Yes, RIP Rik, he defined a changing of the old guard in comedy back in the 80's. Put another way, he was original and B****y funny. It seems a bit of an as yet unexplained sudden death... I feel a real sense of loss with his demise... 

Rip Rik :-(

Came across this video tonight which made me realize just how brilliant Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson were in Bottom. It's from the live show they did of it. The two of them just had an amazing comic chemistry, they have the audience in stitches here. Everything they did together - The Young Ones, Filthy Rich and Catflap, The Dangerous Brothers, Bottom - it was all brilliant. 
 
NSFW because of the language!
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_X_7TrcHGM

What a sad loss indeed.
 
I was shocked when I head this last night, and I don't shock easily.
 
It's been mentioned that he never really recovered from the Quad bike accident he suffered in 1998, but it's only speculation at this point.
 
Very upset about this - Rik was an absolute hero, and a very funny man as well.

 
Channel 4's Man Down is the most recent show I watched him in.
 
He played Greg Davis's potty dad in the series, despite only being 10 years older than him. I think Greg mentions in one of his stand-up DVDs that when he first started out, he was often mistaken for Rik's son due to a slight resemblance between the two!
 
Typical Rik, and the part was obviously lovingly and deliberately written for him, if I remember correctly, Davis was one of the writers (warning - 1 use of the 'f' word):
 

 
 
Also, I absolutely love this quote from Ade Edmondson:
 
"There were times when Rik and I were writing together when we almost died laughing. They were some of the most carefree stupid days I ever had, and I feel privileged to have shared them with him...
 
And now he's died for real. Without me. Selfish bastard."
 
I'm certain Rik would have approved.
 
 
 
 

Rik prolly wrote that line for him..

 
Read this somewhere. Again, I think Rik would have approved
 
David Walliams said that growing up watching his idol Rik Mayall on TV made him want to take up comedy...

But it seems for some reason he decided against.

 
I just came across this on our local Worcester Facebook group.
 
Wonderful
 
 

From 'The Young Ones':
 
RICK:  I feel sorry for you, you zeros, you nobodies. What's going to live on after you die? I'll tell you -- nothing, that's what!
[Exasperated, Rick gives up on hanging himself and jumps down from the chair. He grabs a large bottle of pills, shows it to the others, and starts stuffing pills into his mouth]
 
NEIL:  [sotto voce to Vyvyan]  Vyv, Vyv, uh, can you, like, actually kill yourself with laxative pills?
VYVYAN:  I don't know, Neil, but I'm going to stay and find out.
NEIL:  I think I'm going up to my room for a bit... 
[Runs upstairs, head down. Rick swallows some more pills defiantly at Neil's back.]
RICK:  This house will become a shrine! And punks and skins and Rastas will all gather round and all hold their hands in sorrow for their fallen leader! And all the grown-ups will say, "But why are the kids crying?"  And the kids will say, "Haven't you heard? Rick is dead! The People's Poet is dead!" 
[Vyv starts hanging around looking expectantly at Rick's bum]
RICK:  And then one particularly sensitive and articulate teenager will say, "Why kids, do you understand nothing? How can Rick be dead when we still have his poems?" Then another kid will say...  [Rick emits a long, loud fart].
 
 
 
I just can't believe it. The People's Poet really IS dead.
 
So, so sad...
 
RIP Rik

Frink
From 'The Young Ones':
 
RICK:  I feel sorry for you, you zeros, you nobodies. What's going to live on after you die? I'll tell you -- nothing, that's what!
[Exasperated, Rick gives up on hanging himself and jumps down from the chair. He grabs a large bottle of pills, shows it to the others, and starts stuffing pills into his mouth]
 
NEIL:  [sotto voce to Vyvyan]  Vyv, Vyv, uh, can you, like, actually kill yourself with laxative pills?
VYVYAN:  I don't know, Neil, but I'm going to stay and find out.
NEIL:  I think I'm going up to my room for a bit... 
[Runs upstairs, head down. Rick swallows some more pills defiantly at Neil's back.]
RICK:  This house will become a shrine! And punks and skins and Rastas will all gather round and all hold their hands in sorrow for their fallen leader! And all the grown-ups will say, "But why are the kids crying?"  And the kids will say, "Haven't you heard? Rick is dead! The People's Poet is dead!" 
[Vyv starts hanging around looking expectantly at Rick's bum]
RICK:  And then one particularly sensitive and articulate teenager will say, "Why kids, do you understand nothing? How can Rick be dead when we still have his poems?" Then another kid will say...  [Rick emits a long, loud fart].
 
 
 
I just can't believe it. The People's Poet really IS dead.
 
So, so sad...
 
RIP Rik

Classic!