Self-proclaimed 'pan-global phenomenon and sex god', Richard Michael "Rik" Mayall (7 March 1958 – 9 June 2014) was a British comedian, writer and actor who made a killing out of portraying complete and utter bastards.
Mayall grew up with two drama teachers for parents, and subsequently starred in some of their productions when he was a child. He later studied Drama at Manchester University, which is where he met his Heterosexual Life-Partner Adrian "Ade" Edmondson (the actor who played Vyvyan on The Young Ones).
After performing various stand up routines, Mayall's first major role was in the British television series The Young Ones, a British Comedy about four students and their increasingly wild and whacky antics. Mayall co-wrote the sitcom with Ben Elton and Lise Mayer, and played one of the students, Rick, a character based on one of his stand up personas.
From there on, Mayall became a British household name. He would go on to star in Filthy Rich & Catflap, Blackadder and The New Statesman. He and Ade Edmondson then co-wrote and produced Bottom, which later led on to them doing five live stage shows based on the sitcom, called 'Bottom Live'. Mayall then went on to play roles in various British television shows, including Midsomer Murders and Jonathan Creek, and also did a handful of films including Drop Dead Fred, which made him a known name in America.
Mayall was also known for providing voice overs, mostly for children's films and shows, including a television series of Watership Down, The Wind in the Willows (1995) (as the hammier-than-a-sandwich Mr. Toad), SpongeBob SquarePants and the voice of the puppy in a series of Andrex commercials. Mayall also loaned his voice for a few video games, he and Marc Silk provided all of the voices for Hogs of War. He also played the titular "Bombardier" William Charles Bedford in a long running series of adverts for Bombardier Real Ale.
In addition, Mayall also starred in a series of commercials
for Nintendo consoles during the 90s aimed at the UK market, advertising such games as Super Mario All-Stars, The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, Star Fox, Kirby's Dream Land, Street Fighter II, and Tetris, among others. These commercials mainly riffed on his public persona and the kinds of characters he was known for playing at the time, and earned him a big enough payday for him to pay for his house in London, which he then dubbed "Nintendo Towers".
In 1998, Mayall's career was momentarily put on hold after a nasty quad bike accident that left him in a coma for five days, one he wasn't expected to wake up from. While Mayall always made light of the accident, it left him with memory problems and various health issues, for which he had to take medication for life and had to give up alcohol. Ade Edmondson refused to abandon his friend although he would report after Mayall died that Rik was never the same.
Mayall died on the 9th of June 2014, at just 56 years old, from a heart attack.
Filmography includes
- The Dangerous Brothers as Richard Dangerous, one half of a comedy duo with Edmondson
- An American Werewolf in London (1981) as one of the chess players
- Shock Treatment (1981) as "Rest Home" Ricky
- The Young Ones (1982-1984) as Rick
- Blackadder (1983; "The Black Seal") as Mad Gerald (credited as himself)
- Blackadder II (1985; "Bells") as Lord Flashheart
- Blackadder Goes Forth (1989; "Private Plane") as Squadron Leader the Lord Flashheart
- The Comic Strip Presents (1983-2012; recurring) as various characters/Himself
- Jackanory (1986, 1995), as well as its grown-up counterpart Crackanory (2014; 1 episode each)
- Filthy Rich & Catflap (1987) as Gertrude "Richie" Rich
- The New Statesman (1987-1994) as Alan Beresford B'Stard
- Bottom (1991-1995) as Richard "Richie" Richard
- Drop Dead Fred (1991) as Drop Dead Fred
- Carry On Columbus (1992) as The Sultan
- The Princess and the Goblin (1992 English dub) as Prince Froglip (voice)
- Oscar's Orchestra (1995-1996) as William Tell Jr. (voice)
- The Canterville Ghost (1997) as Reverend Dampier
- Jonathan Creek (1998, 2013) as Detective Inspector Gideon Pryke
- Jellabies (a.k.a. Jellikins) (1998-2001) as the Narrator (voice)
- Guest House Paradiso (1999) as Richard Twat (spin-off of Bottom despite the different last name)
- Hogs of War (2000) as Sergeant I.P Grimly/Narrator and many other characters (voice)
- Jesus Christ Superstar (the 2000 Great Performances recording) as King Herod
- Believe Nothing (2002) as Quadruple Professor Adonis Cnut
- Sindy The Fairy Princess (2003) as Azbar (voice)
- SpongeBob SquarePants (2005; "Chimps Ahoy") as Lord Reginald (voice)
- Valiant (2005) as Cufflingk (voice)
- King Arthur's Disasters (2005-2006) as King Arthur (voice)
- Midsomer Murders (2009; "The Creeper") as David Roper
- Man Down (2013) as Richard Davies
Tropes associated with him:
- Beauty Inversion: Frequently covered up his Pretty Boy good looks with grotesque costumes, make-up, and exaggerated expressions for his roles in The Young Ones, The Comic Strip Presents and Bottom. Fellow comedian Andy de la Tour even commented "Rik was a very beautiful man, but in all his comedy, he made himself ugly."
- The Character Died with Him: After his death the writers of The New Statesman wrote an obituary for Alan B'stard.
- The Danza: His characters Rick in The Young Ones, Richie in Bottom, Richie Rich in Filthy Rich & Catflap, and Rest Home Ricky in Shock Treatment.
- Deleted Role: He played Peeves the Poltergeist in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001), but he was let go and the character was cut because the child actors couldn't keep straight faces whenever they shared a scene with him.
- Descended Creator: He co-wrote many of the show he stars on, like The Young Ones, Bottom and Guest House Paradiso.
- Large Ham: Oh, so very much. He was like Britain's answer to Jim Carrey.
- Money, Dear Boy:
- Mayall starred in a series of at least eight adverts for Nintendo in the UK in the early 1990s (see them here and here). He spent his vast fee on a house in an expensive area of London, which he named Nintendo Towers.
- In at least one interview he admitted that he didn't care that he'd been cut from the first Harry Potter film as he'd been paid in advance.
- Mayall starred in a series of at least eight adverts for Nintendo in the UK in the early 1990s (see them here
- Self-Deprecation: It's noticeable that whilst most of the characters other people created for him (Lord Flasheart, Alan B'stard, Gideon Pryke from Jonathan Creek) were generally successful dashing rogues, the characters he wrote for himself (Rick from The Young Ones, Richie from Bottom, Kevin Turvey) all tended to be miserable unpopular losers.
- Typecasting: He was always playing self centered, badly behaved and over the top characters. Even on the Region 2 Drop Dead Fred DVD cover it says "Rik Mayall gives a Bottom style performance."
- Wag the Director: Rik agreed to appear in Blackadder as Lord Flasheart on the condition that every single thing he had to say was funnier than Rowan Atkinson's lines.
- What Could Have Been:
- Had "Dimensions In Time" not been the 30th anniversary special for Doctor Who, then there were plans to have Mayall be the villain of a serial called "Dark Dimension", an alternate universe story where the Fourth Doctor never regenerated. Think about it for a moment. Instead of a serial that is widely decried by fans and critics alike, we could've had Rik fucking Mayall play a villain in what sounds like an epic serial. You may cry now.
- He was cast as Peeves for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001) and shot some scenes but he was let go and Peeves cut from the cinematic version of Harry Potter because his antics, while spot-on for the character, were so funny and distracting that none of the child actors could stay in character around him. That and also the director, Chris Columbus, apparently wasn't satisfied with his design, and never got to fix it.