Rik Mayall died yesterday at the surprisingly young age of 56. In case you are unfamiliar with the name, he was a British comedian/actor/writer who most Americans may only know as "Drop Dead Fred", the title character of the fantastically under rated 80's film. However, students of British comedy will also be familiar with his roles in the T.V series "Bottom", "Black Adder", and of course "The Young Ones".
It is the latter where Rik and his comedy most influenced me. MTV began running repeats of the series when I was in my early teens. I was quite the outsider in my middle school years, quite shy and introverted. I wasn't much into sports but loved music and comedy. I had begun to develop a taste for things that were a little bit on the fringe. This was not by choice, I wasn't trying to be cool by not being cool (it was years before I realized you could even do that), it was just naturally where my interests lay. So when the music video station started airing this bizarre little show it just seemed perfect to me.
I remember clearly speaking with my friend Jim about the show. He was the only person I knew who watched and liked it. We discussed what made us laugh, what we didn't understand, what we thought of the music in the show and took turns talking like the guys in the cast. From the first one I saw it just felt like my show.
The rest of the people in my school didn't like it (or get it). My father didn't like it either, and we share a fairly similar sense of humor. I mean, he had been my introduction to British humor by watching Monty Python movies with me at an inappropriate age, and Dad didn't see it. Just me and Jim. Later on, I converted a few other people to the fold, indoctrinated my little brother, and even turned my Dad around on the show a little bit. But at the time it was mine. Having those types of things in your life is very important at that age as you are defining who you are and shaping how you look at life. And I was shaped, in part, by Rik Mayall and The Young Ones. Which explains a lot.
What made The Young Ones so unique is that it was based in reality, but sort of a hyper reality which made the whole thing seem more like a real life cartoon. Inanimate objects came to life and addressed the camera through wonderfully bad puppetry. Tom and Jerry type violence happened multiple times per show, and no-one was ever truly injured. Vyv once made his entrance riding a demolition ball into the kitchen. This was a bizarre, surreal show that took place in a foreign country and had characters that were unbelievably unlikeable but relatable and crazy funny.
Though I related least to Rik's character (named Rick, to avoid confusion) I always admired the genius it took to bring this spotty little creep to life. Rick was so desperate for attention he embarrassed himself and others on a regular basis. He tried so hard to be cool, to be a leftist revolutionary, even declaring himself the People's Poet (referenced in the post title). And failed miserably. He, and the show in general were rude, stupid, vulgar, silly, petulant, gross, dangerous and completely insane.
But the show taught me something. Mostly how not to write a letter to your bank manager, but other stuff too. It taught me that although I already knew how to laugh at the establishment, it was okay to laugh at the opposition as well. It was okay to laugh at pretty much all personality types, and that very little is off limits. Absurdity is everywhere and if you don't laugh you go mad. What Rik and the other writers did was take the absurdity in every day life, explode it and exploit it in an admittedly juvenile yet terribly funny and creative way. And that's the kind of comedy I enjoy the most, smart people doing idiotic things while keeping a straight face and with a knowing wink to the audience that the performers are in in their own joke. Not many can do it right but The Young Ones did, and Rik was the head of the pack.
Most of the characters Mayall went on to develop had a little bit of Rik in them (or a lot bit in some cases). At least the stuff available to us Americans seems to be that way. I hear that he's pulled off some decent acting on the BBC in recent years. I would welcome the chance to see some of that, but honestly, Rik Mayall will forever be the crazy, manic genius I have always loved. I still can quote whole sections of dialogue from the shows, and watch the Young Ones on at least a yearly basis. I enjoy his other stuff too (anybody else remember "Bad News"?), but clearly the thirteen year old me has never completely gone. Long may he remain.
So in closing may I just say: "There's a horrible farty smell in here and it's not come from my bottom!"
Thanks People's Poet. For everything.
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