Rik Mayall

Richard Michael Mayall (7 March 1958 – 9 June 2014) was an English comedian, actor and writer.

The second of four children, Mayall was born on 7 March 1958 at 98 Pittmans Field, Harlow, Essex, to Gillian (née Harrild; 1930–2018) and John Mayall (1925–2011).

He had an older brother, Anthony, and two younger sisters, Libby and Kate.

When Mayall was three years old, he and his parents—who taught drama—moved to Droitwich Spa, Worcestershire, where he spent the rest of his childhood and performed in his parents' plays.

He attended King's School, Worcester, to which he won a free scholarship.

He failed most of his O-levels and scraped through A-levels.

In 1975, Mayall went to the Victoria University of Manchester (now known as the University of Manchester) to study drama.

He claimed that he failed to get a degree, or that he did not even turn up to his finals, but in reality he graduated with lower second-class honours in 1978.

It was there that he met his future comedy partner Ade Edmondson; Ben Elton, a fellow student; and Lise Mayer, with whom he later co-wrote The Young Ones.

He formed a close partnership with Ade Edmondson while they were students at Manchester University, and was a pioneer of alternative comedy in the 1980s.

Edmondson and Mayall gained their reputation at The Comedy Store, from 1980.

Apart from performing in their double act, 20th Century Coyote, Mayall developed solo routines, using characters such as Kevin Turvey and a pompous anarchist poet named Rick.

This led to Edmondson and Mayall, along with compere of the Comedy Store Alexei Sayle and other up-and-coming comedians, including Nigel Planer, Peter Richardson, French and Saunders, Arnold Brown, and Pete Richens setting up their own comedy club called "The Comic Strip" in the Raymond Revuebar, a strip club in Soho.

Mayall's Kevin Turvey character gained a regular slot in A Kick Up the Eighties, first broadcast in 1981.

He appeared as "Rest Home" Ricky in Richard O'Brien's Shock Treatment, a sequel to The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

He played Dentonvale's resident attendant as the love interest to Nell Campbell's Nurse Ansalong.

Mayall starred in numerous successful comedy series throughout his career, including The Young Ones (1982–1984), The Comic Strip Presents... (1983–2012), Filthy Rich & Catflap (1987), The New Statesman (1987–1994), Bottom (1991–1995), and Believe Nothing (2003).

Mayall's television appearances as Kevin Turvey led to a mockumentary based on the character titled Kevin Turvey – The Man Behind The Green Door, broadcast in 1982.

The previous year, he appeared in a bit role in An American Werewolf in London.

His stage partnership with Edmondson continued, with them often appearing together as "The Dangerous Brothers", hapless daredevils whose hyper-violent antics foreshadowed their characters in Bottom.

Channel 4 offered the Comic Strip group six short films, which became The Comic Strip Presents..., debuting on 2 November 1982.

The series, which continued sporadically for many years, saw Mayall play a wide variety of roles.

It was known for anti-establishment humour and for parodies such as Bad News on Tour, a spoof "rockumentary" starring Mayall, Richardson, Edmondson and Planer as a heavy metal band.

At the time The Comic Strip Presents... was negotiated, the BBC took an interest in The Young Ones, a sitcom written by Mayall and his then-girlfriend Lise Mayer, in the same anarchic vein as Comic Strip.

Ben Elton joined the writers.

The series was commissioned and first broadcast in 1982, shortly after Comic Strip.

Mayall played Rick, a pompous sociology student and Cliff Richard devotee.

Mayall maintained his double-act with Edmondson, who starred as violent heavy metal medical student Vyvyan.

Nigel Planer (as hippie Neil) and Christopher Ryan (as "Mike the cool person") also starred, with additional material written and performed by Alexei Sayle.

The first series was successful and a second was screened in 1984.

The show owed a comic debt to Spike Milligan, but Milligan disapproved of Mayall's style of performance.

Milligan once wrote: "Rik Mayall is putrid – absolutely vile. He thinks nose-picking is funny and farting and all that. He is the arsehole of British comedy."

He returned to stand-up comedy, performing on Saturday Live—a British version of the American Saturday Night Live—first broadcast in 1985.

In 1986, Mayall played the private detective in the video of "Peter Gunn" by Art of Noise featuring Duane Eddy.

Mayall continued to work on The Comic Strip films.

He also starred in the comedy films Drop Dead Fred (1991) and Guest House Paradiso (1999).

Mayall won a Primetime Emmy Award for his voiceover performance as Mr. Toad in TVC London's 1996 animated movie The Willows in Winter (a sequel to TVC's 1995 production of The Wind in the Willows, where Mayall also played Toad).

His comedic style was described as energetic "post-punk".

Mayall died of a heart attack at his home in London on 9 June 2014 at the age of 56.

BBC Television director Danny Cohen praised him as a "truly brilliant" comedian with a unique stage presence, whose "fireball creativity" and approach to sitcom had inspired a generation of comedy stars.