Rik Mayall
A chaotic comic force who, with anarchic energy and rubber-faced glee, helped blast open the doors of alternative comedy in Britain.
1958–2014 (age 56)·English comedian·Birthday: March 7·Baby Boomers
Biography
Rik Mayall was a human explosion in a punk jacket, a performer who treated the stage and screen as a playground for id-driven chaos. He shot to fame as part of the groundbreaking 'The Comic Strip Presents...' team, a collective that defined the aggressive, satirical alternative comedy scene of the 1980s. With his longtime collaborator Adrian Edmondson, he created iconic characters like the violent, poetry-spouting punk Rick in 'The Young Ones,' a show that felt less like a sitcom and more like a weekly assault on television convention. His persona—a mix of arrogant self-love, manic energy, and childish vulnerability—found perfect form in the scheming Conservative MP Alan B'Stard and the hopeless drop-out Richie in 'Bottom.' Mayall's comedy was physical, dangerous, and deeply silly, built on a trust with Edmondson that allowed them to hit each other with frying pans for real. His untimely death left a void in British comedy, a reminder of a time when humor felt thrillingly, joyously out of control.
Baby Boomers
1946–1964
The largest generation in history at the time. Shaped by postwar prosperity, the Vietnam War, the sexual revolution, and Watergate. They questioned every institution their parents built — then ran them.
Rik was born in 1958, placing them squarely in the Baby Boomers. The events that shaped this generation — postwar prosperity, civil rights, Vietnam, and the counterculture — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Rik Was Born
The biggest hits of 1958
#1 Movie
South Pacific
Best Picture
Gigi
#1 TV Show
Gunsmoke
Rik's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1958Born
NASA founded
Gas: $0.31/galHome: $11,050Min wage: $1.00/hrPresident: Dwight D. Eisenhower"Volare" — Domenico ModugnoBest Picture: Gigi
1963Started school
JFK assassinated in Dallas; Martin Luther King's 'I Have a Dream' speech
Gas: $0.31/galHome: $13,100Min wage: $1.25/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"Sugar Shack" — Jimmy Gilmer & The FireballsBest Picture: Tom Jones
1971Became a teenager
Voting age lowered to 18 in the US
Gas: $0.36/galHome: $18,100Min wage: $1.60/hrPresident: Richard Nixon"Joy to the World" — Three Dog NightBest Picture: The French Connection
1974Could drive
Nixon resigns the presidency
Gas: $0.53/galHome: $22,600Min wage: $2.00/hrPresident: Gerald Ford"The Way We Were" — Barbra StreisandBest Picture: The Godfather Part II
1976Could vote
Apple Computer founded; US bicentennial
Gas: $0.59/galHome: $29,300Min wage: $2.30/hrPresident: Gerald Ford"Silly Love Songs" — WingsBest Picture: Rocky
1979Turned 21
Iran hostage crisis begins; Three Mile Island accident
Gas: $0.86/galHome: $37,900Min wage: $2.90/hrPresident: Jimmy Carter"My Sharona" — The KnackBest Picture: Kramer vs. Kramer
1988Turned 30
Pan Am Flight 103 bombed over Lockerbie
Gas: $0.90/galHome: $74,800Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"Faith" — George MichaelBest Picture: Rain Man
1998Turned 40
Google founded; Clinton impeachment
Gas: $1.06/galHome: $107,300Min wage: $5.15/hrPresident: Bill Clinton"Too Close" — NextBest Picture: Shakespeare in Love
2008Turned 50
Barack Obama elected first Black US president; financial crisis
Gas: $3.27/galHome: $153,100Min wage: $6.55/hrPresident: George W. Bush"Low" — Flo RidaBest Picture: Slumdog Millionaire
2014Died at 56
Russia annexes Crimea; Ebola outbreak in West Africa
Gas: $3.37/galHome: $160,700Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Barack Obama"Happy" — Pharrell WilliamsBest Picture: Birdman
Key Achievements
- Co-created and starred in the revolutionary BBC sitcom 'The Young Ones,' which defined alternative comedy for a generation.
- Portrayed the scheming, amoral Tory MP Alan B'Stard in the sitcom 'The New Statesman,' winning a BAFTA for the role.
- Co-wrote and starred with Adrian Edmondson in the brutally physical stage and TV series 'Bottom.'
- Was a founding member of the 'The Comic Strip' ensemble, which produced a series of innovative satirical films for Channel 4.
Did You Know?
He and Adrian Edmondson met as students at the University of Manchester.
He suffered a serious quad bike accident in 1998 that left him in a coma for several days.
He provided the voice for the character of Mr. Toad in the stop-motion film 'The Willows in Winter.'
He turned down the role of the Doctor in 'Doctor Who' in the 1990s, a part that later went to Paul McGann.
“I'm not a person, I'm a comic device.”
