When the anarchic sitcom Bottom exploded onto our TV screens just over thirty years ago in 1991, it was to mixed reactions.
Critics branded the chaotic characters, unemployed housemates Richard Richard and Edward Elizabeth Hitler (Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson), as ‘childish’ and ‘childish’, but viewers loved it, with six million per episode.
That criticism was one of the reasons why Adrian was initially reluctant to take part in the retrospective TV tribute Bottom: Exposed, which celebrates the show’s three series from 1991 to 1995, plus five sell-out shows and a spin-off film. But he has found that it has influenced a host of contemporary comedians.
“I was more or less persuaded to film it,” smiles Adrian, 67, from a hotel room in Bangkok, where he is shooting a new drama.
‘I’m always afraid that people are going to say terrible things. As students we loved the satirical magazine Private Eye, and when their critic Alan Coren called Bottom ‘witless tosh’ we were heartbroken.
That criticism that Bottom faced was one of the reasons why Adrian was initially reluctant to participate in the retrospective TV tribute Bottom: Exposed
Critics called the chaotic characters, unemployed housemates Richard Richard and Edward Elizabeth Hitler (Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson), “childish” and “childish.”
“But I made a podcast [Out To Lunch] where I met some young comedians, like Bridget Christie and Daisy Haggard, who claim to like Bottom. As well as Maisie Adam, who is the talking head in the documentary.’
Rik and Adrian met in their first year of drama at the University of Manchester. They clicked immediately and formed a double act, performing their own material every week for the rest of the theater department.
They moved to London after graduating and became part of a new wave of comedy alongside Jennifer Saunders (Ade’s wife of almost 40 years), Dawn French, Alexei Sayle and Nigel Planer, who all met at the Comedy Store.
“When we came to London we did four gigs in that first year,” says Adrian. ‘So the next year we decided we would book our own venues for our show. We did a tour of twelve shows through village halls, playing to about six people a night.
‘We then set up The Comic Strip Club with a group of others who went to different pubs. There was no circuit at that time, so we came up with not only our own comedy, but our own places to play.”
I headbutted the concrete wall and there was laughter, so I kept doing it. The audience likes pain and people falling over
Just three years after their studies, the TV film series The Comic Strip Presents… was commissioned by the newly launched Channel 4 and Rik and Adrian never looked back.
“The BBC was afraid of losing a lot of talent to a new broadcaster,” he explains, “so they commissioned The Young Ones.”
And from that came Bottom, written by the pair.
Richie and Eddie were unemployed, rude and violent, borrowing their haphazard slapstick humor from Laurel And Hardy. Since some episodes featured 300 stunts, there were relatively few accidents.
“I have a permanently damaged shoulder from pretending to hit people so much, and there were a few stitches, but we didn’t mind,” Adrian recalls.
“When we did The Comic Strip Club, I headbutted the concrete wall and there was laughter, so I kept headbutting him. The audience likes pain and people falling over.’
The documentary reveals behind-the-scenes footage from Bottom’s filming that has never aired, and includes exclusive stories from the set and commentary from famous fans.
Rik and Adrian met in their first year of drama at the University of Manchester. They clicked immediately and formed a double ac
The documentary also looks at the tragic accident Rik had on his quad bike in 1998, which left him in a coma for five days, resulting in epilepsy, as well as the difficulty Adrian had when he decided that Bottom had followed his course, despite Rik’s desire to wanted to continue. .
‘I noticed that the quality was declining, and I wanted to do other things. Rik changed after the accident and became very emotional, which was strange because we were uptight, middle-class men and we had never done emotional things with each other. Although now I bluff all the time. I’m making up for lost blubbing!’
Adrian was devastated when Rik suffered a heart attack and died aged 56 in 2014, and became emotional as he recalled his relationship with him at Desert Island Discs last year.
Despite such a long career together, he most fondly remembers the time in college before they became famous.
“We were closer as students, hanging out and going to gigs,” he says. ‘We made each other laugh really hard.
‘His mother’s lasting memory is of watching us sit in loungers from the kitchen window and hearing us laugh for hours. She could never understand what was so funny. I always tried to make Rik laugh and vice versa. I still miss him.’
Today, Adrian is fulfilling his long-cherished dream of starring in more serious dramas. “I couldn’t go to drama school because it was too scary to audition,” he admits.
”So I thought I’d go to university because it’s free and they’d offer me a place, and then go to the RSC. It only took about 45 years to get there!’
That ambition fulfilled, does he plan to work with Jennifer again? ‘We wouldn’t say no – or yes!’ he smiles. “We worked together a lot before we got together, and then raising kids got in the way.
‘Now it would look a bit dirty. When John Alderton and Pauline Collins played a married couple in a sitcom called No, Honestly, I cringed to think that they were husband and wife in real life.
“If we did something together now, people would look at the husband and wife instead of the characters.”
- Below: Exposed airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. on Gold.