Category: Rik Mayall

  • The Common Pursuit
    The Common Pursuit

    Rik Mayall and Stephen Fry, alongside John Sessions and John Gordon Sinclair, all starred in the revival of Simon Gray’s play The Common Pursuit. It was previewed in Watford in March of 1988, before it moved to the Phoenix in the West End in April. Here’s the cast on Wogan, on the 28th March. And…

  • Rik’s 80s Pop Video Triptych
    Rik’s 80s Pop Video Triptych

    In the mid-80s, Rik Mayall appeared in three different music videos. The first was for Lionheart’s Die For Love in 1984, from their album Hot Tonight. The more famous one, of course, was Living Doll, with Cliff Richard and The Young Ones. And then there’s this, by the Art Of Noise, a cover version of…

  • Oh What The Hell
    Oh What The Hell

    Some day there will be complete archive of all the corporate and training videos that Video Arts ever made. The company was co-founded by John Cleese, and their output features almost every comedy actor and comedian you might think of. One such title is Oh What The Hell, from 1984, which teaches the dangers of…

  • Alexei Sayle Was Nearly In A Kick Up The Eighties
    Alexei Sayle Was Nearly In A Kick Up The Eighties

    In his book Rik Mayall: Bigger Than Hitler Better Than Christ, Rik tells the rather remarkable story of how he came up with the character of Kevin Turvey. Someone had asked me to an audition … I didn’t realise that you were supposed to have prepared something to perform so they could see if you…

  • Some Dangerous Clippings I Trust You’ll Agree
    Some Dangerous Clippings I Trust You’ll Agree

    A few weeks before Saturday Live went on air (and year after the pilot), The Stage was reporting some interesting things about it, not least the fact that Jasper Carrott was going to be a regular member of the cast. In the end, he only appeared in episode seven. Two days before the series proper…

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  • Proctology: A Bottom Examination
    Proctology: A Bottom Examination

    For a long time now I’ve been wanting to write an old-fashioned programme guide. One you can hold in your hand and thumb through, make notes on, spill coffee on. So I did. Proctology: A Bottom Examination is my deep dive into Bottom, the hit BBC Two sitcom starring Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson. That’s…

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  • Re-Casting Keanu
    Re-Casting Keanu

    Keanu Reeves is 56. That makes him eight years older than Clive Dunn was when he was first cast in Dad’s Army. But don’t panic, Clive Dunn was always playing much older characters than his own age. Keanu Reeves is 56. That makes him seven years older than Stephanie Cole was when she was first…

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