RIP Rik Mayall
I just wanted to say a quick goodbye to Rik Mayall. I would find it hard to add the hours I have spent watching him on TV but it would be a hell of a lot. I suspect his passing will revive a lot of fond memories in those of a slightly older generation. We generation X-ers grew up with Rik Mayall on our TV playing anarchic manic characters and although the characters were vastly different, they were all very definitely him. He seemed to dominate my TV from when I was 10 and he was in the Young Ones, through to the mid-90s when he was in Bottom and The New Statesman. I know he did a lot of stuff before and after but this was the period when he was almost permanently on my TV and his humour perfectly matched my own. Even more so once VHS boxsets came out and I could watch the shows repeatedly.
My personal favourites that deserve particular mention are: Rik – the anarchist student obsessed with Cliff Richard, the awesome Captain Flasheart in Blackadder on whom I modeled my 20s, the legendary and highly accurate portrayal of the politician Alan B’stard on whom I may model my 40s, and Richard Richard who lived in a squalor in London that was a replica of nearly every flat I have lived in until I got married.
Although some of his humour may be a bit puerile or over the top, he brought me some of my favourite TV when I was young and I thought he deserved a mention and my thanks. I feel a New Statesman binge coming on. RIP Rik Mayall.
