1987 saw Mayall branch out without Edmondson for the show that would carry him into the 1990s, an outrageous political satire called The New Statesman. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BPU_8t42jk Reining in the mad tics and flailing limbs, Mayalls selfish, sadistic megalomaniac of a Conservative politician was a revelation for those who thought of him as a one-trick pony, all snot jokes and pratfalls. A parody of the callous greed that infected British politics under Margaret Thatchers Tory government, the show was a massive hit with a huge cult following even today, nearly three decades after it first aired. Famously, the studio audience would often laugh for so long during recording of each episode that scripts would have to be trimmed to avoid overrunning. Again, you can find full episodes uploaded to YouTube, and we urge you to go and become fully reacquainted with this modern classic. Go ahead. Well wait here.
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
