Rik Mayall
Rik Mayall is a British comedian and actor. He is well known for his comedy partnership with Adrian Edmondson and was one of members of the alternative comedy scene in the early 1980s.
Mayall and his parents moved to Redditch, on the outskirts of Birmingham at the age of three where he spent his childhood years. He studied drama at Manchester University and gained fame by appearing at The Comedy Store in the Eighties along with Edmondson. They starred as "The Dangerous Brothers", supposedly a couple of naive but anarchic daredevils, and would perform comedy stunts on stage, often involving the likes of setting each other on fire. They effectively brought slapstick to the alternative comedy scene, albeit in a typically extreme fashion.
A role as Rik in The Young Ones sitcom, also in the Eighties, ensured wide public acclaim. The series was written by Mayall with long-standing friend Ben Elton and Lise Mayer. Additional material was provided by anarchist comedian and actor Alexei Sayle. More recently Mayall has starred in Bottom, again with Adrian Edmondson (in which the two of them effectively reprised their roles in The Young Ones), although he also did solo work such as several series playing Tory MP, Alan B'stard, in the sitcom The New Statesman. He has also appeared in films, notably Drop Dead Fred.
In 1998 he was seriously injured when he crashed a quad bike near his home in Devon, although he later made a full recovery.