Rik Mayall (born Richard Michael Mayall; 7 March 1958 - 9 June 2014) Rik Mayall was a British comedian best known for his partnership with Ade Edmondson in 'The Young Ones' and 'Bottom'.
Net Worth: Rik Mayall's net worth was $5 million according to Celebrity Net Worth (2014).
Childhood: Mayall was born in Harlow, Essex but later moved to Droitwich, Spa, Worchestershire. His parents were drama teachers John and Gillian Mayall. He attended The King's School, Worchester and then the University of Manchester in 1976 to study drama. Here he made friends with future comedy partner Ade Edmondson. He also met 'The Young Ones' co-writers Ben Elton and Lise Mayer.
Comedy Career: Rik Mayall kicked off his comedy career with Edmondson at the Comedy Store in 1980, with whom he had a double act named 20th Century Coyote alongside his solo characters such as Kevin Turvey. The duo, along with several other comedians such as French and Saunders, set up their own club called 'The Comic Strip' in a Soho strip bar. The club soon became the short film series 'The Comic Strip Presents...' Kevin Turvey became a regular character on the sketch show 'A Kick Up the Eighties' and was later the subject of mockumentary 'Kevin Turvey - The Man Behind The Green Door'.
Punk sitcom 'The Young Ones' was Mayall's next big project which first aired in 1982. He played Cliff Richard fan Rik while Edmondson played an angry punk named Vyvyan. The cast of the series later performed with Cliff Richard in a rendition of his hit 'Living Doll' for Comic Relief in 1986.
In 1986, Mayall featured in Art Of Noise's music video for the song 'Peter Gunn' as a Detective. Mayall and Edmondson performed stand-up once again on 'Saturday Live' with one of their old double acts The Dangerous Brothers.
Mayall starred as Mad Gerald in series one of 'Blackadder', while appearing as Lord Flashheart in 'Blackadder II', Squadron Commander Flashheart in Blackadder Goes Forth and Robin Hood in 'Blackadder: Back & Forth'. In the late 80s, Mayall starred as Richie Rich in 'The Young Ones' follow-up series 'Filthy Rich & Catflap', before starring once again with Edmondson on the highly criticised sitcom 'Hardwicke House'.
He played Conservative MP Alan Beresford in the political sitcom 'The New Statesman', before narrating an ITV puppet series called 'Grim Tales'. In the 1990s, Mayall featured in comical Nintendo adverts which paid for his London home he later nicknamed 'Nintendo Towers'.
Mayall and Edmondson starred in the 1991 West End show 'Waiting For Godot' before launching their hugely successful comedy series 'Bottom'. The show later toured on stage in 1993, but, due to the frequent slapstick violence, they often ended up hospitalising each other and themselves. Mayall and Phoebe Cates co-starred in 'Drop Dead Fred' in 1991. Mayall played a woman's childhood imaginary friend who returned to her as an adult. Mayall also featured in 'Carry On Columbus' in 1992. Mayall voiced Froglip in the 1992 animated film 'The Princess And The Goblin', which was an adaptation of the 1872 children's story by George MacDonald.
Mayall appeared in 'Rik Mayall Presents' in 1993 which won him an award at the British Comedy Award for 'Best Comedy Performer'. Mayall was in the play 'Cell Mates' along with Stephen Fry. Fry shortly had a nervous breakdown and went to Belgium causing the play to close early. From 1999, Mayall provided his voice for the animated television series 'Watership Down', playing seagull 'Kehaar'. Mayall also featured in some adverts for Virgin Trains in the later 1990s. Mayall played 'Lt Daniel Blaney' in 'Murder Rooms: The Mysteries of the Real Sherlock Holmes', in the episode 'The White Knight Stratagem' in 2001. The following year he starred as Professor Adonis Cnut in the short-lived ITV sitcom, 'Believe Nothing'. Mayall featured in the BBC program 'Showbox Zoo' voicing Edwin.
Mayall released a semi-fictionalised autobiography 'Bigger Than Hitler, Better Than Christ' in 2005. Around this time, he starred in the ITV series 'All About George'. In 2006, Mayall played Alan B'Stard in the play 'The New Statesman 2006: Blair B'Stard Project'. After a successful run, Mayall had to pull out of further shows due to chronic fatigue and flu, to be replaced by his understudy Mike Sherman. He voiced King Arthur in the cartoon 'King Arthur's Disasters' alongside Matt Lucas playing Merlin. Mayall had a recurring role in remake of the drama 'Minder'.
Mayall released the anthem 'Noble England' for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The song broke into the official UK charts, following Mayall's death in 2014. Mayall featured in 'Let's Dance For Comic Relief' in 2011, where he hit Ade Edmondson with a frying pan in a performance of 'The Dying Swan ballet'. In April of that year, Mayall brought back the character of Alan B'Stard appearing in a satirical advert for the No2AV. The following May, Mayall became the 'Bombardier' in a TV advert for 'Bombardier Bitter'. The adverts breached the Ofcom code against alcohol and sexual attractiveness being linked to success.
Mayall starred in 'The Last Hurrah' in 2012; an audio series that he co-wrote with Craig Green and Dominic Vince. The same year Mayall narrated children's books on the Me Books app, such as 'The Getaway' and 'Banana!' by Ed Vere. Mayall appeared in the Channel 4 sitcom 'Man Down in 2013. Mayall played the father of the protagonist, who was played by Greg Davies, despite just being ten years older.
Personal life: Rik Mayall had a relationship with 'The Young Ones' go writer Lise Mayer in his early years. He married Barbara Robbin in 1985 and the pair had three children together. Their relationship started out as an affair, as Mayall was with Lise Mayer at the time. Mayall stated that Mayer had forgiven him in 2002. Mayer suffered a quad bike accident in 1998, fracturing his skull which resulted in him being in a coma for several days. In June 2014, it was announced that he had died at home following an acute cardiac event.
Biography by Contactmusic.com
