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Yahoo TV FeaturesRik Mayall’s 5 Best Roles
Rik Mayall, who has died aged 56, changed the face of UK comedy. Here are 5 roles which helped him do it.
When he broke onto the scene in the early Eighties, Rik Mayall quickly became one of the faces of the alternative comedy movement – beginning on stage at London’s Comedy Store before moving into TV in some of the most iconic shows of the modern era. He influenced a generation of actors and comedians, some of whom (like Greg Davies with ‘Man Down’) cast him in their subsequent projects.
We take a look back at the roles which defined Rik Mayall as a performer.
Rick – ‘The Young Ones’
Both snivellingly pathetic and strangely sympathetic, Rick was the beating heart of the ‘Young Ones’ house. Everyone thought he was a loser, yet all he really wanted was a proper friend and he’d be anything to get one.
Mostly that involved being a beret and pretending to be a revolutionary. Not only did Mayall star, but he co-wrote alongside Ben Elton and Lise Mayer, the latter of whom was Mayall’s longtime girlfriend.
Lord Flashheart – ‘Blackadder’
Arguably on the shortlist of the greatest TV characters ever, Lord Flashheart always showed up in time to ruin Blackadder’s day. Whether it was as a dress-loving swashbuckler in the second series (watch for the stage moustache almost falling off as he utters a line to camera), or the leader of the 20 Minuters in the fourth, rarely has an actor delivered lines about his sexual prowess so perfectly.
Fred – ‘Drop Dead Fred’
The movie bombed at the box office in 1991, but watch it again and you’ll see a genuinely subversive Hollywood performance at work. Playing Phoebe Cates’ imaginary friend, Rik mixes zany antics with genuine pathos, as he realizes she must move on and become a proper adult. Plus how many other films use “snotface” as an insult?
Alan B’stard – ‘The New Statesman’
The actor turned on the smarm in this skewering of Tory politicians, which premiered in 1987. People often associate Mayall with fart jokes and violence (and what’s wrong with that?), but sometimes forget his capacity for satire.
[Rik Mayall: A Pioneer of Alternative Comedy]
‘The New Statesman’ is a good reminder. He resurrected the character for a stage show in the wake of New Labour and Tony Blair.
Richie – ‘Bottom’
Rarely has seeing someone smashed in the face with a frying pan been so funny. With his friend and co-writer Adrian Edmondson, Mayall was one of the idiotic flatmates who solved all domestic disputes with a kick to the nether regions. Sometimes breaking the fourth wall and utilizing an improvisational feel, the result was anarchic, bizarre and hilarious.
