An astonishingly wild force of nature, Rik Mayall was responsible for giving the world some of the most memorably anarchic characters in television history.
The actor and writer Rik Mayall, who died this week aged fifty-six, was a whirling dervish of manic energy: an astonishingly wild force of nature, responsible for giving the world some of the most memorably anarchic characters in television history. One of the break-out stars of the United Kingdom's alternative comedy boom of the 1980s, Mayall's signature style was always chaotic and more than slightly unraveled, whichever of his many famous characters he was playing. In fact, there was so much Rik in each of them - many sharing his name - that they often seemed less like separate, distinct people and more like splintered facets of his own personality. Larger than life onscreen and off, Mayall has been referred to a comic genius: his co-star in The Young Ones, Nigel Planer calls him inspirational, bonkers and a great life force; comedian and writer Alexei Sayle, another legend of the alternative comedy era, simply calls him a great comedian, with that rare ability to conjure laugh after laugh not from endless words but from a single look or one absurd gesture." He played dozens of characters over the years, notably in The Comic Strip Presents series, but there are a special few we wont forget in a hurry. To celebrate the life and career of a truly gifted (and wonderfully odd) man, here are 8 reasons why Richard Michael Mayall (1958-2014) was the funniest actor of his generation...