Explore every episode of the podcast Talking Bottom

We jump back to the Rik Mayall Comedy Festival for a special bonus episode - the Q&A session with Paul Jackson after our screening of Rik's episode of Happy Families.

Mat, Paul and Ange joined Paul Jackson at the St Andrews Hotel, Droitwich, for this special screening of the Ben Elton-written sitcom that Paul J produced after The Young Ones and featured a wealth of cameos from the stars of alternative comedy. 

Check out our socials and our linktree for the audiobook, previous episodes, the book "Talking Bottom: A Guide to The Cult Sitcom," our fantastic Bottom themed tea towels and now Talking Bottom t-shirts! https://linktr.ee/talkingbottom

Talking Bottom gets back on stage at the Norbury Theatre, Droitwich - joined by legendary producer and director Paul Jackson at The Rik Mayall Comedy Festival 2026 for a brilliant interview and selection of his favourite clips. FULL VIDEO VERSION HERE: https://youtu.be/anxCoVg07WE 

Paul, Ange and Mat chat for over an hour with the Godfather of alternative comedy, the man who got The Young Ones, Bottom and Red Dwarf made and on TV, the man who gave Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson their big TV break and who Rik publicly thanked "for my life" when they both accepted honorary doctorates.

Paul Jackson shares stories of his career, working with Rik and Ade, getting The Young Ones on TV and discusses clips from a variety of shows. He also reacts to archive BBC letters and memos about The Young Ones and to extracts from the infamous essay that Lise Mayer, Rik and Ben Elton wrote for the BBC to "explain" the sitcom - all read for us by Lise Mayer!

Check out our socials and our linktree for the audiobook, previous episodes, the book "Talking Bottom: A Guide to The Cult Sitcom," our fantastic Bottom themed tea towels and now Talking Bottom t-shirts! https://linktr.ee/talkingbottom

What a festival! In advance of our EPIC on-stage interview with legendary Young Ones, Red Dwarf and Bottom producer/director Paul Jackson at the Rik Mayall Comedy Festival dropping next week, including the video (yes, we've got a video!) version too, we run through what we got up to at the fest, where Talking Bottom hosted not one, not two, not four but three events!

Ange, Mat and Paul chat about their interview with Paul on stage in front of a sell-out crowd at the Norbury Theatre in Rik's home town of Droitwich, where they played out many of Paul's favourite clips, read excerpts from letters from Young Ones fans and BBC colleagues, plus shared videos of Young Ones writer Lise Mayer reading out parts of the infamous essay she had to write to keep the show on the air!

They also spill details of the Happy Families screening, complete with technical scares, and the Talking Bottom pub quiz at The Old Cock Inn (oooh errrrr.)

Check out our socials and our linktree for the audiobook, previous episodes, the book "Talking Bottom: A Guide to The Cult Sitcom," our fantastic Bottom themed tea towels and now Talking Bottom t-shirts! https://linktr.ee/talkingbottom

Hey, kids. It's doesn't matter what you are - Punks, Skins, Rastas, Mods, Rockers, Keith Chegwin even. Everybody everywhere; stop snogging and listen to me... this week it's all about the best charity single ever - the teaming up of The Young Ones and Rick's idol Cliff Richard to release their version of Living Doll and their performance of it on stage at Utterly Utterly Live!

Ange, Paul and Mat chat the history of Comic Relief, charity singles, Cliff being a good sport, discovering the single for the first time and the very end of The Young Ones.

Check out our socials and our linktree for the audiobook, previous episodes, the book "Talking Bottom: A Guide to The Cult Sitcom," our fantastic Bottom themed tea towels and now Talking Bottom t-shirts! https://linktr.ee/talkingbottom

What do you do when you've ended your show after two series, leaving people in no doubt it's finished by killing off the characters, but the public is hungry for more and you've got a ton of brilliant unused gags? Release a book, of course! But fear not, this isn't a crap spin-off cash-in, it's authored by the writers of the show and is incredibly funny. It's Bachelor Boys: The Young Ones Book!

Mat, Ange and Paul discuss TV spin-off books, the success of the show and the book, the public appetite for more Young Ones, lager and curry diets, interviewing David Bowie in Wembley Stadium, the brilliant photos, reading the book as a child in the 80's and generally how great the entire book is while trying not to just spend the episode reading out the best bits - of which there are many.

Check out our socials and our linktree for the audiobook, previous episodes, the book "Talking Bottom: A Guide to The Cult Sitcom," our fantastic Bottom themed tea towels and now Talking Bottom t-shirts! https://linktr.ee/talkingbottom

There's no business like show business and there's no shortage of TV execs trying to capture lightning in a bottle. In 1989, U.S. TV network Fox decided to take one of the most uniquely British sitcoms of the decade, put it in a blender and shotgun the remains into an American sitcom format. The results were... not good.

Paul, Mat and Ange dive headlong into the disastrous pilot, trying to glean the positives but turning up handfuls of crushing disappointment. They discuss other failed attempts at remaking shows across the pond, the cheesy, formulaic format of U.S sitcoms, how money doesn't fix everything, why the original Young Ones characters are so special, being too meta, being a grubby Benny Hill, U.S shows needing a "likeable" character and why seeing Neil the Hippy in a gunfight is just wrong.

Check out our socials and our linktree for the audiobook, previous episodes, the book "Talking Bottom: A Guide to The Cult Sitcom," our fantastic Bottom themed tea towels and now Talking Bottom t-shirts! https://linktr.ee/talkingbottom

You asked and we delivered! Talking Bottom: A Guide to the Cult Sitcom is now available as an audiobook, read by none other than Bottom's friendly pub landlord Dick Head himself - actor Lee Cornes! You can literally have Dick coming in your ears!

It's out NOW via your usual audiobook platforms. You can listen while driving, on the commute, doing heavy housework or simply having a wangle. Get your copy now or Dick will set the dawgs on ya!

Check out our socials and our linktree for the audiobook, previous episodes, the book "Talking Bottom: A Guide to The Cult Sitcom," our fantastic Bottom themed tea towels and now Talking Bottom t-shirts! https://linktr.ee/talkingbottom

What a ruddy treat! The long-awaited Rik Mayall documentary "Rik Mayall: Magnificent B'Stard is out now on Sky Documentaries, PLUS Sky Arts is screening the brand-new "Rik Mayall's Sketches: Rare and Unseen." It's a day of new Rik stuff!

Ange, Paul and Mat dive into the doc, looking at what new nuggets about Rik and his work have been shared. They chat about Rik's life, the impact of his quad bike accident and the immense legacy he left after his untimely passing. Plus, a look at what's in the sketch show and the exciting previously-unseen stuff!

Check out our socials and our linktree for previous episodes, the book "Talking Bottom: A Guide to The Cult Sitcom," our fantastic Bottom themed tea towels and now Talking Bottom t-shirts! https://linktr.ee/talkingbottom

Once in every lifetime comes a guest like this - someone who created and wrote one of the most influential, revolutionary and most-loved sitcoms ever, alongside her co-creators and co-writers Rik Mayall and Ben Elton. It's Lise Mayer!

Lise chats with Paul, Ange and Mat about the genesis of The Young Ones and the challenges faced to get a show full of unlikeable characters, a grotesque student setting and exaggerated situations to air. She shares her thoughts her own comedy influences, writing with Rik on Carrot’s Lib and for his beloved character Kevin Turvey, the unintended hurt caused by The Young Ones’ bold decision to satire racism in the police, her friendship with Rik Mayall and how she learned of his untimely passing.

In a Talking Bottom exclusive, Lise reacts to and reads aloud sections of the famous but largely unseen essay (which Paul Jackson previously alerted Talking Bottom to being the BBC Archive) that Lise was required to write alongside Rik and Ben back in 1982 in ‘defence of The Young Ones’ on the grounds of Language, Violence and Grossness. The BBC had requested the writers’ defence of the sitcom in writing as they needed a robust argument as to why the show was funny before it aired.

Check out our socials and our linktree for previous episodes, the book "Talking Bottom: A Guide to The Cult Sitcom," our fantastic Bottom themed tea towels and now Talking Bottom t-shirts! https://linktr.ee/talkingbottom

All good things must come to an end and school' out not just for summer but for ever as it's the start of the summer holidays for the lads at Scumbag College AND the final episode of the show, ever, with the creators determined to end it all with a literal bang.

Ange, Mat and Paul wang on about celebrity death rumours, shooting film on buses, the boredom of summer, horrible families, 80's cheesy comedians, grasping landlords, Fluff Freeman, bank robberies, exploding buses and communal end credits. Plus, the Summer Holiday quiz!

Check out our socials and our linktree for previous episodes, the book "Talking Bottom: A Guide to The Cult Sitcom," our fantastic tea towels and now t-shirts! https://linktr.ee/talkingbottom

The boys are surrounded by soggy tissues, and for once it's not for the reason you'd think - they've got the dreaded lurgy. Their efforts at recuperation escalate to violence in the streets while Neil's parents visit the fetid house. If only they were in a nice sitcom like The Good Life!

Mat, Paul and Ange splutter over competitive illness, breaking the 180 rule, Hyacinth Bucket, being polite to your friends' parents, speech impediments, sentient toilets, escalating violence, Richard "Sugar-Flavoured Snot" Briars and Felicity "Treacle" Kendall. Plus, a fiendish quiz!

Check out our socials and our linktree for previous episodes, the book "Talking Bottom: A Guide to The Cult Sitcom," our fantastic tea towels and now t-shirts! https://linktr.ee/talkingbottom

After a Dallas-style opening, the boys wake hungover to discover they have travelled back in time. And even more unbelievable; Rik seems to have "done it" with a girl!

Paul, Mat and Ange chat about Dallas, time travel, Rick graduating towards Richard Richard, French and Saunders, Hale and Pace and all manner of subjects before diving head-first into a fiendish quiz!

We're back at this year's Rik Mayall Comedy Festival this month doing THREE events - two of which are with Young Ones director/producer Paul Jackson! Check out our socials and our linktree for details and tickets. https://linktr.ee/talkingbottom

Filmed in Horror-vision! It's a terrifying tale this week as the boys have a body to bury, with a flashback to bath night revealing Rick's penchant for Cosmopolitan magazine, Neil's fetid bath, the arrival of a South African Vampire and the fact they've got a video. YES, WE'VE GOT A VIDEO.

Ange, Mat and Paul discuss video nasties, Hammer Horror, future Bottom references, celebs laughing at themselves, Jeremy Beadle's fake and real beards, putting the boiler on for a bath, vampires, edible pot noodles and pervy Wrick. Plus, a ruddy marvellous quiz!

We're back at this year's Rik Mayall Comedy Festival this month doing THREE events - two of which are with Young Ones director/producer Paul Jackson! Check out our socials and our linktree for details and tickets. https://linktr.ee/talkingbottom

It's freezing in the student house and all the furniture has already been burned. Someone needs to get a job and that some is Neil, who joins the filth while Rick, Mike and Vyvyan enjoy some remarkable good fortune until an explosive conclusion. 

Mat, Ange and Paul chat about filming angles, burning things, austerity (oh no, not politics even though The Young Ones literally rips into Thatcher!), stunts, risotto, Rik's pervy face, cartoon endings and fascist coppers. Plus contemporary reviews AND a quiz where nearly every question had already been answered!

We're back at this year's Rik Mayall Comedy Festival this month doing THREE events - two of which are with Young Ones director/producer Paul Jackson! Check out our socials and our linktree for details and tickets. https://linktr.ee/talkingbottom

The boys are back and they smell - it's so long since they did any laundry that one of Vyvyan's socks has come to life. But a fruitless trip to the laundrette is soon overshadowed by their starter for ten; can they get to Manchester by tonight to represent scumbag College on University Challenge?

Paul, Ange and Mat return and discuss how The Young Ones found its confidence, quality guest stars, sticky bogies, train safety, bacon sandwiches and laundrette etiquette. Plus, a quiz worthy of Bambi himself!

We're back at this year's Rik Mayall Comedy Festival this month doing THREE events - two of which are with Young Ones director/producer Paul Jackson! Check out our socials and our linktree for details and tickets. https://linktr.ee/talkingbottom

This week's guests are a pair of legendary comedians and actors who broke through on the alternative comedy circuit as a double act, going on to star in their own series and many other shows, including seven guest appearances on The Young Ones. One gave the order for Captain Blackadder to be shot in Blackadder Goes Forth while the other had his eye shot out by Eddie in Bottom. It's Mark Arden and Steve Frost, AKA The Oblivion Boys!

Mark and Steve chat with Ange, Paul and Mat about their start in comedy, working as a double act, improv, appearing the nations favourite sitcoms, why Lee Cornes stalks them and the world of comedy in general, in a riotous interview.

We're back at this year's Rik Mayall Comedy Festival in May doing THREE events - two of which are with Young Ones director/producer Paul Jackson! Check out our socials and our linktree for details. https://linktr.ee/talkingbottom

Biblical references abound as a huge flood engulfs London, trapping the students in the house. Everyone will be fine as long as no one drinks Vyvyan's potion - a cure for not being an axe-wielding homicidal maniac.

Ange, Mat and Paul chat about Monty Python, hated chocolates, the hell of living with flatmates, biblical links, C.S. Lewis, Chekov's Coca Cola can and the brilliant Frost and Arden. Plus; a quiz where the concept of a quiz doesn't have to be explained!

We're back at this year's Rik Mayall Comedy Festival in May doing THREE events - two of which are with Young Ones director/producer Paul Jackson! Check out our socials and our linktree for details. https://linktr.ee/talkingbottom

It's party time in the student house, an opportunity to impress the other students and trendy lecturer, play with a toy mouse and telescope and to kill the Hippy. It's The Young Ones episode "Interesting." 

Mat, Paul and Ange talk parties, bringing a bottle, sexy press-ups, cool lecturers, studio injuries, tampons and "women's periods". Plus, contemporary reviews AND the fiendish Talking Bottom on The Young Ones quiz!

We're back at this year's Rik Mayall Comedy Festival in May doing THREE events - two of which are with Young Ones director/producer Paul Jackson! Check out our socials and our linktree for details. https://linktr.ee/talkingbottom

"Well I'm going to tell Thatcher that we've got a bomb!" Cold War fears manifest when a large (undetonated, obviously) nuclear bomb lands right in the middle of the house. To make matters worse, the TV detector man is at the door and the boys don't have a TV license!

Paul, Ange and Mat chat about nuclear paranoia, house shares, rancid bathrooms and more, plus a great quiz! Apologies for some issues with sound in this episode due to an intermittently dodgy mic.

We're back at this year's Rik Mayall Comedy Festival in May doing THREE events! Check out our socials and our linktree for details. https://linktr.ee/talkingbottom

Guys! Guys! Look at us! Squabbling, bickering, like children! What's happening to us? We never used to be like this! This week's episode is all about one of The Young Ones most exciting episodes; "Boring."

Ange, Paul and Mat chat about exciting things, making scripts come to life, censoring difficult language when it's being used for satire, Madness, fakes hands and playing monopoly. Plus, a quiz!

We're back at this year's Rik Mayall Comedy Festival in May doing THREE events! Check out our socials and our linktree for details. https://linktr.ee/talkingbottom

"Neil! Your bedroom's on fire!" Rick, Vyvyan, Neil and Mile move into their new house and the apparent discovery of oil in the basement soon brings out everyone's true colours.

Mat, Ange and Paul discuss the show getting to full series, fighting over bedrooms, little white dots, oppressed workers and more as Talking Bottom takes on The Young Ones. Plus, a very numerical quiz!

We're back at this year's Rik Mayall Comedy Festival in May doing THREE events! Check out our socials and our linktree for details. https://linktr.ee/talkingbottom

What a line up! (And we don't mean an identity parade alongside Maureen Hedgehog). We are returning to The Rik Mayall Comedy Festival with three Talking Bottom events... ruddy hell! 

Saturday May 30th 3pm sees Talking Bottom Live back on stage at the Norbury Theatre, Droitwich, interviewing the Godfather of alternative comedy, the man Rik Mayall publicly thanked for his career, the producer/director who brought The Young Ones, Red Dwarf and Bottom to the screen - Paul Jackson!

Later, on Saturday 30th, we head over to the St Andrews Hotel, Droitwich for a 6pm screening of Rik Mayall's episode of Happy Families, introduced by Paul Jackson and followed by a Q&A.

On Sunday 31st May, the Talking Bottom Pub Quiz hits Droitwich's Old Cock Inn, (ooh err!) at 8pm, where question answers will be argued over, drinks will be had and prizes will be won!

The 2026 festival has a fantastic line-up featuring a host of comedy greats, including Nigel Planer, Alexei Sayle and Peter Richardson. Tickets for Talking Bottom events (and all the others!) can be booked via https://www.rikmayallcomedyfestival.com/

Once in every lifetime comes... a sitcom that redefines the genre, smashes away the old guard and puts a rocket up the establishment. Their house is dirty, their hair greasy, their clothes smelly... and they have no plan on going to lectures! It's Rick, Vyvyan, Neil and Mike... The Young Ones!

Talking Bottom returns to discuss the seminal, groundbreaking sitcom that starred Rik Mayall, Ade Edmondson, Nigel Planer and Christopher Ryan, springing from the minds of writers Ben Elton, Lise Mayer and Rik Mayall and was brought to TV by the Godfather of alternative comedy; Paul Jackson. 

Paul, Ange and Mat discuss the origins of the show and how it made it past the pilot, the characters and those who played them, reactions from critics and growing up watching the show.

We're back at this year's Rik Mayall Comedy Festival in May doing THREE events! Check out our socials and our linktree for details. https://linktr.ee/talkingbottom

Bloody hell, that was a bit of a year, wasn't it?! Join us while we pour a festive glass of gravy, scrub our sprouts and wrap presents*.

We reminisce on the year that saw the book nearly have a rubbish cover, get cancelled, resurrected, moved to a new publisher, sell out as that publisher went into liquidation, have a third of its backers wait for their book, get republished and finally reprinted just in time for Christmas! Not to mention our first ever live shows at the Rik Mayall Comedy Festival and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe! We also tease what's coming in 2026, including a "Once in every lifetime" new series...

To buy the book "Talking Bottom: A Guide to the Cult Sitcom," our Lamb and Flag & Hammersmith Bugle tea towels or listen to more episodes, click here: https://linktr.ee/talkingbottom 

Oh and one more thing: MERRY BLOODY CHRISTMAS

* The book and the tea towels, of course!

This week's guest is a man whose professional career has often tighly interwoven with Rik Mayall's. He's a prolific writer of screenplays, novels, video games, plays - and was the ghost writer of Rik's spoof autobiography Bigger than Hitler, Better than Christ. He's currently researching and writing the only official biography of Rik Mayall, due for publication in 2028. It's Max Kinnings!

Max chats with us about working with Rik, first on a screenplay and then on the legendary autobiography that took the nation by storm. We also discuss his BBC Radio 4 documentary about Rik, Panglobal Phenomenon, which was based on over 100 hours of archive recordings of himself and Rik chatting about ideas. He shares his memories of working on Rik and Ade's Waiting For Godot in 1991 and on the first two Bottom Live shows, plus of course how the work on the official Rik biography is going!

To buy the book "Talking Bottom: A Guide to the Cult Sitcom," our Lamb and Flag & Hammersmith Bugle tea towels or listen to more episodes, click here: https://linktr.ee/talkingbottom 

This weeks guest is a prolific comedy writer, stand-up comedian, novelist, Perrier award nominee, founder member of the Comedy Store Players and the man who coined the phrase “Comedy is the new rock n’roll.”

For over 35 years he’s written for some of the most successful shows on TV, including Spitting Image, The Rory Bremner Show, The Eleven O’Clock Show, My Family and Not Going Out, and on radio for Dead Ringers, The News Quiz and Sunday Format. He co-created the award-winning 15 Minute Musical and has written over 100 songs for the multi-BAFTA winning BBC hit Horrible Histories.

But ALSO he's one of the very few lucky individuals to witness first-hand Rik and Ade's "Death on the Toilet" at the 1979 Edinburgh Fringe. It's Dave Cohen!

To buy the book "Talking Bottom: A Guide to the Cult Sitcom," our Lamb and Flag & Hammersmith Bugle tea towels or listen to more episodes, click here: https://linktr.ee/talkingbottom 

Talking Bottom chats with Colin Gilbert, the director and co-writer with Rik Mayall of The Man Behind the Green Door and Kevin Turvey Investigates. Colin also directed Rab C Nesbitt and worked on Not the Nine O'Clock News, A Kick up the Eighties, I Lovett and Naked Video. He is the co-founder of prolific independent production company The Comedy Unit.

Colin shares memories of his career, the genesis of Kevin Turvey, working with Rik and much more in this fascinating interview.

To buy the book, our Lamb and Flag tea towels or listen to more episodes, click here: https://linktr.ee/talkingbottom 

This week it's the Talking Bottom podcast you've all been waiting for as we come to you LIVE from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe! We were honoured to be joined by a very special guest - a comedian and writer who was at the cutting edge of alternative comedy in the 1980s. He performed on the very first night of The Comic Strip and his comedy CV includes The Young Ones, The Comic Strip presents…, Filthy Rich & Catflap, Colin’s Sandwich, Rab.C.Nesbitt, Blackadder and Red Dwarf. Yes, it's a brand new LIVE chat with The Lamb and Flag’s parasitic pub landlord, Dick Head AKA Lee Cornes! 

"Phew, that was close!" Following a catastrophic near-end more fraught than Richie and Eddie getting gunned down by the SAS, with the book Talking Bottom: A Guide to The Cult Sitcom SELLING OUT on its week of release and then the publisher liquidising its assets (literally), we're excited to announce that the book is back! 

We discuss the seat-of-the-skidded-pants journey we've been on that's finally brought us to a brand-spanking new 2nd edition being published and out NOW via the very best bookshops and all your online book marketplaces.

We also chat about our upcoming podcast interview with comedy legend and "Dick Head" himself, Lee Cornes, that we recorded live on stage at this year's Edinburgh Fringe!

To buy the book, our Lamb and Flag tea towels or listen to more episodes, click here: https://linktr.ee/talkingbottom

Talking Bottom reaches the final episode of this special series on The Many Faces of Rik Mayall. Everyone knows Rik had the most expressive face but he had a voice to match, too. From The Wind in The Willows Toad to Jackanory. From Grim Tales to The Last Hurrah. Rik threw everything into his times in the audio booth, making each one unique, comedically brilliant and a masterclass in vocal performance.

Talking Bottom digs deep into those vocal performances that made our childhoods so special, plus some hidden gems from Rik's later career that fans may want to seek out. 

Described by Man Down creator and star Greg Davies as "a force of nature" and "dream casting," Rik Mayall blessed us all with a final return to the world of sitcom, dropping in each week to steal the episode - and the show - every time.

Richard Davies is the sadistic, prank-loving father of "Dan" (Greg) who loves nothing more than tormenting and publicly humiliating his adult son for his own amusement, yet with a hint of deep fatherly love behind that glint in his eye. This week is all about this role that sadly came to be known as Rik's TV swansong - and what a great one!

"Dog poo, dog poo, lovely lovely dog poo.” Move over, Harvey the rabbit. Get to buggery, Tyler Durden. This week Talking Bottom delves into Rik's foray into Hollywood, playing the world's best imaginary friend. He's violent, sweary, flicks snot into drinks and sinks houseboats. It's Drop Dead Fred!

We chat about Rik as a film star, the psychology of imaginary friends and the film's re-evaluation as a story of female empowerment and mental health (yes we can be serious!). Plus of course we chat about looking up skirts, getting heads trapped in fridges and the parallels with the world of Tim Burton.

We are heading to the Edinburgh Fringe with the second ever Talking Bottom LIVE podcast at Underbelly Bristo Square on Sunday 24th August. We will be joined by veryyyyy special guest Lee Cornes AKA Bottom’s pub landlord Dick Head!!! “Are you calling me a liar??” “No, I’m calling you a tosser!” Tickets are available here: https://underbellyedinburgh.co.uk/event/talking-bottom-live 

“The Comic Strip Presents…Mr Jolly Lives Next Door was the prototype… that was really the pilot for Bottom.” Peter Richardson summed it up perfectly in our chat with him. Our new podcast puts Rik Mayall’s role starring alongside the legendary Peter Cook as Mr Jolly’s neighbouring business owner “Dreamytime Escort” under the microscope, along with a character who shares distant DNA; Richard Dangerous of "The Dangerous Brothers” double act! 

Yes, this week is a double whammy of Rik’s most memorable characters as Talking Bottom examine what makes both disgusting, violent, perverted, heavy-drinking, greasy-haired creations brilliant and squalid in equal measure, and how Ade’s part in these loud, brash and chaotic duos served to elevate Rik’s performances to perfection.

We are heading to the Edinburgh Fringe with the second ever Talking Bottom LIVE podcast at Underbelly Bristo Square on Sunday 24th August. We will be joined by veryyyyy special guest Lee Cornes AKA Bottom’s pub landlord Dick Head!!! “Are you calling me a liar??” “No, I’m calling you a tosser!” Tickets are available here: https://underbellyedinburgh.co.uk/event/talking-bottom-live 

"You see, in the good old days, you were poor, you got ill, and you died!" After playing a series squalid losers, Rik finally poured all that charisma, sex appeal and Machiavellian cunning into Tory MP Alan B'Stard; money and power-obsessed serial adulterer and possessor of the largest majority in the House of Commons. 

Talking Bottom chats about one of Rik's most enduring characters, where Rik was able to lampoon those in power as a truly corrupt git, yet still came out on top most of the time.

We are heading to the Edinburgh Fringe with the second ever Talking Bottom LIVE podcast at Underbelly Bristo Square on Sunday 24th August. We will be joined by veryyyyy special guest Lee Cornes AKA Bottom’s pub landlord Dick Head!!! “Are you calling me a liar??” “No, I’m calling you a tosser!” Tickets are available here: https://underbellyedinburgh.co.uk/event/talking-bottom-live 

"WOOF!!!” Following a brief appearance as "Mad Gerald" in the first Blackadder series, Rik returned in series two and four/forth as heroic, sexy, brave, top-level shagger Lord Flashheart. The character appeared in other similar guises in Blackadder Back and Forth as Robin Hood and then later in the Bombardier beer adverts.

Talking Bottom get to grips with Flash’s costume, moustaches, attitude, Darling, Bob, bridesmaids, beards and comedy as hot as Flash’s pants!!! We examine Rik's brief but perfect performance that was so utterly sexy that his character is remembered long after so few moments of screen time. “Down boy, down!”

We are heading to the Edinburgh Fringe with the second ever Talking Bottom LIVE podcast at Underbelly Bristo Square on Sunday 24th August. We will be joined by veryyyyy special guest Lee Cornes AKA Bottom’s pub landlord Dick Head!!! “Are you calling me a liar??” “No, I’m calling you a tosser!” Tickets are available here: https://underbellyedinburgh.co.uk/event/talking-bottom-live 

Following the success of The Young Ones Rik, Nigel and Ade were reunited as a disgusting trio in Filthy, Rich & Catflap. Penned by Ben Elton, the sitcom mirrored the group's own entry into the world of light entertainment - and lampooned their own success with sharp-tongued satire that sadly only lasted one series. Richie Rich is a talentless, egotistical wannabe who bridges the gap between Rick the Student and Bottom's Richard Richard. Talking Bottom delves into what makes Richie Rich tick and how Rik's exaggerated performance, combined with flamboyant costumes, displayed incredible peacocking which won the hearts of many fans long before Bottom hit our screens. Rik and Ade perfected their double act in Bottom, but the roots of the duo's violent dynamic are plain for all to see as we explore the world of Filthy, Rich & Catflap.

The Talking Bottom book is out now! “Oh God! This is real!"

To order a copy follow this link: https://linktr.ee/talkingbottom 

And please also check out details for our upcoming Edinburgh Fringe Talking Bottom LIVE podcast at Underbelly Bristo Square on Sunday 24th August with veryyyyy special guest Lee Cornes AKA Bottom’s pub landlord Dick Head!!! “Are you calling me a liar??” “No, I’m calling you a tosser!” Tickets are available here: https://underbellyedinburgh.co.uk/event/talking-bottom-live 

The hair... the tight trousers...the stepping in dogshit wearing just a sock on his foot... Bad News and More Bad News are two of "The Comic Strip Presents..." jewels in the crown, with Rik's Colin Grigson definitely a legend in his own mind. Talking Bottom dive into the character, his memorable moments and what makes Rik's performance so special.

The Talking Bottom book is out now! “Oh God! This is real!"

To order a copy follow this link: https://linktr.ee/talkingbottom 

And please also check out details for our upcoming Edinburgh Fringe Talking Bottom LIVE podcast at Underbelly Bristo Square on Sunday 24th August with veryyyyy special guest Lee Cornes AKA Bottom’s pub landlord Dick Head!!! “Are you calling me a liar??” “No, I’m calling you a tosser!” Tickets are available here: https://underbellyedinburgh.co.uk/event/talking-bottom-live 

A quick one (ooh err) about our recent book launch in Hammer-smith, where we were joined at Rik's memorial bench by Godfather of alternative comedy, Producer Paul Jackson and Bottom actor legends Lee Cornes (Dick Head) and Roger Sloman (Mr Harrison), plus Bottom fans (including two who came all the way from The Netherlands!) and assorted press! Thank you to everyone who came down to collect their books and to everyone who backed the book (especially those still waiting for theirs to arrive).

Also an update about our upcoming live show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival where we'll be joined by Lee Cornes who'll be sharing memories of working on Bottom and the multitude of other comedies he's appeared in, plus his fave Bottom clips!

The Talking Bottom book is out now! “Oh God! This is real!"

To order a copy follow this link: https://linktr.ee/talkingbottom 

And please also check out details for our upcoming Edinburgh Fringe Talking Bottom LIVE podcast at Underbelly Bristo Square on Sunday 24th August with veryyyyy special guest Lee Cornes AKA Bottom’s pub landlord Dick Head!!! “Are you calling me a liar??” “No, I’m calling you a tosser!” Tickets are available here: https://underbellyedinburgh.co.uk/event/talking-bottom-live 

Once in every lifetime comes... one of Rik Mayall's most enduring and iconic characters. Starting life on stage reading crap poems and getting angry with the audience on shows like "Boom Boom, Out go the Lights" before graduating to student life in a sitcom that redefined the genre in "The Young Ones," for many, Rick is the character they picture when they think of Rik Mayall. 

Talking Bottom dive into the character, his memorable moments and what makes Rik's performance so special.

The Talking Bottom book is out now! “Oh God! This is real!"

To order a copy follow this link: https://linktr.ee/talkingbottom 

And please also check out details for our upcoming Edinburgh Fringe Talking Bottom LIVE podcast at Underbelly Bristo Square on Sunday 24th August with veryyyyy special guest Lee Cornes AKA Bottom’s pub landlord Dick Head!!! “Are you calling me a liar??” “No, I’m calling you a tosser!” Tickets are available here: https://underbellyedinburgh.co.uk/event/talking-bottom-live 

It's a new series! Most actors are fortunate if they have just one role people love them for. Rik embodied so many iconic and memorable characters that people adore. Kicking things off is a look at one of his early incarnations - self-styled "Investigative Journalist" and son of Redditch, Kevin Turvey in "A Kick up the Eighties" and "The Man Behind the Green Door."

The Talking Bottom book is out now! “Oh God! This is real!"

To order a copy follow this link: https://linktr.ee/talkingbottom 

And please also check out details for our upcoming Edinburgh Fringe Talking Bottom LIVE podcast at Underbelly Bristo Square on Sunday 24th August with veryyyyy special guest Lee Cornes AKA Bottom’s pub landlord Dick Head!!! “Are you calling me a liar??” “No, I’m calling you a tosser!” Tickets are available here: https://underbellyedinburgh.co.uk/event/talking-bottom-live 

“That was quite a LOCK IN, wasn’t it??” A short while ago our great mate Jeffers @PodcastoCatflappo asked to interview us about the writing process behind ‘Talking Bottom: A Guide to the Cult Sitcom’ and what Bottom fans can expect to uncover when flicking through its weighty folds. Listen to our sickeningly lovely chat with the top bloke that is Jeff - and then give his podcast a listen and follow him on socials @PodcastoCatflappo - his pod has featured loads of faaaaantastic names in alternative comedy including Nigel Planer and Jon Lloyd, as well as deep dives into Catflap and other brilliant Rik and Ade related content.

The Talking Bottom book comes out NEXT WEEK on 3 July! “WE ARE ON E WING!!!” 

To order a copy follow this link: https://linktr.ee/talkingbottom 

And please also check out details for our upcoming Edinburgh Fringe Talking Bottom LIVE podcast at Underbelly Bristo Square on Sunday 24th August with veryyyyy special guest Lee Cornes AKA Bottom’s pub landlord Dick Head!!! “Are you calling me a liar??” “No, I’m calling you a tosser!” Tickets are available here: https://underbellyedinburgh.co.uk/event/talking-bottom-live 

Talking Bottom is BACK and LIVE - and what better place to do our FIRST EVER live show than at the innagural Rik Mayall Comedy Festival in Rik's old home town of Droitwich? We were joined by legendary Bottom director and Producer Ed Bye at the Norbury Theatre on the very stage upon which Rik first ever performed and where he used to operate the lights. 

To a sold-out crowd, Ed shared memories of directing Bottom, working with Rik and Ade and his very favourite Bottom moments - watching them along with the audience and chatting about why they are so special. 

Ed also joined in with a reading from an exclusive never-before seen or heard scene cut from an early draft of Bottom: Smells. AND of course the Talking Bottom quiz had to return for it's first ever live version, complete with audience participation!

Talking Bottom's next live show with special guest, Bottom's "Dick Head" Lee Cornes (also in Red Dwarf, The Young Ones and Blackadder) is at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Sunday 24th August at 3.10pm at Underbelly Bristo Square. Tickets are available here: https://underbellyedinburgh.co.uk/event/talking-bottom-live 

The book Talking Bottom: A guide to The Cult Sitcom can be found to order at: https://t.co/G677or4Xgw

This ep sees an update on our book, Talking Bottom: A Guide to The Cult Sitcom, snatched (ooh errr) from the jaws of defeat to be published on July 3rd. We wang on about why it took f*cking aaaages and how book backers can get their grubby hands on the book on July 3rd while others wait for their postman to unload his sack.

We also chat about our upcoming live podcast on May 31st, on stage in Rik's home town of Droitwich as part of the Rik Mayall Comedy Festival, where we will be joined by a VERY special guest; Bottom director and producer Ed Bye!

We also chat about our upcoming series based around Rik Mayall's most iconic and best-loved characters.

The book Talking Bottom: A guide to The Cult Sitcom can be found to order at: https://t.co/G677or4Xgw

Talking Bottom returns with a visit to the 2025 Slapstick Festival in Bristol, where Ange and Mat attended "That's Really Heavy, Man: The Comic Incarnations of Nigel Planer" (Nigel Planer in Conversation with Robin Ince) and "Rik! The Anarchic Genius of Rik Mayall" (Ben Elton and Nigel Planer, chaired by Robin Ince).

The pair regale Paul with stories from the talks about Nigel's career before, during and after The Young Ones, the U.S. Young Ones pilot that may finally see the light of day, Ben's early memories of Rik at Uni and as they started working together, and the love and affection the world still has for Rik.

We'll talk about the book in next week's ep! Ooh, speaking of which; The book "Talking Bottom: A guide to the cult sitcom" can be found to order at: https://t.co/G677or4Xgw

Finally, a documentary about Bottom! A look at Bottom: Exposed - a fantastic retrospective of Bottom on UKTV channel Gold. The doc features contributions from load of people who worked on the sitcom, including Ade himself!

We discuss the stories and facts unearthed by the programme, and how we came to pop up on it ourselves!

The book "Talking Bottom: A guide to the cult sitcom" can be found to order at: https://t.co/G677or4Xgw

Our guest for this very special episode is a titan of entertainment and one of the key figures in the rise of alternative comedy in the UK. He's an actor, director, writer and comedian who created The Comic Strip and is the man behind The Comic Strip Presents...  series of shows and films that currently total 5 films and 42 episodes including Bad News, Mr Jolly Lives Next Door, A Fistful of Travellers Cheques, The Bullshitters, Four Men in A Car and The Hunt for Tony Blair. It's Peter Richardson!

Peter will be at the London BFI this month on 19th and 21st May for a series of screenings of The Strike, GLC: The Carnage Continues, Bad News Tour and Churchill: The Hollywood Years, plus Q&A's with some very special guests. In our interview, he chats about his favourite Comic Strip Presents episodes, scripts he still hopes to make, Rik and Ade's performances, meeting Rik, Ade and Nigel Planer, how he started in comedy, balancing acting with directing, guerilla filming, meeting Steve Martin, his favourite directors, his favourite character, TV commissioners and not being Mike in The Young Ones.

The conversation took place over Zoom so please forgive the occasional connection drop out.

"Talking Bottom: A Guide to The Cult Sitcom" can be pre-ordered here: https://t.co/G677or4Xgw

This weeks guest is the First Lady of Bottom. She's a comedian, author and actor who was part of the Comedy Store scene and whose credits include The Young Ones, Absolutely Fabulous, Saturday Live, Girls on Top, One Foot in the Grave, Naked Video and Happy Families.

But Bottom fans know her best as Moldovan Princess Lady Natasha Letitia Sarah Jane Wellesley Obstromsky Ponsonsky Smythe Smythe Smythe Smythe Smythe Oblomov Boblomov Dob. It's Helen Lederer!

Helen tells us about her early years getting into acting and standup, working as a social worker, feeling like an outsider on the alternative comedy scene, seeing The Dangerous Brothers, attitudes to comedy material changing, modern comedy, working as a writer, battling sexism, running Comedy Women in Print and her appearances on Bottom both as a harrangued Nurse AND as the Third Viscountess of Moldovia who very nearly takes Richie's cherry.

The book "Talking Bottom: A guide to the cult sitcom" can be found to order at: https://t.co/G677or4Xgw

This weeks guest quite literally wrote the book on Rik Mayall. He's a journalist, writer, film critic and broadcaster who's worked for Heat, Entertainment Focus, New Empress Film Magazine, Screenjabber and BBC Suffolk. He's the author of biography "Rik Mayall: Comedy Genius"... It's Mark Searby!

We discuss stories from Rik's life that Mark discovered while writing the book, how much work went into it, Rik's place in comedy history, unheard Bottom trivia, Rik filming Drop Dead Fred, seeing secret recordings of Rik's early stand up and which Rik roles Al Pacino should try playing.

The conversation took place over Zoom so please forgive the occasional connection drop out.

Mark's book can be ordered here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rik-Mayall-Comedy-Mark-Searby/dp/0995793123

The book "Talking Bottom: A guide to the cult sitcom" can be found to order at: https://t.co/G677or4Xgw

Imagine being able to literally create the world that Richie and Eddie inhabit. This week's guest has done just that, working as a Production Designer on series 3 of Bottom, plus on The League of Gentlemen, French and Saunders, Spiceworld, Episodes, Rev, A Bit of Fry and Laurie, Roland Rat, Fat Slags and The End of the F***ing World. It's Grenville Horner!

Emmy winner Grenville shares how he started in the industry, working on series 3 of Bottom including creating the legendary cattle prod and ferris wheel, recreating Richie and Eddie's flat, photographing Hammersmith, being a pop star, faxing Stephen Fry and creating the look of Royston Vasey, for which he won a Royal Television Society Award.

The conversation took place over Zoom so please forgive the occasional connection drop out.

The book "Talking Bottom: A guide to the cult sitcom" can be found to order at: https://t.co/G677or4Xgw

Many of us grew up watching Rik and Ade's work. For many of us it was George's Marvellous Medicine and Bottom, for others The Dangerous Brothers and The Young Ones. But this week's guest got to grow up - for the duration of filming anyway - whilst working with Rik and Ade on the film Guest House Paradiso aged 9.

She's an actress with a CV including Cider with Rosie, The Gathering, Casualty, Los Dos Bros, Magic Grandad and the role of Charlene Nice, a member of the family that checks into Guest House Paradiso expecting a nice relaxing holiday and instead gets violently vomitingly sick. It's Jessica Mann!

Jessica discusses how she got started acting, auditioning for Guest House Paradiso, working with Rik, Ade and Simon Pegg, the fate of her body cast, drama vs comedy, missing the GHP premiere while in a Mcdonalds and exploding vomit tanks.

The conversation took place over Zoom so please forgive the occasional connection drop out.

The book "Talking Bottom: A guide to the cult sitcom" can be found to order at: https://t.co/G677or4Xgw