Benjamin Charles Elton is a British comedian, actor, author, playwright, lyricist and director. He was a part of London's alternative comedy movement of the 1980s and became a writer on the sitcoms The Young Ones and Blackadder, as well as continuing as a stand-up comedian on stage and television. His style in the 1980s was left-wing political satire. He has published many novels in dystopian, comedy, and crime genres, as well as written the musicals The Beautiful Game (2000), We Will Rock You (2002), Tonight's the Night (2003), and Love Never Dies (2010).
The Young Ones is a British sitcom written by Rik Mayall, Ben Elton, and Lise Mayer, starring Adrian Edmondson, Mayall, Nigel Planer, Christopher Ryan, and Alexei Sayle, and broadcast on BBC2 for two series, first shown in 1982 and 1984. The show focused on the lives of four dissimilar students and their landlord's family on different plots that often included anarchic, offbeat, surreal humour. The show often included slapstick gags, visual humour and surreal jokes sometimes acted out by puppets, with each episode also featuring a notable selection of guest stars and musical numbers from various performers.
The Comic Strip are a group of British comedians who came to prominence in the 1980s. They are known for their television series The Comic Strip Presents..., which was labelled as a pioneering example of the alternative comedy scene. The core members are Adrian Edmondson, Dawn French, Rik Mayall, Nigel Planer, Peter Richardson and Jennifer Saunders, with appearances by Keith Allen, Robbie Coltrane, Alexei Sayle and others.
Christopher Papazoglou, known professionally as Christopher Ryan, is a British actor best known for his roles as Mike The Cool Person in the BBC comedy series The Young Ones, Dave Hedgehog in the BBC comedy series Bottom, Tony Driscoll in the BBC comedy series Only Fools and Horses, and as Edina Monsoon's ex-husband Marshall Turtle in the BBC sitcom Absolutely Fabulous. He has also appeared as the McKendrick twins in One Foot in the Grave, and in Doctor Who played the Mentor Kiv in Trial of a Time Lord in 1986 and Sontaran General Staal in 2008 and 2010.
Jonathan Creek is a long-running British mystery crime drama series produced by the BBC and written by David Renwick. It stars Alan Davies as the title character, who works as a creative consultant to a stage magician while also solving seemingly supernatural mysteries through his talent for logical deduction and his understanding of illusions.
Richard Michael Mayall was an English actor, comedian and writer. He formed a close partnership with Adrian Edmondson while they were students at Manchester University, and was a pioneer of alternative comedy in the 1980s.
Physical comedy is a form of comedy focused on manipulation of the body for a humorous effect. It can include slapstick, clowning, mime, physical stunts, or making funny faces.
Peter Richardson is an English director, screenwriter, actor and comedian. He founded the Comic Strip troupe of performers, which showcased his double act with Nigel Planer and boosted the careers of French and Saunders, Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson, and Alexei Sayle. Richardson approached Channel 4 to make a series of short, self-contained one-off comedy films with this group, which led to The Comic Strip Presents..., the majority of which featured Richardson in acting, writing and directing roles.
Filthy Rich & Catflap is a BBC sitcom produced in 1986 and broadcast in 1987. The series featured former The Young Ones co-stars Nigel Planer, Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson as its three titular characters. It was written by Ben Elton, and produced and directed by Paul Jackson, with film sequences directed by Ed Bye. The show's music was written by Peter Brewis. One series consisting of six half-hour episodes was produced. Despite the continuity announcer saying that the show would return the following year, only one series was ever made due to a fall-out between Mayall and Elton over creative control.
Guest House Paradiso is a 1999 British slapstick black comedy film written by and starring comic duo Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson, who also directed in his feature directorial debut.
20th Century Coyote was an English comedy group noted for first uniting Adrian Edmondson and Rik Mayall. Formed by Lloyd Peters in March 1976 whilst studying B.A. Drama at Manchester University, this improvisatory character-led comedy troupe was to become the resident company at the Band on the Wall music venue in Manchester. Peters recruited fellow drama student Rik Mayall principally because they shared the same off-beat humour – anarchic slapstick mixed with a large dose of Monty Python's Flying Circus. Two further drama students were recruited from the year below, and, in October 1976, Adrian Edmondson joined, to appear in Coyote's first improv-based comedy entitled "Dead Funny" (1976). Six other shows followed before an Edinburgh Festival Fringe spin-off. The 40-minute live shows were self-contained narratives based on standard comedy templates, modified by improvisation and re-improvised in performance. The shows were often loud, crude and grotesque. The group was important in that its techniques and the lasting influence of character-led sketch and "improv" comedy helped shape a distinctive brand of "alternative comedy" in the 1970s and 1980s that would come to dominate the comedy mainstream.
"Smells" is the first episode of British sitcom Bottom. The episode was first transmitted on 17 September 1991.
"Contest" is the third episode of the first series of British sitcom Bottom. It was first broadcast on Tuesday 1 October 1991.
"Accident" is the sixth and final episode of the first series of British sitcom Bottom. It was first broadcast on 22 October 1991. This episode sees the first appearance of Eddie's "real friends" Spudgun and Dave Hedgehog.
Bottom Live 3: Hooligan's Island is a live stage show that was recorded at the Bristol Hippodrome, Bristol, in 1997, written by and starring Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson. This is the third instalment of five live shows based on the television show Bottom.
Bottom Live 2001: An Arse Oddity was the fourth live show based on the British sitcom Bottom. It was recorded at Nottingham Royal Concert Hall.
"Holy" is the fifth episode of the second series of British television sitcom Bottom. It was first broadcast on 29 October 1992.
Bottom Live – The Stage Show is a live stage show based on the UK TV series Bottom. It ran in 1993 and was recorded for VHS release at the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton. It was written by its stars, Rik Mayall as Richie Richard and Adrian Edmondson as Eddie Hitler.
Bottom Live 2003: Weapons Grade Y-Fronts Tour is the fifth and final live stage show based on the UK TV series Bottom. It ran in 2003 and was recorded for VHS and DVD release at the Cliffs Pavilion Theatre in Southend-on-Sea. It was written by and starred Rik Mayall as Richie and Adrian Edmondson as Eddie. This was the final show where Mayall and Edmondson play their characters.
Adrian Charles Edmondson is an English actor, comedian, musician, writer and television presenter. He was part of the alternative comedy boom in the early 1980s and had roles in the television series The Young Ones (1982–1984) and Bottom (1991–1995), which he wrote together with his collaborator Rik Mayall. Edmondson also appeared in The Comic Strip Presents... series of films throughout the 1980s and 1990s. For two episodes of this he created the spoof heavy metal band Bad News, and for another he played his nihilistic alter-ego Eddie Monsoon, an offensive South African television star.
