020 00:46:29,180 --> 00:46:31,100 in a way that... 1021 00:46:31,100 --> 00:46:34,460 Few comedians get that kind of love. 1022 00:46:34,460 --> 00:46:38,180 You respect Cleese mightily, or Peter Cook or... 1023 00:46:38,180 --> 00:46:41,860 But whether people love them as if they knew them, 1024 00:46:41,860 --> 00:46:45,020 I think is not quite the same as what Rik had. 1025 00:46:45,020 --> 00:46:47,220 There's something that came through the persona 1026 00:46:47,220 --> 00:46:50,500 which made a direct connection with people, which is very unusual. 1027 00:46:52,300 --> 00:46:56,220 In 1998, in the fields around his home in Devon, 1028 00:46:56,220 --> 00:46:59,940 Rik Mayall had an accident which changed his life. 1029 00:46:59,940 --> 00:47:02,860 The comedian Rik Mayall is in hospital with serious head injuries 1030 00:47:02,860 --> 00:47:06,020 after an accident at his country home in Devon. 1031 00:47:06,020 --> 00:47:08,620 He fell while riding a four-wheel motorbike 1032 00:47:08,620 --> 00:47:11,220 and was taken by air ambulance to hospital in Plymouth. 1033 00:47:11,220 --> 00:47:13,460 Doctors say his condition is stable. 1034 00:47:16,300 --> 00:47:19,740 I was technically dead for five days. 1035 00:47:19,740 --> 00:47:21,900 What's fantastic about that 1036 00:47:21,900 --> 00:47:23,820 is that, um... 1037 00:47:23,820 --> 00:47:27,820 ..it happened on what my kids call "Crap Thursday", 1038 00:47:27,820 --> 00:47:30,020 because it was the day before Good Friday. 1039 00:47:30,020 --> 00:47:31,540 Easter '98. 1040 00:47:31,540 --> 00:47:33,580 And I died that Thursday 1041 00:47:33,580 --> 00:47:36,420 and then, uh, I came back on the Monday, 1042 00:47:36,420 --> 00:47:38,100 which is the day after Easter day. 1043 00:47:38,100 --> 00:47:40,260 Lord knows I'm a modest man, 1044 00:47:40,260 --> 00:47:42,620 but I beat Jesus by two days. 1045 00:47:44,020 --> 00:47:46,580 SALE: The accident seemed to have stripped him back down 1046 00:47:46,580 --> 00:47:48,580 to his essence, really, 1047 00:47:48,580 --> 00:47:54,380 of this very sweet, slightly vulnerable, um... 1048 00:47:54,380 --> 00:47:59,780 ..rather kind, gentle man, really. 1049 00:47:59,780 --> 00:48:03,020 HE LAUGHS Oh! Ha-ha-ha! 1050 00:48:03,020 --> 00:48:04,940 Rik and Ade resumed their partnership 1051 00:48:04,940 --> 00:48:08,580 with the mayhem of Guest House Paradiso. 1052 00:48:08,580 --> 00:48:10,980 We were wondering if you had any rooms. 1053 00:48:10,980 --> 00:48:13,180 Yes, we'd like two rooms, adjoining. 1054 00:48:13,180 --> 00:48:15,100 Yes, with a sea view, please. 1055 00:48:15,100 --> 00:48:16,260 Gosh. 1056 00:48:16,260 --> 00:48:19,460 You're quite forthright, aren't you, in your demands? 1057 00:48:19,460 --> 00:48:22,300 My word, Eddie. Important people here. 1058 00:48:22,300 --> 00:48:24,700 Well, first things first, 1059 00:48:24,700 --> 00:48:26,580 you got any valuables... 1060 00:48:26,580 --> 00:48:28,740 ..that you'd like me to put in the safe? 1061 00:48:28,740 --> 00:48:30,260 PEGG: Working with Rik was... 1062 00:48:30,260 --> 00:48:32,340 You know, I was starstruck, you know? 1063 00:48:32,340 --> 00:48:34,300 And we'd sit and talk about The Young Ones 1064 00:48:34,300 --> 00:48:36,420 and Rik...he'd not long had his accident 1065 00:48:36,420 --> 00:48:39,180 and he was kind of...he was a self-confessed scatterbrain, 1066 00:48:39,180 --> 00:48:41,020 so I would know more about the show 1067 00:48:41,020 --> 00:48:43,020 and remember more about it than he did. 1068 00:48:43,020 --> 00:48:44,860 But it was so fun to be around him 1069 00:48:44,860 --> 00:48:46,780 and see how he interacted with the crew. 1070 00:48:46,780 --> 00:48:48,540 You know, everyone seemed to love him 1071 00:48:48,540 --> 00:48:50,820 and he was...he was quite openly insecure 1072 00:48:50,820 --> 00:48:52,780 about, um, stuff. 1073 00:48:52,780 --> 00:48:55,620 You know, like, he'd do a take and if the crew didn't giggle, 1074 00:48:55,620 --> 00:48:57,220 he'd want to know why, you know? 1075 00:48:57,220 --> 00:48:59,700 And it was like, "Cos they're being professional, Rik. 1076 00:48:59,700 --> 00:49:02,860 "They're trying not to ruin the take by snorting over the sound." 1077 00:49:04,580 --> 00:49:07,780 Rik Mayall's return to television in Jonathan Creek 1078 00:49:07,780 --> 00:49:09,460 was another triumph. 1079 00:49:10,900 --> 00:49:13,300 Marella Carney had already departed this world 1080 00:49:13,300 --> 00:49:14,860 by 12 noon yesterday, 1081 00:49:14,860 --> 00:49:17,540 a good four hours before she shot herself. 1082 00:49:17,540 --> 00:49:20,420 If you can come up with a better trick than that, Mr Creek, 1083 00:49:20,420 --> 00:49:22,620 I'd like to see it some time. 1084 00:49:22,620 --> 00:49:26,140 There would be countless more television series and films. 1085 00:49:26,140 --> 00:49:28,300 We always got maximum Rik. 1086 00:49:28,300 --> 00:49:29,980 And the Bottom tours 1087 00:49:29,980 --> 00:49:32,340 brought the house down every night... 1088 00:49:32,340 --> 00:49:33,620 CHEERING AND APPLAUSE 1089 00:49:33,620 --> 00:49:38,300 ..in every city across the United Kingdom of Rik Mayall. 1090 00:49:38,300 --> 00:49:40,300 Come on! 1091 00:49:44,060 --> 00:49:46,620 You fat prick! Aaah! 1092 00:49:46,620 --> 00:49:50,900 Like good whiskey, Rik Mayall got better with age. 1093 00:49:50,900 --> 00:49:52,940 The devilment deepening... 1094 00:49:52,940 --> 00:49:54,180 HORN BLARES 1095 00:49:54,180 --> 00:49:56,380 ..the behaviour unhinged. 1096 00:49:56,380 --> 00:49:59,500 And as Greg Davies's father in Man Down, 1097 00:49:59,500 --> 00:50:02,100 a performance as good as it gets. 1098 00:50:02,100 --> 00:50:03,460 THEY BOTH LAUGH 1099 00:50:04,660 --> 00:50:06,420 But I wanted to show her how much I cared. 1100 00:50:06,420 --> 00:50:08,740 So, every night, at 7.30, 1101 00:50:08,740 --> 00:50:12,420 I'd walk here and wait for her to come to that very bedroom window. 1102 00:50:12,420 --> 00:50:15,060 And I'd wave at her and blow her a kiss. 1103 00:50:15,060 --> 00:50:16,860 And she'd blow me a kiss. 1104 00:50:18,180 --> 00:50:20,140 And I'd walk home again. 1105 00:50:20,140 --> 00:50:22,900 Every night? Every night. 1106 00:50:22,900 --> 00:50:26,020 18 months and 11 days. 1107 00:50:28,220 --> 00:50:32,300 That is one of the most romantic stories I've ever heard. 1108 00:50:32,300 --> 00:50:33,740 HE CHUCKLES 1109 00:50:33,740 --> 00:50:35,580 Yeah, well... 1110 00:50:35,580 --> 00:50:38,620 Anyway, all's well that ends well. 1111 00:50:39,780 --> 00:50:42,660 Eventually, I fucked her against that wall. 1112 00:50:42,660 --> 00:50:45,980 What? Yeah. That very wall. 1113 00:50:45,980 --> 00:50:47,900 Certainly since my late 20s, 1114 00:50:47,900 --> 00:50:50,820 people have been telling me that I look like him and, uh... 1115 00:50:50,820 --> 00:50:53,740 So, when I knew I had a sitcom, 1116 00:50:53,740 --> 00:50:55,660 he was the fantasy casting to play my dad. 1117 00:50:55,660 --> 00:50:57,700 Right! Thank you! Goodbye! 1118 00:50:57,700 --> 00:51:00,380 Right here. 1119 00:51:00,380 --> 00:51:01,580 Like this. 1120 00:51:01,580 --> 00:51:05,220 HE GRUNTS 1121 00:51:06,340 --> 00:51:09,900 It just is funny, to see someone, uh... 1122 00:51:09,900 --> 00:51:11,420 ..shagging a wall. 1123 00:51:11,420 --> 00:51:14,460 If it's done properly, it just is. 1124 00:51:14,460 --> 00:51:16,100 Him as a performer is... 1125 00:51:16,100 --> 00:51:19,060 He held nothing back. 1126 00:51:19,060 --> 00:51:21,500 He threw caution to the wind. He would throw himself... 1127 00:51:21,500 --> 00:51:23,700 He threw himself over a car in a bear suit. 1128 00:51:23,700 --> 00:51:26,380 Aaaaagh! 1129 00:51:29,020 --> 00:51:31,020 There was a really great atmosphere on set. 1130 00:51:31,020 --> 00:51:33,660 I had a hug every morning from Rik Mayall. 1131 00:51:33,660 --> 00:51:37,380 Yeah. Every morning, on set, I was greeted with a hug. 1132 00:51:37,380 --> 00:51:39,980 Does he need a hug from the bear? 1133 00:51:39,980 --> 00:51:42,140 Come and have a hug from the bear! No! 1134 00:51:42,140 --> 00:51:43,900 And he'd put his arms around me 1135 00:51:43,900 --> 00:51:46,260 and he whispered, "Comrade," in my ear. 1136 00:51:46,260 --> 00:51:48,260 And I thought, "Yeah. 1137 00:51:48,260 --> 00:51:50,820 "I won't be forgetting this moment in a hurry." 1138 00:51:57,740 --> 00:52:02,300 Rik Mayall died on the 9th of June 2014. 1139 00:52:04,580 --> 00:52:06,500 LLOYD: He was on all the front pages. 1140 00:52:06,500 --> 00:52:08,980 I mean, all of them, across the whole range of... 1141 00:52:08,980 --> 00:52:11,540 You know, red-tops to broadsheets, 1142 00:52:11,540 --> 00:52:16,140 which I can't really think of another person in recent years 1143 00:52:16,140 --> 00:52:18,260 that the same was quite true of. 1144 00:52:18,260 --> 00:52:20,380 There was one wonderful thing. 1145 00:52:20,380 --> 00:52:22,820 I think it was the front page of The Times. 1146 00:52:22,820 --> 00:52:26,460 And Michael Gove had been saying, 1147 00:52:26,460 --> 00:52:29,100 "We must, in schools, 1148 00:52:29,100 --> 00:52:31,860 "inculcate British values." 1149 00:52:31,860 --> 00:52:36,020 And next to it was a picture of Rik looking absolutely mad. 1150 00:52:36,020 --> 00:52:38,740 And I'm sure The Times must have done that on purpose. 1151 00:52:38,740 --> 00:52:40,700 It was a wonderful, wonderful front page. 1152 00:52:41,820 --> 00:52:44,980 SALE: When he died, there was this extraordinary outpouring of affection 1153 00:52:44,980 --> 00:52:47,220 that you...you know...which was... 1154 00:52:47,220 --> 00:52:49,820 In a way, you just saw how many people loved him, really. 1155 00:52:49,820 --> 00:52:52,460 I think there was that big outpouring when he died 1156 00:52:52,460 --> 00:52:54,700 because, um, he never offended anyone. 1157 00:52:54,700 --> 00:52:56,980 He liked everybody. 1158 00:52:58,100 --> 00:53:02,820 DAVIES: I wasn't surprised at all by the national reaction to him dying. 1159 00:53:02,820 --> 00:53:05,740 No, I wasn't surprised at all. 1160 00:53:05,740 --> 00:53:09,180 Quite right. I think that's what he would have said. "Quite right too." 1161 00:53:09,180 --> 00:53:11,980 MAYER: It's really wonderful for his family 1162 00:53:11,980 --> 00:53:14,220 and his kids and... 1163 00:53:14,220 --> 00:53:17,700 He would have been...he would have been very pleased, I think. 1164 00:53:17,700 --> 00:53:20,940 ELTON: What's great is that his children 1165 00:53:20,940 --> 00:53:24,180 will be able to look at what was said, 1166 00:53:24,180 --> 00:53:25,780 and it's all true, 1167 00:53:25,780 --> 00:53:29,460 about how very special their father was, 1168 00:53:29,460 --> 00:53:33,100 not just to them but to the world. 1169 00:53:34,620 --> 00:53:37,260 Rik, the student from Scumbag College, 1170 00:53:37,260 --> 00:53:39,380 failed his degree. 1171 00:53:39,380 --> 00:53:42,340 But 20 years later, Rik Mayall, the man, 1172 00:53:42,340 --> 00:53:46,100 was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Exeter. 1173 00:53:46,100 --> 00:53:48,700 Older, wiser, 1174 00:53:48,700 --> 00:53:52,180 Dr Rik Mayall knew the secret of life. 1175 00:53:53,580 --> 00:53:56,660 Let me give you youngsters a present. 1176 00:53:58,060 --> 00:54:02,140 Five mantras to carry with you through your lives. 1177 00:54:02,140 --> 00:54:03,580 These are mine. 1178 00:54:03,580 --> 00:54:06,740 Number one - all men are equal. 1179 00:54:06,740 --> 00:54:11,180 Therefore, no-one can ever be your genuine superior. 1180 00:54:11,180 --> 00:54:16,660 Number two - your future is as bright as you make it. 1181 00:54:16,660 --> 00:54:21,260 Number three - change is a constant of life, 1182 00:54:21,260 --> 00:54:24,540 so you must never, ever lose your wisdom. 1183 00:54:25,700 --> 00:54:31,220 Number four - if you want to live a full and complete human life, 1184 00:54:31,220 --> 00:54:33,220 you have to be free. 1185 00:54:34,420 --> 00:54:36,300 And number five - 1186 00:54:36,300 --> 00:54:40,540 love is the answer. 1187 00:54:40,540 --> 00:54:44,220 Love is the answer. Bon voyage! 1188 00:54:44,220 --> 00:54:47,980 CHEERING AND APPLAUSE 1189 00:54:53,140 --> 00:54:55,340 MAYER: He was unique. 1190 00:54:55,340 --> 00:54:59,420 People like Rik don't come along very often. 1191 00:54:59,420 --> 00:55:01,300 Blimey - 56, you know? 1192 00:55:01,300 --> 00:55:03,620 That's...that's...that's too young. 1193 00:55:03,620 --> 00:55:05,020 Yeah. 1194 00:55:05,020 --> 00:55:09,380 MCINNERNY: It does seem impossible that that amount of energy 1195 00:55:09,380 --> 00:55:12,300 can be extinguished, you know. 1196 00:55:13,940 --> 00:55:16,300 It's where you find yourself, you know, 1197 00:55:16,300 --> 00:55:18,380 wishing you were a Buddhist or something and... 1198 00:55:18,380 --> 00:55:21,580 "Well, it must go somewhere else, then. It must go into somebody else." 1199 00:55:21,580 --> 00:55:22,580 You know? 1200 00:55:22,580 --> 00:55:25,820 That moment, somebody's been born with Rik's energy and talent. 1201 00:55:25,820 --> 00:55:28,700 That would be...that would be... you know, that would be something. 1202 00:55:28,700 --> 00:55:31,420 HENRY: The last time I saw him properly was a birthday party 1203 00:55:31,420 --> 00:55:33,780 and he was just very funny and very charming. 1204 00:55:33,780 --> 00:55:36,340 He wanted to work. He was pitching ideas. 1205 00:55:36,340 --> 00:55:38,620 You know, he wanted... LAUGHS 1206 00:55:38,620 --> 00:55:41,140 He wanted to do an interracial cop buddy movie 1207 00:55:41,140 --> 00:55:44,020 where everybody thought we were gay. 1208 00:55:44,020 --> 00:55:45,140 LAUGHS 1209 00:55:45,140 --> 00:55:46,660 RIVRON: He loved the business. 1210 00:55:46,660 --> 00:55:48,420 He loved that everyone else was doing it. 1211 00:55:48,420 --> 00:55:51,740 He loved the fact that, you know, it was a means of making money. 1212 00:55:51,740 --> 00:55:55,060 It was just like...he was in this sort of complete heaven 1213 00:55:55,060 --> 00:55:58,940 where he could express himself so faultlessly and so naturally, 1214 00:55:58,940 --> 00:56:01,020 and just be very, very successful at it. 1215 00:56:01,020 --> 00:56:03,420 He was just like... every day was a joy when he woke up. 1216 00:56:03,420 --> 00:56:05,300 It was amazing. 1217 00:56:05,300 --> 00:56:09,420 His incredible generosity of spirit, love of his friends 1218 00:56:09,420 --> 00:56:11,140 and endless optimism 1219 00:56:11,140 --> 00:56:13,900 was with him all his life. 1220 00:56:13,900 --> 00:56:16,420 And I miss him very, very much. 1221 00:56:18,340 --> 00:56:21,900 "Once in every lifetime comes a love like this. 1222 00:56:21,900 --> 00:56:23,700 "I need you. 1223 00:56:23,700 --> 00:56:24,980 "You need me. 1224 00:56:24,980 --> 00:56:29,020 "Oh, my darling, can't you see? 1225 00:56:29,020 --> 00:56:31,060 "Young ones. 1226 00:56:31,060 --> 00:56:34,300 "Darling, we're the young ones. 1227 00:56:35,900 --> 00:56:38,140 "The young ones shouldn't be afraid 1228 00:56:38,140 --> 00:56:42,220 "To live...love. 1229 00:56:42,220 --> 00:56:44,260 "There's a song to be sung. 1230 00:56:44,260 --> 00:56:47,860 "Cos we may not be the young ones... 1231 00:56:47,860 --> 00:56:49,540 "..very long." 1232 00:56:53,380 --> 00:56:55,100 APPLAUSE 1233 00:56:55,100 --> 00:56:57,980 BLUES MUSIC PLAYS 1234 00:56:59,380 --> 00:57:01,140 # If you're looking for trouble 1235 00:57:01,140 --> 00:57:02,940 # You've come to the right place 1236 00:57:02,940 --> 00:57:04,980 # If you're looking for trouble 1237 00:57:04,980 --> 00:57:06,500 # Just look right in my face 1238 00:57:06,500 --> 00:57:08,220 # I was born standing up 1239 00:57:08,220 --> 00:57:09,820 # And talking back 1240 00:57:09,820 --> 00:57:12,660 # My daddy was a piece of railroad track 1241 00:57:12,660 --> 00:57:15,540 # Because I'm evil 1242 00:57:15,540 --> 00:57:17,580 # My middle name is Misery 1243 00:57:19,980 --> 00:57:22,220 # Yes, I am evil 1244 00:57:22,220 --> 00:57:24,860 # So, don't you mess around with me 1245 00:57:27,340 --> 00:57:29,140 # I don't wipe my bottom 1246 00:57:29,140 --> 00:57:30,940 # When I go to the loo 1247 00:57:30,940 --> 00:57:32,580 # I'm rude to policemen 1248 00:57:32,580 --> 00:57:34,860 # And I pick my nose too 1249 00:57:34,860 --> 00:57:36,540 # There's no stopping me 1250 00:57:36,540 --> 00:57:38,260 # I'm bloody mad! 1251 00:57:38,260 --> 00:57:41,700 # I smoke marijuana and I don't go to lectures 1252 00:57:41,700 --> 00:57:43,420 # Cos I'm evil 1253 00:57:43,420 --> 00:57:46,580 # My middle name is Jeremy 1254 00:57:48,180 --> 00:57:50,460 # Yes, I'm evil 1255 00:57:50,460 --> 00:57:52,820 # So don't you mess around with me! # 1256 00:57:52,820 --> 00:57:55,780 Mess around, everybody! 1257 00:58:00,660 --> 00:58:01,660 Guitar! 1258 00:58:05,500 --> 00:58:07,500 HE STRUMS DISCORDANTLY 1259 00:58:17,860 --> 00:58:19,300 # I live with my mum 1260 00:58:19,300 --> 00:58:21,260 # But she gets on my wick 1261 00:58:21,260 --> 00:58:22,980 # And when I'm told off 1262 00:58:22,980 --> 00:58:24,580 # I'm deliberately sick 1263 00:58:24,580 --> 00:58:26,540 # So look out, you squares 1264 00:58:26,540 --> 00:58:28,340 # I'm an angry young man 1265 00:58:28,340 --> 00:58:31,500 # I once showed my willy to Princess Anne 1266 00:58:31,500 --> 00:58:32,940 # Because I'm evil 1267 00:58:34,340 --> 00:58:35,980 # My middle name is Jeremy 1268 00:58:38,780 --> 00:58:41,020 # Yes, I am evil... # 1269 00:58:41,020 --> 00:58:42,060 Rock! 1270 00:58:42,060 --> 00:58:44,900 So...don't...you... 1271 00:58:44,900 --> 00:58:47,180 ..mess...a... 1272 00:58:48,380 --> 00:58:51,300 ..round...with... 1273 00:58:51,300 --> 00:58:54,340 # Meeeeee! # 1274 00:58:54,340 --> 00:58:55,900 Bloody hell!