Adrian Edmondson gives a first-hand account of making the hit show, Bottom, with the late, great Rik Mayall, alongside contributions from a host of the show's cast, crew and famous fans.
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00:00:00In 1991, the world was rocked by a new and explosive sitcom, featuring two sexually desirable
00:00:25comedy gods, who brought an intellectual rigour to British television, more than 30 years
00:00:42later, it still packs a punch, a few wallops to the head, and mousetraps to the natchez.
00:00:51We're diving deep into Bottom, this genre-busting sitcom that ran for three series, five sell-out
00:01:02stage shows, and one hell of a feature film, aided by famous fans.
00:01:09The actual physical violence made me howl at laughter.
00:01:14They're just two mates having a blast doing the best job in the world.
00:01:18It's genuinely a joy to watch.
00:01:21Hello, boys!
00:01:22Guest stars.
00:01:24Those studio audiences love Rick and AIDS.
00:01:26Sometimes you have to suffer for your art.
00:01:30Crew.
00:01:31I'd planned a shot for that, and a shot for that, not that, that, that, that, that, that, that.
00:01:36And Mr. Eddie Hitler himself.
00:01:39It's something in between art and vulgar.
00:01:42Is it?
00:01:43I don't know.
00:01:44No!
00:01:45No!
00:01:45We'll be getting to the bottom of bottom.
00:01:50So let's talk bollocks!
00:01:52That, that's all we have to do!
00:01:54Ah, an approximation of the set.
00:02:11Spent a long time on this.
00:02:14I mean, it's wrong, obviously.
00:02:16Should be two doors.
00:02:18Edward Hitler, come down here at once!
00:02:24Kitchen's in the wrong place.
00:02:25Should be there.
00:02:33The organ's gone.
00:02:34Where's my organ?
00:02:40She's very famous, isn't she?
00:02:41But, um, very tacky.
00:02:44I know I had a smoking jacket.
00:02:45It's, hang on.
00:02:47Ta-da!
00:02:47No, but it's got the same kind of feel.
00:02:49It's a lot cleaner, to be honest.
00:02:53Not bad, not bad!
00:02:56Set dressers used to love us.
00:02:58They could put lots of little jokes around the set.
00:03:01And have fun with it.
00:03:03We've got 30p and a second-hand copy of Parade.
00:03:06We've got little poor mags here and there.
00:03:09Doesn't matter how you art it up, Eddie, it's still a jazz mag.
00:03:13Nice old telly.
00:03:16Proper telly.
00:03:21Very nice indeed.
00:03:24It's a long way down.
00:03:27First board.
00:03:31Interesting.
00:03:32Okay.
00:03:34Do you want me to tell you the birth of it?
00:03:36Yes, please.
00:03:36Er, how was Bottom born?
00:03:41Erm.
00:03:47Rick and I met in 1975 at university.
00:03:51We're both drama students.
00:03:52We've both got degrees.
00:03:55I think if you'd asked either of us what we thought we were doing there and what we were going to be, we'd have both said actor.
00:04:01I thought I'd go to university, study drama, but then I failed my A-levels.
00:04:07But I got a free place, because everybody made a mess of their A-levels.
00:04:11There's a load of us got in to Manchester University who were kind of sleazy naughty boys.
00:04:17And that's where my aide, he was a very sleazy naughty boy.
00:04:21We bonded over the fact that our mums had sent us with the same CNA dressing gown.
00:04:28We each had a copy of Gorilla by the Bonzo Dog Doodah Band.
00:04:32And we both thought that Waiting for Godot was the funniest play ever written.
00:04:36And I remember they did this sketch where they were both sewed into pink duvets on either side of the stage, and they were just sort of talking to each other.
00:04:48And the tutor said, so, yes, it was very, very funny, but, you know, what were you supposed to be?
00:04:53And Rick said, oh, didn't you get it?
00:04:56We were God's bollocks.
00:04:59We used to be in a sketch group with some other people.
00:05:02Then we became a sketch group with two people in it.
00:05:04When are we on?
00:05:05We're on after him.
00:05:06And that sketch group, well, a double act, went to the Comedy Store and the Comic Strip Club.
00:05:19Damien and Damien, we are the Dangerous Brothers.
00:05:22Brothers.
00:05:23My name is Richard Dangerous, and this is Adrian Dangerous.
00:05:27I was the original MC at the Comedy Store, and they came on after me, and they just went down a storm.
00:05:32They were just phenomenal, really, and I hated them from the first, second.
00:05:40There's this extraordinary energy about them, you know, and kind of focus.
00:05:44Go!
00:05:46Once in every lifetime...
00:05:48...and then we sort of snagged our way by being groovy and young onto The Young Ones and The Comic Strip Presents.
00:05:55They knew each other extremely well.
00:06:04They weren't frightened of anything.
00:06:06They were kind of like puppies or children, you know, and they just didn't hold back.
00:06:11Good morning.
00:06:12Shut up!
00:06:13The Young Ones was mostly written by Ben.
00:06:15Hi.
00:06:15In The Comic Strip, we all wrote our own episodes, and after that, we made The Dangerous Brothers.
00:06:21Ladies and gentlemen, my impression of Dante's classic film, The Towering Inferno.
00:06:26Music, please!
00:06:28We made these seven-minute segments of The Dangerous Brothers, and we found it the most painful thing we'd ever done in our lives.
00:06:37Because we didn't know how to write.
00:06:40You bastards!
00:06:40You're not the publishing of a soda!
00:06:43You're only the effects!
00:06:44You're the effects!
00:06:45You're the one of my bloody chargers!
00:06:48Stop!
00:06:53But to sit down with a blank piece of paper, we used to get the piece of paper, right?
00:06:57Right, what's the most exciting thing that can happen?
00:06:59Bloody hell, wait a minute.
00:07:01I haven't got my pants off yet.
00:07:04All right, there's an explosion.
00:07:07And we're like, what would happen next?
00:07:09What's better than an explosion?
00:07:12Ooh, a bigger explosion.
00:07:13And we're like, what's after that?
00:07:16Well, an even biggerer explosion.
00:07:18Wow!
00:07:19There he goes, ladies and gentlemen!
00:07:21And we'd get stuck.
00:07:23We got completely stuck writing these things.
00:07:29Fantastic evening!
00:07:30Thank you, and good night!
00:07:32Rick went off and did The New Statesman, I think.
00:07:36I think in the end he got a bit bored with The New Statesman.
00:07:40And the comics trip had sort of reached a kind of, you know, we'd kind of done that.
00:07:46We sort of met up, because we were still, you know, best of friends, and decided we'd get the band back together again, man.
00:07:54And we'd write what turned out to be bottom.
00:08:02We didn't pitch it to anyone apart from Paul Jackson.
00:08:05Paul Jackson was our ally.
00:08:07As a producer, he put The Young Ones together.
00:08:09He put Friday and Saturday Live together.
00:08:11He put Filthy Rich and Catflap together.
00:08:14So we naturally just took it to him, and he took it to the BBC.
00:08:19How have you done that?
00:08:22Do you get the drawings, or what?
00:08:25Yeah.
00:08:28Enough said.
00:08:29Where do you want me?
00:08:32Bottom exposed.
00:08:33Paul Jackson.
00:08:34Take one.
00:08:36So I went to Alan Yentup and said, Alan, do you want the next Rick and Aide show?
00:08:39And of course, what would he say except yes?
00:08:42And I said, great, do you want to see the script?
00:08:44And he said, yeah, what's it called?
00:08:46And I said, it's called Bottom.
00:08:48And he said, does it have to be called Bottom?
00:08:50And I said, I think it probably does have to be.
00:08:52And he said, I'd really rather it wasn't.
00:08:54Because we wanted to call it your bottom, or, you know, or my bottom.
00:08:59It was whichever.
00:09:01And because we wanted people to say, you know, on the bus stop the next day,
00:09:06did you see my bottom on television last night?
00:09:08Very simple joke.
00:09:11You wouldn't believe who they had in my bottom yesterday.
00:09:19So I said, well, let me talk to him.
00:09:20So I went back to Rick, actually, and he said, no, the very fact he's asked that question
00:09:24means we won't do it unless it's called Bottom.
00:09:27And Bottom actually was a more suitable title, because there's about two people at the bottom.
00:09:31It's not about bottoms.
00:09:34It's about the bottom of the pile.
00:09:36That was, of course, slightly belied by the fact that when the episode titles came out,
00:09:43the first one was Bottom Smells, followed by Bottom Hole, Bottoms Up, Bottoms Out,
00:09:49Bottom Finger, Bottom Gas.
00:09:51I mean, you know, it's quite obvious what the joke was.
00:09:52So, anyway, I went back to Alan and said, no, it's got to be Bottom.
00:09:57And he said, OK.
00:09:58With an uncompromised title and an uncompromised script, would the public take to the show?
00:10:10In June 1990, a pilot was filmed before a live studio audience.
00:10:15When we used to do a traditional sitcom in front of the studio audience, you'd have a warm-up
00:10:19person, and, you know, and he would introduce the actors, you know, and they would come out
00:10:25and we'd all be lovable and nice and hello and popular and everything.
00:10:30And then when Rick and Ada are introduced to the studio audience, you know, this is very
00:10:35different.
00:10:42Why did the pervert cross the road?
00:10:49Because he couldn't get his knob out of the chicken.
00:10:54Eddie?
00:10:55That's right.
00:10:56It was me.
00:10:57The BBC was nervous because it was being pushed even further than it was in the young ones.
00:11:03I'd just like to say, fucking bollocks.
00:11:07Because these are words we're not allowed to use during the show.
00:11:10And, er, so I decided to get him out of the way now, and then we can get the show out
00:11:14of the way and start talking like real people again.
00:11:16Thanks for fucking love.
00:11:17God, look at this.
00:11:21We're in bottom land.
00:11:25We like.
00:11:26Do you want me to smash the telly up later on?
00:11:28I just, er...
00:11:29Paul got the show off the road in terms of it being commissioned.
00:11:34And then he asked me to direct and produce it.
00:11:38You know, obviously there were doubts at the BBC about a show like this.
00:11:41Or even though the young ones have been very successful, there's always, you know, doubts.
00:11:45Well, the main set-up is that, er, my character's called Richard Richard, and, er, Ed's character's
00:11:50called Eddie Hitler.
00:11:54And, er, and this is our flat.
00:11:56Erm, we're both single.
00:11:59The whole reaction on the night is sometimes can determine your entire attitude to the,
00:12:05to the show.
00:12:05I know you shouldn't really rely on an audience like that, but that's your feedback.
00:12:09Er, it'll take a couple of seconds and then we'll be ready.
00:12:11Thanks very much for coming, and do laugh a lot, otherwise I'll come round and shag you all.
00:12:14I think on that first one they thought, we've got to write a proper script.
00:12:18You know, we can't write, Richie hits Eddie and falls out the window, and we've got to
00:12:22have something slightly more substantial.
00:12:24And so I think they purposely set out to have a plot, the Miss World Contest, and the argument
00:12:29about watching the Miss World Contest.
00:12:31Now, ITV, that's the channel for me.
00:12:34Nothing to worry about and plenty of sills.
00:12:37Really?
00:12:38And what particularly edifying programme have the Lights Channel prepared for us this
00:12:42evening that I'm not going to let us watch?
00:12:43It's Miss World, actually.
00:12:45How disgusting.
00:12:50They knew a lot about television.
00:12:52They understood how sitcoms work.
00:13:02Right, that's it.
00:13:03Get out of my house.
00:13:05Bec your pardon?
00:13:06You heard.
00:13:07No, I didn't.
00:13:07Well, I'm not saying something like that twice, young man.
00:13:09Well, I can't do anything about it, then, can I?
00:13:12The feedback was fantastic.
00:13:14I remember it went really well.
00:13:16And then you kind of go, whew.
00:13:17And then we had to write five more episodes.
00:13:30Um, we were petrified that it wasn't going to be funny.
00:13:35But it's not funny.
00:13:38Like the Emperor's new clothes, you know.
00:13:40That was our constant fear.
00:13:42Oh, God, what are we going to do?
00:13:45Calm down!
00:13:52I am calm!
00:13:53No, no, no, no, no, I'm not watching the bloody good life!
00:14:16Bloody, bloody, bloody!
00:14:18I hate it!
00:14:19It's so bloody nice!
00:14:21The young ones may have ripped up the sitcom rulebook in the early 80s,
00:14:26but by the end of the decade, normality had resumed,
00:14:30with schedules full of safe, likeable characters
00:14:33living in cosy, middle-class houses.
00:14:42What time do you call this?
00:14:45You watch the conventional sitcom
00:14:47in a kind of fog of reaffirmation of your own views,
00:14:51whereas when you watch something like Bottom,
00:14:53it's tremendously challenging.
00:14:55Oh, what a lovely day!
00:14:58God, I love Sundays!
00:15:00That you're constantly jolted out of your kind of complacency.
00:15:05Morning, Vicar! Lovely day!
00:15:08Charming!
00:15:09To be popular, but nevertheless to do something
00:15:11which is really interesting,
00:15:13it's almost impossible in a sitcom.
00:15:15And the same to you with brass knobs on, you steaming great twat!
00:15:23We acquired an office space
00:15:25and it was right next door to a pub.
00:15:28What could be better?
00:15:30Living in a pub.
00:15:32Right then, where are we?
00:15:35Here we are.
00:15:36Yeah, we used to turn up at ten,
00:15:38and the way we used to write
00:15:39was we used to talk about the world.
00:15:44It's one of the most delightful things
00:15:46about being in a double-act writing team,
00:15:48is you just kind of talk about stuff.
00:15:50All right, Dickens, get on with it!
00:15:53Observing people in the supermarket
00:15:54or someone on the bus
00:15:55or what the kids are doing at school,
00:15:58you know, mundane things,
00:16:00and then after 45 minutes...
00:16:03That is absolutely brilliant!
00:16:07One of us would say,
00:16:08well, what about if they...
00:16:10and you'd be in?
00:16:12That's good.
00:16:13No, that's good.
00:16:14No, that is good.
00:16:16Stout!
00:16:19Foxy's stout?
00:16:22Yeah!
00:16:22Yeah, it's got a ring to it.
00:16:26Foxy's stout seeks pig.
00:16:31Foxy's stout seeks pig.
00:16:35Shut up, baby!
00:16:37We were properly right till one.
00:16:41Then go for lunch.
00:16:43And that was the end of the day, really.
00:16:46Two halves of my old, please.
00:16:48In pint glasses.
00:16:49And, uh...
00:16:52It was a delightful period.
00:16:54This bloke goes into the bank
00:16:55and says to the girl,
00:16:56stick him up.
00:16:56She says, righty-ho, major boy,
00:16:57and sellotape his bollocks to the ceiling.
00:17:02We just used to laugh.
00:17:05I remember just laughing a lot.
00:17:07It's when we heard the jokes first time round.
00:17:10Fantastic!
00:17:11Four hours and 17 minutes to get in next door
00:17:19and remove the illegal gas...
00:17:21That's what makes the plan so flawless!
00:17:26And I don't know my next life.
00:17:28It was just a delight.
00:17:30You used to love going in.
00:17:31It was like going out to have fun.
00:17:33Right?
00:17:34You...
00:17:35You love...
00:17:36When, oh, when,
00:17:40will the BBC wake up and realise
00:17:42that his finger's going away from him?
00:17:44You know I don't like anyone to make it a...
00:17:46Leave that in.
00:17:53That was the line, wasn't it?
00:17:55That's what we wrote.
00:17:56In that time,
00:18:00we'd learnt how to put
00:18:01the emphasis on character,
00:18:03not on plot.
00:18:04This is where we'd always gone wrong before.
00:18:06We thought, you have to do...
00:18:07What's the next thing you do?
00:18:09And it's not.
00:18:10It's how do you explain
00:18:12what they think all the time?
00:18:15For inspiration,
00:18:17Rick and A drew upon the play
00:18:19that first bonded them
00:18:20in their early university days,
00:18:22Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot.
00:18:25You...
00:18:25Oh, pardon.
00:18:26Carry on.
00:18:27No, no, after you.
00:18:28I think that's where they learnt
00:18:29that the people at the very bottom of the pile,
00:18:31the people who have got nothing,
00:18:32the people who are just waiting for death
00:18:34to come to them,
00:18:36can still be very funny.
00:18:38And they learnt that from Samuel Beckett.
00:18:39It's your own!
00:18:41Moron!
00:18:42And, of course, famously,
00:18:43they did the show in the West End.
00:18:44They did a run at the Queen's Theatre
00:18:46of Waiting for Godot.
00:18:47What we mostly enjoyed about Waiting for Godot
00:18:49was how bleak it was.
00:18:51We find bleak very funny
00:18:53and despair very funny.
00:18:55That kind of sense of despair
00:19:03permeates the entire series.
00:19:08And I think it gives it a kind of proper grounding.
00:19:13And I think that's strangely what people enjoy more than the slapstick.
00:19:17Why can't we ever bloody win anything?
00:19:21Oh, don't be stupid, Richie.
00:19:24People like us
00:19:25aren't meant to win things.
00:19:27Well, what are we meant to do, then?
00:19:29Look,
00:19:30you get born,
00:19:32you keep your head down,
00:19:33and then you die.
00:19:34If you're lucky.
00:19:34It's one of my favourite lines in it.
00:19:39It's, uh...
00:19:39I think that's funny.
00:19:42I think their situation is very funny.
00:19:45Go on.
00:19:47Top yourself.
00:19:50The telly's busted.
00:19:51It'd be a good bit of entertainment.
00:19:52What an achievement
00:19:55to have such a well-loved sitcom
00:19:58which presents such an extraordinarily negative,
00:20:02despairing view of the world.
00:20:04There's something so desperate
00:20:05about Richie and Eddie,
00:20:07and you know that it's not ever going to get any better for them.
00:20:10If they were two Cambridge students,
00:20:13you wouldn't warm to them.
00:20:15You wouldn't warm to them,
00:20:15because you'd go,
00:20:16you'll be all right.
00:20:17Your dad will get you a job,
00:20:18you'll be all right.
00:20:18There's a lot of Laurel and Hardy in it,
00:20:30you know,
00:20:30in the fact that you're stuck with two guys
00:20:32who obviously can't operate in the real world,
00:20:35and all they've got is each other,
00:20:37but they hate each other.
00:20:39Happy birthday, dear Richie.
00:20:42Happy birthday to me.
00:20:44Eddie's looking to camera.
00:20:46It was just a direct steal
00:20:47from Oliver Hardy,
00:20:49you know.
00:20:50He does a lot of looking at camera,
00:20:52and we stole that.
00:20:58So many people stole from that situation,
00:21:01from Laurel and Hardy,
00:21:02so Steptoe and Sons stole that.
00:21:04Hancock and Sid James
00:21:06in Hancock's Half Hour stole that.
00:21:08I've got the Laurel of Contracts on my side.
00:21:12I have the knobs on my side.
00:21:14I remember when the first episode went out,
00:21:18we thought,
00:21:19oh, now we're going to get sued by Golden and Simpson,
00:21:21because we thought it looked exactly like one of their shows.
00:21:25You cannot put a BBC Two on!
00:21:27No!
00:21:29Yes, I do!
00:21:31No, Eddie, no!
00:21:32This is stupid!
00:21:33Yes?
00:21:34They can't break away.
00:21:35Harold cannot pull the cart out of the yard,
00:21:38the famous symbolic image from Steptoe.
00:21:41Either of them couldn't survive without the other.
00:21:43I mean, for Richie,
00:21:44Eddie is his only friend.
00:21:46Hey, everybody!
00:21:48The birthday boy's here!
00:21:49Hooray!
00:21:53There you are.
00:21:54See?
00:21:55Look how popular you are.
00:21:58You know, one of the things that's interesting
00:21:59throughout is how the relationship
00:22:01ebbs and flows, really,
00:22:02that at one point one is dominant,
00:22:04and then the other one's dominant.
00:22:05Oh, one more thing.
00:22:06Yeah?
00:22:07Well, seeing as you're here,
00:22:08we'd like to kick Eddie in the bollocks.
00:22:11Don't mind if I do.
00:22:12Thank you very much.
00:22:13You're my guest.
00:22:15They're always stabbing each other in the back,
00:22:17but always kind of coming together.
00:22:19Come on.
00:22:20Let's shake and make up.
00:22:25Great guy!
00:22:28There are alter egos,
00:22:30which is the kind of version of Rick,
00:22:33which is ambitious,
00:22:35looking up to the stars,
00:22:36and vain,
00:22:38but completely useless.
00:22:41And Abe was just a psychotic, violent madman,
00:22:43but when he was in character,
00:22:45he was a psychotic, violent madman.
00:22:49I imagine most people think
00:22:51Richie wrote Richie and I wrote Eddie,
00:22:53but I wrote quite a lot of Richie
00:22:56and he wrote quite a lot of Eddie,
00:22:57because we were in love with each other's characters.
00:23:00Some 15 months since the pilot was shot,
00:23:05Bottom finally hit our screens,
00:23:07and with six to choose from,
00:23:09the team went with the most fragrant episode
00:23:12to introduce Richie and Eddie to the world.
00:23:14What happened there?
00:23:19I just don't understand it.
00:23:20I made all the right moves,
00:23:22I winked,
00:23:23I smiled,
00:23:24it's one of my nice ones as well.
00:23:26I sat down very nicely,
00:23:28leaned forward,
00:23:29put on my special eyes,
00:23:30and said,
00:23:31hello, big tits,
00:23:32look at this action.
00:23:33It's a running gag about Rick's virginity,
00:23:36whichever character he's playing,
00:23:38and they play that so well in Smells.
00:23:40Ugh, what's this?
00:23:42Instant sex appeal.
00:23:44You can get it in a bottle.
00:23:46Smells actually happens to be my favourite episode,
00:23:49because I always wondered what it'd be like
00:23:51for these guys to actually try and meet girls.
00:23:54Please, I've only got so many ribs,
00:23:56Noel Coward.
00:23:58It shows their vulnerability a lot in it.
00:24:01It's one of those episodes
00:24:03where they really want something for themselves,
00:24:05and what they want is women,
00:24:07what they want is sex,
00:24:08and they're not going to get it.
00:24:10I mean, just look at them.
00:24:15Can I help you, sir?
00:24:17I knew that, you know,
00:24:18I wasn't there to be funny.
00:24:20I was there to be a foil
00:24:21to their comic genius, you know.
00:24:24This is a sex shop, isn't it?
00:24:26Yes.
00:24:27I'll have five quid's worth then.
00:24:31I do remember walking onto set
00:24:33and seeing the sex shop
00:24:35and having no words at all.
00:24:40I really didn't think we'd get away with it,
00:24:43because some of the toys were so prominent.
00:24:48There's a last frame of me laughing,
00:24:50which isn't part of the scene.
00:24:52I think it's me laughing at Rick holding the dildo,
00:24:55but they put it in as me sort of laughing at them at the end.
00:24:59We are men of France!
00:25:08It's such a stupid idea,
00:25:10the sex, you know, sex spray and all the rest of it.
00:25:13The thing is, the story isn't that important.
00:25:17You're watching them perform.
00:25:18What?
00:25:21It smells like the drains have gone again.
00:25:24And with assaulting these girls,
00:25:26he's flapping his coat around
00:25:27and sticking their heads under his armpit.
00:25:30But it tells you who he is.
00:25:32He's a complete idiot.
00:25:33He'll never get laid.
00:25:35He's the only one who doesn't know it.
00:25:37Excuse me, excuse me.
00:25:40Is there something wrong?
00:25:43No.
00:25:44There's everything right.
00:25:47My love.
00:25:49Is that one mine?
00:25:50That's your bet.
00:25:51Right.
00:25:52We better get started then.
00:25:55When Bottom came out,
00:25:57I was like 10 or 11,
00:25:58and it was just incredible.
00:26:01Watching it now,
00:26:02it's almost impossible to believe
00:26:03that it was aimed at adults.
00:26:04Do you know what I mean?
00:26:10Obviously, it was like grown-up telly.
00:26:12You'd have to sort of stay up
00:26:13past nine o'clock to watch it.
00:26:15But, like, who was it aimed at?
00:26:17Gnadge's.
00:26:18What flavour?
00:26:19Flavour?
00:26:20Yeah.
00:26:21It's banana, strawberry,
00:26:23peanut butter,
00:26:25Marmite,
00:26:26or cheese and onion.
00:26:30Well, everyone likes cheese and onion,
00:26:32doesn't they?
00:26:33Of course they do.
00:26:34It couldn't have been aimed at grown-ups,
00:26:35but then at the same time,
00:26:37so much of it just goes over children's heads.
00:26:39Bags of E-Pris, go with it.
00:26:42Get two.
00:26:44Get two?
00:26:45Yeah.
00:26:45Wow, man.
00:26:47I remember watching this with my dad,
00:26:50you know.
00:26:50I mean, it was just the funniest thing I'd seen.
00:26:53It was ridiculous,
00:26:54and it was obscene.
00:26:56It was...
00:26:57I mean, you'd never get it made now,
00:26:59would you?
00:26:59Well, I don't think ultra-sensitive
00:27:01is our style, do you?
00:27:02Just grown-up boys being stupid and naughty,
00:27:07like, at the extreme end,
00:27:08and that's what was really popular and fun about it.
00:27:12I felt it was a real Marmite show.
00:27:18You either absolutely loved Bottom,
00:27:20or you went,
00:27:21I'm not putting that on.
00:27:27We absolutely loved the show.
00:27:28It was critically panned,
00:27:30and that always irked us.
00:27:32But we did have an audience,
00:27:34you know,
00:27:34so we won the popular vote.
00:27:37Plant that big one right on me, kiss her.
00:27:42We were number one
00:27:43when we first went out,
00:27:45until it was toppled
00:27:46by my wife's programme.
00:27:49Oh, what a disaster!
00:27:51That's my whole Sunday ruin!
00:27:53But then she moved to BBC One,
00:27:54and we went to the top again.
00:27:56Yabba-dabba-doo!
00:27:586.4 million viewers
00:28:00welcomed Rick and Aide's unique smells
00:28:02into their homes,
00:28:04and as Series 1 continued,
00:28:06it fast became
00:28:07a British comedy classic.
00:28:11Who on earth can that be
00:28:12at this time of day?
00:28:14Hello?
00:28:14I wonder if I could just
00:28:15read your meter?
00:28:16Hello, Mr. Gas Man!
00:28:18On Saturday or Sunday
00:28:20They do the work at home
00:28:22So if you're home
00:28:24on Monday morning
00:28:25get the gas man hate the whole
00:28:26Yeah!
00:28:27Yeah!
00:28:28Yeah!
00:28:28Yeah!
00:28:28Yeah!
00:28:28Yeah!
00:28:28Yeah!
00:28:28Yeah!
00:28:28Yeah!
00:28:28Yeah!
00:28:29Yeah!
00:28:29Yeah!
00:28:29Yeah!
00:28:29Yeah!
00:28:30Yeah!
00:28:30Yeah!
00:28:30Yeah!
00:28:30Yeah!
00:28:30Yeah!
00:28:30Yeah!
00:28:30Yeah!
00:28:31Yeah!
00:28:31Yeah!
00:28:32Yeah!
00:28:32Yeah!
00:28:32Yeah!
00:28:32Yeah!
00:28:36Like all classic sitcoms,
00:28:42Bottom needed a title sequence
00:28:44to set the tone of the show.
00:28:45So in June 1991,
00:28:47during production of the first series,
00:28:50the team did the obvious thing,
00:28:51and headed to a building site
00:28:53on a roundabout in West London
00:28:55to work it out from there.
00:28:56Hans!
00:28:57Dang it!
00:28:57How lovely to see you!
00:28:58Lovely to see you!
00:29:01So, this is Hammersmith.
00:29:03That!
00:29:04That there, see that?
00:29:05That is a bench!
00:29:07Yeah!
00:29:08Yeah!
00:29:09But it's not the bench, is it?
00:29:10No!
00:29:11No!
00:29:12Yeah!
00:29:13No, it's not.
00:29:14That bench has replaced the bench
00:29:15that was over there.
00:29:16Yeah!
00:29:17Where we shot the title.
00:29:18Nearly everything you can see from here
00:29:20is different from when we shot it.
00:29:22Absolutely.
00:29:23I remember the day being haphazard.
00:29:26Yes!
00:29:27That's right.
00:29:28Mainly because I was in charge.
00:29:29Well, we didn't really know what we were doing.
00:29:31We were looking for things, weren't we?
00:29:32Yes.
00:29:33There was nothing really planned.
00:29:34Well, I'd planned that window.
00:29:36Did you?
00:29:37Because it was a window.
00:29:38It was quite hard to get up to.
00:29:39We had to get some step ladders.
00:29:40Yes, right.
00:29:41So I had to plan that a bit.
00:29:42Made you stand there for ages and ages and ages.
00:29:45I thought it would be funny to see you guys
00:29:47in that window.
00:29:48Yeah.
00:29:49And then we'd take a tight shot.
00:29:50Yeah.
00:29:51And then pull out to reveal,
00:29:52ha, ha, ha, ha!
00:29:53You're just in the window,
00:29:54and the rest of it's construction.
00:29:55Yeah.
00:29:56And then see sort of urban life in the background.
00:29:57Yeah.
00:29:58Because I knew by then that we weren't going to come out
00:30:00once we were filming the series.
00:30:02So I thought, set it somewhere.
00:30:03Hammer Smith.
00:30:04Yeah.
00:30:10So.
00:30:11So.
00:30:12What's the set?
00:30:13Um.
00:30:14Pan global phenomenon.
00:30:16Yes.
00:30:17Not quite true.
00:30:18I don't think they knew who he was in China.
00:30:23No.
00:30:24No.
00:30:25So you had this idea to come over here.
00:30:31So we wandered over here.
00:30:32All right.
00:30:33And you said, we'll do something.
00:30:35On the bench.
00:30:36On the bench.
00:30:37All right.
00:30:38OK.
00:30:39Well, I'll set a camera across the road over there.
00:30:41And really you just made it up.
00:30:43I've made it up.
00:30:44Yeah.
00:30:45I think we made it up.
00:30:46Well, I think you also kind of polished it by discovering the editing prowess of a bus.
00:31:01My memory was that the bus came past and Rick just ran with it and you were left on your own.
00:31:16I don't know.
00:31:17Oh, I thought it was two buses.
00:31:18So one goes.
00:31:19And then another one came.
00:31:20Maybe he did run.
00:31:21Maybe he was clever enough to do that.
00:31:22I think he was at that time.
00:31:23Yeah.
00:31:24Do you remember when he was bright?
00:31:25Yes, I do.
00:31:26Gosh, it was a short window.
00:31:27But come on.
00:31:28Yes, I remember that.
00:31:29So.
00:31:30Hello.
00:31:31Hello.
00:31:32Adrian.
00:31:33Hi.
00:31:34I came here especially to see the bench.
00:31:35Did you?
00:31:36You idiot.
00:31:37Well, how far have you come to look at it?
00:31:39And over.
00:31:40Bloody hell.
00:31:41Have I come.
00:31:42Have I come.
00:31:43Have I come.
00:31:44Have I come.
00:31:45Have I come.
00:31:46Have I come.
00:31:47Have I come.
00:31:48Have I come.
00:31:49Have I come.
00:31:50Have I come.
00:31:51Have I come.
00:31:52Well, how far have you come to look at it?
00:31:54And over.
00:31:55Bloody hell.
00:31:56Have I come.
00:31:57I was on a cigarette bench.
00:31:58I had no idea.
00:31:59You know, it's not just his bench.
00:32:01No.
00:32:02Goodbye.
00:32:03I can only apologise.
00:32:06It's a very sensitive subject.
00:32:08Wait.
00:32:09Don't go to the pub without me.
00:32:20Stand back, birds.
00:32:21It's the Hammersmith Hardman.
00:32:22A pint.
00:32:23Two pints.
00:32:24Yeah.
00:32:25Sorry.
00:32:26Two pints.
00:32:27Cheers.
00:32:28Cheers.
00:32:29Cheers.
00:32:30Cheers.
00:32:31Well, we've done very well to get this far, really.
00:32:33I think so.
00:32:34I mean, considering how we shot some of that stuff, it's a miracle you're actually alive anyway.
00:32:38My daughter read my autobiography and she came to me and she said, I didn't realise you were basically a stuntman.
00:32:50Who did jokes in between the stunts.
00:32:52Jokes and lies in between stunts.
00:32:53Yeah.
00:32:59Bottom was celebrated for its outrageous slapstick violence, captured perfectly here in this fan supercut by Pip Maidley.
00:33:08I did a study of an episode of Terry and June.
00:33:23They spent as much time as we did.
00:33:24Right.
00:33:25Making an episode where nothing happened.
00:33:26From people walking in and out of doors.
00:33:27Right.
00:33:28And we would have 300 stunts.
00:33:29Ours were basically roadrunner cartoons with live action people.
00:33:31What!
00:33:32Can you talk about the fights?
00:33:33They're so good.
00:33:34They're so good.
00:33:35I did a study of an episode of Terry and June.
00:33:36They spent as much time as we did.
00:33:37Right.
00:33:38Making an episode where nothing happened.
00:33:40From people walking in and out of doors.
00:33:43Right.
00:33:44And we would have 300 stunts.
00:33:46Yeah.
00:33:47Ours were basically roadrunner cartoons with live action people.
00:33:50What?
00:33:51Can we talk about the fights?
00:33:57They're so clever.
00:34:01To receive a punch with your head at the right time
00:34:04and a kick in the crotch and for your body to convulse at the right time
00:34:08is a real skill.
00:34:10I mean, they're just amazing stuntmen.
00:34:11We had no formal stunt or fight training.
00:34:21One more take.
00:34:23Yeah, fine.
00:34:29We were desperate to get people to laugh.
00:34:32It was just a sheer desperation.
00:34:35How did you hit me in the face with that?
00:34:36Sorry.
00:34:38I've got a permanently damaged right shoulder.
00:34:42From throwing punches that don't connect.
00:34:47So it's not even how you'd actually hit someone.
00:34:50You do it in a much more exaggerated way.
00:34:52Great idea!
00:34:54What'd you do that for?
00:34:57This occasionally pops out.
00:35:01I can't sleep on one side because of my shoulder
00:35:04because I was trying to get a laugh in the 90s.
00:35:07Don't! I'm collecting for the needy.
00:35:10This is for victims of domestic violence.
00:35:14Thank you very much.
00:35:19I love Bugs Bunny and Wile E. Coyote and Tom and Jerry.
00:35:22You grow up with all of that.
00:35:24This is that next level where there's blood and broken bones.
00:35:30But by the end of the episode, everyone's back to normal again.
00:35:33Do you know what I mean?
00:35:33No one's going to die.
00:35:35It's just, like, horrifically, gratuitously violent.
00:35:39Do you know what it is?
00:35:46It's the sound effects.
00:35:49Because they really sell everything.
00:35:53Everything sounds really heavy and sharp and gooey.
00:35:57Like, with a pencil going through kind of like a layer of kind of like cartilage or gristle.
00:36:04Right.
00:36:05And then, like, this, like, squelch.
00:36:09Yeah, it's brilliant.
00:36:10Right, let's get on, shall we?
00:36:17It was definitely a challenge, because there were so many sound effects to put into it.
00:36:24And also because of the live nature.
00:36:28And they're throwing an extra punch or an extra frying pan hit.
00:36:31And I've got to be very ready with my finger on the button.
00:36:41They're all from BBC Sound effect libraries.
00:36:43But I would often blend two together.
00:36:45I might have a punch plus a sort of a squidgy noise for a broom hitting a man's sellotape to the ceiling.
00:36:55When I was winched up, they had a couple of people on ladders to put the sellotape on the ceiling.
00:37:01You know, so it was quite uncomfortable.
00:37:03And then I got whacked in the ghoulies.
00:37:08Some of the things weren't from sound effects.
00:37:09I could remember BBC plastic spoons being crunched for some bones, actually.
00:37:14That's right.
00:37:19No!
00:37:21Polystyrene cups for tea.
00:37:24And twisting a polystyrene cup in front of the microphone could make sounds of bones or necks or...
00:37:31..that kind of thing.
00:37:32Ah!
00:37:34There was some discussion about cutting a hole in the set,
00:37:38but then he had to be moved as well at the end of that scene.
00:37:42So we made a skate for him to sit on, and he tucked his leg underneath.
00:37:45Very uncomfortable.
00:37:46The slide down the stairs was really complicated.
00:37:57Well, don't you worry.
00:37:58He can't get down the steps without us.
00:38:01We used a stuntman for that.
00:38:02He did the damn stunt on the James Bond film.
00:38:06It was the highest paid stunt that year, I think.
00:38:09But he was pretty scared on that stairs, because he kept asking for us to go slower.
00:38:15Which we didn't.
00:38:17Ah!
00:38:17Ah!
00:38:18Ah!
00:38:18We made the pliers and all the softs that he was banging his head on.
00:38:27The toilet, the table.
00:38:29We made a lot of soft props like that.
00:38:33Loads of frying pans.
00:38:35A couple of pokers.
00:38:36It ended up looking like a shape of his head.
00:38:40And they were quite difficult to make, because they really went at each other, these two.
00:38:44As series one continued, we saw Ritchie and Eddie welcome their first visitor.
00:38:56Calm.
00:38:58Hello.
00:38:59I wonder if I could just read your meter.
00:39:02Gas is one of my favourite episodes, because it is slapstick comedy at its very best.
00:39:08Gas man!
00:39:09Gas man!
00:39:10The performances of Rick and Ed are spot on, from start to finish.
00:39:16It's just one of the best half hours of comedy I've ever watched.
00:39:20Right, I think I'll be on my way then.
00:39:23Move!
00:39:24Move!
00:39:25Wait!
00:39:26What is it?
00:39:28Do you want a cup of tea?
00:39:30The gas man goes along with their shenanigans in a way that no normal person would, you know?
00:39:39Three mugs of steaming cold tea.
00:39:44Better drink it before he gets warm.
00:39:47I just love how desperate Ritchie and Eddie get towards the end of the scene.
00:39:52I'll just be on my way then.
00:39:53No!
00:39:54You can't go!
00:39:55Well, why not?
00:39:56Because I love you.
00:39:59What?
00:40:00I love you and I can't live without you.
00:40:02At least not for the next eight minutes.
00:40:03It goes on and on and on.
00:40:05You go, it can't build any more.
00:40:07But then it does.
00:40:08And this is the thing about Bottom, that it just builds and builds and builds and builds.
00:40:12No, I'm afraid I'm on my way.
00:40:14You're not going anywhere!
00:40:15Just when you think Ritchie and Eddie can't get any worse, they'll get even more violent.
00:40:26Now, that was supposed to last, like, I don't know, three or four hits and a bash and it was done.
00:40:31But they wouldn't stop.
00:40:33And I think there was a little bit of a competition going on with them, a bit.
00:40:43And so it kept going and kept going.
00:40:45And I was looking at it going, we're never going to finish.
00:40:48Wake up!
00:40:52It was a great sequence.
00:40:53That's one of those things where you go, this is perfect.
00:40:56I'm just going to sit back and watch this.
00:40:58They can go on as long as they like.
00:40:59This is hilarious.
00:41:01You were laughing then.
00:41:02But it wasn't just Bottom's violence that created equal amounts of joy and consternation.
00:41:10Tonight's the night.
00:41:11I'm actually going to do it.
00:41:14It was the sexy stuff, too.
00:41:16See you in a mo.
00:41:19A sex mo.
00:41:32Don't say it.
00:41:39A bit of a limp cock you've got there.
00:41:45You want someone homeless?
00:41:54Oh, you raven-haired temptress from below stairs.
00:41:57Cooking skills.
00:42:00Pork.
00:42:01What's going to be with?
00:42:03Yeah, that's not your birthday.
00:42:03Want to come for a ride with me?
00:42:08And a wazzle pair of jokes.
00:42:10Merry bloody Christmas!
00:42:15I had a fan come up to me once and talk about how sexist it was.
00:42:22Right.
00:42:24Which I really don't think it is.
00:42:26What would you like?
00:42:27Oh.
00:42:29Sexual favours now, is it?
00:42:31No.
00:42:31What do you mean, no?
00:42:33What's wrong with me?
00:42:34Well, I would have thought that was patently obvious to everyone.
00:42:38The comedy is in poking funny attitudes.
00:42:44I'm not a homosexual, if that's what you're thinking.
00:42:47Yeah, but you're not strictly heterosexual, are you, Richard?
00:42:51Judas!
00:42:52You're challenging the conversation.
00:42:54You're challenging people's thoughts.
00:42:56You're challenging people's ideas.
00:42:57And I think that's what comedy should do.
00:42:59Because you're doing it in a light-hearted way.
00:43:00I've never done it with a bloke.
00:43:02Yeah, but you've never done it with a bird, either, have you?
00:43:05No.
00:43:07Rick talks about sex and not having sex and wanting sex.
00:43:12And if only he could have sex.
00:43:14This is his life's work.
00:43:16Are you a page three girl?
00:43:17Because I'm sure if you wanted to, you could be.
00:43:20Richard is sexually frustrated, a desperate, sex-obsessed virgin.
00:43:26But, you know, he just wants to be loved, really, doesn't he?
00:43:29Despite being a disgraceful, filthy human being.
00:43:34Have you any idea how women actually feel?
00:43:38No, I haven't.
00:43:39That's my problem, really.
00:43:41It's a magic trick.
00:43:42It is a magic trick.
00:43:43Like, it blows my mind.
00:43:44It's incredibly hard to do, to say half the stuff that comes out of his mouth, and not have the audience go, oh, you rotter.
00:43:52And if I may say so, what a charming blouse you've got on.
00:43:55These knickers, well, they were something else.
00:43:58The Y-fronts.
00:43:59I actually had to have those made especially.
00:44:02So, I don't know what some of the dressmakers that were working for thought this was all about.
00:44:08Richie and Eddie's pitiful attitude towards women came to the fore in the first episode of series two,
00:44:15when they hatched a plan to find that special someone.
00:44:18Now, what sort of woman are you looking for?
00:44:21Um, Kim Bassenger.
00:44:23I remember being really, really nervous, and sitting in the make-up room on the recording night,
00:44:29and Rick coming over to me, and he whispers in my ear, and he says,
00:44:34if I say or do anything really weird or off, don't take any notice.
00:44:40I just get so nervous.
00:44:42I think that should work.
00:44:43If you want to get off with an insane...
00:44:45LAUGHTER
00:44:46And I was like, oh, my God, how generous of him.
00:44:58When I was feeling really nervous, he didn't know that.
00:45:01He was just thinking about putting me at my ease,
00:45:05because he gets in such a state about it,
00:45:07and I just thought, well, if he's like that, you know, that's so reassuring.
00:45:13They were incredibly nice during rehearsals,
00:45:15and made sure that everybody was having a good time.
00:45:25Come on, I want you!
00:45:28And they were very particular about what to do.
00:45:31I mean, they knew what they wanted,
00:45:33but also it was a really happy ship working with them,
00:45:36so it was just such pleasure.
00:45:38LAUGHTER
00:45:39Like their sex lives, series two continued to satisfy.
00:46:06Ho, ho, ho, ho!
00:46:10Ha, ha, ha!
00:46:13BELL RINGS
00:46:14Including a Christmas episode that was so unfestive,
00:46:22it was broadcast in October.
00:46:24Merry Christmas, Santa!
00:46:26One of the best Christmas episodes of Tally ever made.
00:46:29I'll get on with the brandy-batter.
00:46:33Where's the brandy?
00:46:34Uh...
00:46:35Well, that's just effing marvellous, isn't it?
00:46:38Oh, hold your horses, Richie, don't panic, because...
00:46:42BELL RINGS
00:46:42VODKA MARGARINE!
00:46:51Contact!
00:46:51And who better to spend Christmas Day with them
00:46:55than the rest of the Hammersmith Hardmen?
00:46:57LAUGHTER
00:46:58I think Spudgun and Hedgehog are my favourite characters, isn't it?
00:47:03What is their life?
00:47:06You know, whenever I see them, I think,
00:47:08what is your life outside?
00:47:09Oh, gosh!
00:47:11It's been...
00:47:12what?
00:47:14Raining?
00:47:15LAUGHTER
00:47:16No, no, no, it's been ages.
00:47:18What is?
00:47:19Well, since we last...
00:47:21you know...
00:47:22We never, you know, with you.
00:47:25It's just got one of the finest jokes in it.
00:47:29When they've got the baby there,
00:47:30and they give out the gifts.
00:47:32He can have my Christmas present.
00:47:34It's a box of cherries, all gold.
00:47:37We'll have to wait for his little teeth to come through
00:47:39before he can manage the chewy ones.
00:47:40Oh.
00:47:42Yeah, look.
00:47:43He can have my Frankenstein mask
00:47:46I was going to scare the shit out of Richie with later.
00:47:49LAUGHTER
00:47:49And you can have my bottle of aftershave.
00:47:54It's a new one.
00:47:56It's called...
00:47:57Grr.
00:47:58LAUGHTER
00:47:59Gold...
00:48:04Frankenstein...
00:48:06And Grr.
00:48:08I just didn't see any of the signposts
00:48:11along the way to that punchline,
00:48:14and it was fabulous.
00:48:15And you're all wearing crowns.
00:48:17LAUGHTER
00:48:18LAUGHTER
00:48:19And I'm a virgin.
00:48:25APPLAUSE
00:48:26One of the things that I did like about it,
00:48:30we never went outdoors.
00:48:31We were always in bottom land.
00:48:33Bottoms Out is supposed to be an exterior.
00:48:35Oh, I don't know about you, but after a long hike like that,
00:48:38I'm just about ready to pitch camp and hit the sack.
00:48:41What do you mean, I can still see the bus stop from here?
00:48:43LAUGHTER
00:48:43Yes, this looks like a good spot,
00:48:46a natural sort of, er...
00:48:47Shithole.
00:48:48LAUGHTER
00:48:49We thought, we'll not shoot this out in Wimbledon Common,
00:48:53we'll build Wimbledon Common in a studio.
00:48:56I wonder how much meat you get on a Womble.
00:48:58LAUGHTER
00:48:59LAUGHTER
00:48:59Eddie, Eddie, Wombles don't exist.
00:49:02Oh, yes, they do, I've seen them on the telly.
00:49:06LAUGHTER
00:49:06I've always loved that,
00:49:09of sort of, you know, creating the outdoors.
00:49:11I mean, the Wimbledon Common set was fantastic.
00:49:14You know, had a pond.
00:49:15LAUGHTER
00:49:16LAUGHTER
00:49:19APPLAUSE
00:49:20LAUGHTER
00:49:23LAUGHTER
00:49:24LAUGHTER
00:49:26We were writing for a live audience.
00:49:30I think sitcom has to have a live TV audience.
00:49:33APPLAUSE
00:49:33And you need to laugh at the rest of the show,
00:49:36like that, only a lot louder, OK?
00:49:38Oh, I hate it when people say,
00:49:40you know, in our day, it was better in our day.
00:49:43Um, and it wasn't better in our day, it was different.
00:49:47In our day, a joke had to be tested against an audience,
00:49:51and if they didn't laugh, you cut it out.
00:49:52What was that film where they hit each other?
00:49:54LAUGHTER
00:49:55Deep Throat, wasn't it?
00:49:58LAUGHTER
00:50:00Those studio audiences loved Rick and Ade,
00:50:03and the vibe was like,
00:50:05we're just going to laugh at anything.
00:50:07LAUGHTER
00:50:08It takes it to another level.
00:50:09It's different doing a stunt in front of, you know, 50 crew
00:50:12to then doing it with an audience of 250 people, you know.
00:50:16Whether there are cameras there or not,
00:50:17you forget about those,
00:50:18cos you're performing for the audience for those laughs.
00:50:21Thank you, can I just say,
00:50:23what does a man with a two-foot cock have for breakfast?
00:50:25Well, this morning, I had a boiled egg!
00:50:29Like, I bet it felt really special,
00:50:31like a select few were there to witness these two
00:50:34at the height of the game.
00:50:37The atmosphere on bottom studio recordings was electric,
00:50:41so Rick and Ade decided to take that energy on the road
00:50:44to power a national theatre tour.
00:50:47I forgot to mention, I was actually born in Southampton!
00:50:50Don't f***ing clap it!
00:50:57Don't f***ing clap it!
00:50:57Don't f***ing clap it!
00:50:59Don't f***ing clap it!
00:51:00Bastards!
00:51:02Don't f***ing clap it!
00:51:03Don't f***ing clap it!
00:51:12In 1993, after two hugely popular TV series,
00:51:17rick and aid took their hammersmith hovel around the uk allowing thousands of fans
00:51:26to experience their bottom live there is no better physical humor i just think they're
00:51:32absolutely excellent but i'm hoping that this is a lot ruder than the tv because they can get away
00:51:37with it he said we'll do it if you build us the exact replica of the set but it worked we played
00:51:47the actual theme music and the curtains went up and there was the set and the the cheers and
00:51:54the applause went on for about 10 minutes because people were just so relieved that we were going
00:52:00to do it do the actual thing pretend to be the real people in the real place but with ruder
00:52:14words it's a no-brainer of course you're going to put it on a stage you just need the two of them
00:52:29don't you you just need the two of them and a stained sofa and you know you're on your way
00:52:34that's all you need oh well saves money on alarm clocks i suppose hey ho another day good morning
00:52:45world you bastard their relationship with the audience is you can only compare it to a bruce
00:52:53springsteen concert or something like that it's the the energy in the room is quite extraordinary
00:52:58night after night doing that physical stuff is really um an achievement you know you really have
00:53:10to be fit morning eddie scrambled eggs yes i think i must have twisted my trousers in the fall and you have to know
00:53:20what you're doing really because it's dangerous
00:53:22oh pack it in it you pack it in we're too old for this oh look at me sweating like i've been masturbating
00:53:33for a month
00:53:34yeah well you have haven't you
00:53:43well yeah but it's been a long tour hasn't it
00:53:47on the telly you play with camera angles to to land punches that just go you know
00:53:54they look like they're hitting but on live there's everyone's got a view from around here
00:54:01so you've got to go a bit closer uh which is why we we occasionally hit each other
00:54:07you all right i actually hit you on the nose then didn't i yeah
00:54:13yeah that's okay
00:54:16and sort of ended up getting stitched up in the hospital
00:54:23on at least three occasions i'll see you later
00:54:26righto take care eddie
00:54:27they weren't restricted to 30 minutes and they weren't restricted to television guidelines
00:54:40super fucking glue
00:54:42here look you two grab that
00:54:49christ he's coming back
00:54:52and i think that the life shows really came into their own because of that
00:54:57i've got a bit of a girly super glue to the end of my knob so uh
00:55:00be a pal and give it a bit of a yank would you
00:55:03all right
00:55:03with the stage shows the audience is howling for them
00:55:19why would they peg back what they're doing
00:55:23following the huge success of their first live tour the boys went back to the studio after a two-year break
00:55:34to record bottom's final six episodes
00:55:37three of which just focused on richie and eddie
00:55:44as much as i like the other stuff that they did with other with the other guys
00:55:49it for me it really kind of like made perfect sense when it was just the two of them
00:55:56and the waltzes closed as well hasn't it
00:55:59yes i had no idea i'd eaten so much
00:56:03it went everywhere
00:56:06you looked like a sprinkler as you went round
00:56:09it was really actually very attractive
00:56:13obviously bottom had been off uh tv for the best part of three years
00:56:18yeah
00:56:18we'd enjoyed the video of the live show and they come back with them trapped up a ferris wheel
00:56:22and the entire thing again it's like a play it's a two-hander and it takes place entirely in real time
00:56:27you know if we ever get through to the other side of this one
00:56:36hey i'm gonna change the way i live
00:56:39i'll get back to blighty
00:56:43find myself a piece of land
00:56:45find myself a beautiful woman
00:56:48heck maybe even raise some kids
00:56:52we always like the one on the ferris wheel
00:56:54that is the epitome of two characters in a small space
00:56:57having only each other to bounce off
00:57:00and that's that's why it becomes funny
00:57:03why are we talking such complete and utter bollocks
00:57:08i don't know eddie
00:57:13oh shut up shut up
00:57:15it's just the two of them are not going anywhere
00:57:18they're sat in the same place
00:57:20every single beat of emotion every comedy beat it's an absolute masterclass
00:57:25what's in this brandy good meths
00:57:29perno paint stripper mr sheen
00:57:32brake fluid
00:57:33and drambuie
00:57:35drambuie
00:57:38yeah yeah yeah all right you've got to put something in for the birds haven't you
00:57:44oh geez how are you alive
00:57:49i may very well not be
00:57:52we had a constant
00:57:55battle with the idea that we were
00:57:59unintellectual
00:58:01i mean we'd been to university
00:58:03you know we had degrees
00:58:05and people sort of
00:58:09were constantly saying
00:58:11that we were purine
00:58:13i mean
00:58:17puer is latin for boy
00:58:19you see
00:58:19i'm an intellectual
00:58:20so it's childish
00:58:22and people imagine that childish is wrong
00:58:25and i don't
00:58:27i think it's pure
00:58:28our small rebellion
00:58:34um
00:58:35was to at the end of every script
00:58:37when we used to write
00:58:38fin
00:58:39f-i-n
00:58:40which is the french for the end
00:58:42as if it was a kind of
00:58:44you know
00:58:45nouvelle vague film
00:58:47i was there for the fiery flatulence yes
00:58:55hello
00:58:57hello
00:58:58i'm looking for little dave hedgehog
00:59:01what can i say
00:59:02um
00:59:05they farted and fire came out of their bottoms
00:59:11he always recorded those bits
00:59:13it's one thing to set fire to your own farts in the privacy of your own home
00:59:17but to do it
00:59:19in front of a television audience
00:59:21with the possibility of of them catching fire as well
00:59:26is uh is too dangerous to mention
00:59:30oh
00:59:30sorry
00:59:32i'm doreen hedgehog
00:59:34it was a long time ago
00:59:36it was 30 years ago
00:59:37i can't really remember
00:59:39i'm just making this up for biscuits and a travel card
00:59:43and i'm just making this up for you
00:59:51and let that be a lesson to you young man
00:59:52let's see how much mischief you can get up to without any legs
00:59:55oh
00:59:57series three continued with richie and eddie attempting complex surgery
01:00:02oh
01:00:04i've sewn them on the wrong way around
01:00:06forging money
01:00:07how can you expect to pass off these ported graphic doodles as real money
01:00:12especially when you see what the duke of edin was up to on the back of a tenner
01:00:14who's that with him
01:00:17meryl streep
01:00:19and posing as a honeymoon couple
01:00:24oh eddie eddie
01:00:25what what
01:00:27you've got your jugs on the wrong way around
01:00:29what
01:00:29but appropriately the show ended as it began
01:00:35just the two of them in their flat doing what they always did
01:00:39give me five eddie
01:00:45until they discovered a video recording of something truly shocking
01:00:50what is that that's not a model of a moon rocket isn't it
01:00:57what is she sticking in there for
01:00:59i mean let's just let's just describe her as what it is
01:01:01it's um it's it's the two of them audio describing john major
01:01:06in a three-way sex pegging
01:01:13in a hotel room
01:01:15i think they must be sisters
01:01:16yes that'll be it
01:01:18no don't sit there she can't have seen him
01:01:20then he'll suffocate
01:01:25i can't think that that's hygienic
01:01:29it's a great end to the series whether or not rick and aid knew they might be coming back for a
01:01:33fourth series or not
01:01:35hello give me the prime minister because i want to blackmail him
01:01:40richard richard oh shit for carnival to end like that is quite a a nice and brave ending for them
01:01:49hello what kind of sandwiches do you do sandwiches
01:01:54they say they don't do sandwiches they're a highly trained anti-terrorist organization
01:02:03if you look at the end of most episodes they appear to have as it were reached the cliff edge
01:02:09and be about to fall off it so almost any any episode could be the end of the series go a squad
01:02:17a squad go a squad go a squad
01:02:28oh shit
01:02:36just to go you know what we're just gonna have them gunned to death yeah it's like the sas
01:02:39maybe one of the most most violent endings absolutely the most violent death although
01:02:45they may not have known it at the time these were to be richie and eddie's final shots on tv
01:02:57but they lived on in more live shows and a movie before things took a tragic turn
01:03:09and the bbc never came back no you know um they didn't want any more
01:03:39it never kind of became a bbc one smash a room
01:03:45the bbc's appetite for bottom may have been sated but the fans were still hungry for more
01:03:53and their loyalty was rewarded with a trip to hooligans island
01:03:59they made so many bottom live videos don't stand on your special mark
01:04:09every fucking night all of my mates had different different ones
01:04:16it seems to be heading straight to towards me again
01:04:23and you go around and you watch them and
01:04:26there were 18 certificates aren't they rude you sarah and total wank biscuit
01:04:33yeah
01:04:49rick and a belonged on stage didn't they started exactly they absolutely felt comfortable on stage
01:04:55they wrote bottom when you look through the scripts that they are written like a play oh eddie
01:05:00think what we're missing like a script
01:05:08we're not really missing a script are we it's just that you can't fucking remember it
01:05:12but soon after the third sellout tour their partnership would change forever
01:05:20oh
01:05:28comic actor rick mayle is seriously ill in hospital tonight after an accident at his country home
01:05:34he's in intensive care in plymouth with serious head injuries after the four-wheel quad motorbike he was
01:05:40riding turned over and trapped him underneath
01:05:45rick changed with the accident there's no doubt about it i mean it was a very very serious accident
01:05:49it was touch and go he was in a coma for many days immediately afterwards and once he
01:05:55was recovered and came out he was on very heavy medication for the rest of his life
01:06:00and i know he told me he after a time he thought you know do i really need this and he he tried just
01:06:07classic rick he started just stopping the medication and he went absolutely apeshit
01:06:12now you've got to remember that i was assassinated there was an assassination attempt on me in 1998 you
01:06:17know probably by the blair administration um and that's why sometimes i can't remember things
01:06:22it was a different man um more emotional more complex catch-all phrase
01:06:38harder harder to work with um it wasn't getting better it was it was getting worse
01:06:44despite their shifting dynamic they pushed on with their much anticipated big screen adaptation
01:06:52with filming taking place mere months after rick woke from his five-day coma
01:06:57i guess asparadisa was a an odd fish
01:07:12i think we wanted to make it because touring was was quite
01:07:18hard physically hard and we thought this was this might be an easier way of you know doing
01:07:24delivering a two-hour show we were doing a week in each set like a week in manchester a week in
01:07:28glasgow a week in nottingham whatever and so we had nothing to do during the day and then we
01:07:33sit around the hotel so much even though they were nice hotels we thought god it'd be funny if
01:07:37richie and eddie were running the hotel wouldn't it i trust you've both washed actually the water
01:07:41was cold well there's no reason not to wash it it good grief we are british you know we invented
01:07:47cold showers to stop people masturbating so my introduction to bottom the world of bottom came
01:07:56through long car journeys on holidays when me and my little brother were probably 12 and 8 and i'm the
01:08:02older one only had about three or four dvds and uh we picked guest house paradiso are you sure this is
01:08:10the right place it doesn't look very nice it's right next to a nuclear power station dad this is
01:08:16the cheapest hotel in britain so we're just gonna have to make the best of it aren't we we watched
01:08:20it on one car journey and then for pretty much every car journey after that to the point where we
01:08:25could like recite it i learned most of the vulgar language i'm aware of from that film look mr twat
01:08:32it's pronounced wait well it's spelled twat t-w-a-t twat it was just it was just brilliant
01:08:47it really had a lot of great moments especially the physical comedy the fight in the kitchen
01:08:51is some of their best work in their careers
01:09:02and i think for a long long time my parents were sat in the front of that car thinking we were
01:09:09watching you know spy kids or something like that and just finding it really really funny
01:09:17we weren't we're watching rick males stuck in a chest of drawers with a dildo
01:09:22it's been good yeah all the scenes with me and have been fantastic
01:09:36two more live shows followed the movie putting them back where they belonged in front of a raucous
01:09:43live audience
01:09:51by the time we got to the fourth and fifth tours i was bored
01:09:56i was bored and i didn't want to be the person who was remembered just for eddie
01:10:08i thought eddie what are you doing
01:10:14you're throwing your life away i'm absolutely proud of it i love eddie
01:10:22uh but i didn't want to carry on oh hold me for the earth oh fuck it he's acting
01:10:36wait now when he's finished but the fifth one was not as good
01:10:40and when you've reached the top yeah you shouldn't plow on if you're headed down the wrong side i
01:10:49absolutely agree and so why haven't you retired
01:10:56come on eddie think of the money money what what are you getting paid
01:11:01no i'll make no bones about it we used to earn a shed load of money out of touring and you know
01:11:10i think the reason we did the last two tours was because we were both addicted to the money
01:11:16um which isn't a really good reason to do it either i don't get paid it's not me it's just that
01:11:22wretch of an actor who plays me oh you know come on what's his name come on you must know him
01:11:28that tosser that fell off a quad bike yeah they weren't as much fun and i wanted to be an actor
01:11:42and he was getting more complicated and it was it had come to a natural end
01:11:50it was one of the great sadnesses of life is that rick never kind of could take that on board
01:12:08yes yes i am here richie is here back where he belongs in the toilet
01:12:18i used to meet him uh sort of regularly for just to be chums and go out for lunch
01:12:25and uh his mind was already kind of uh getting forgetful by this point and uh every time we met
01:12:35he'd think we were having a meeting to talk about doing another another show and it was it was very hard
01:12:44eventually i came up with this idea and i said let's write something and we'll take it to the bbc
01:12:53and my thinking was they a couple of old gits they're not going to want it you know so we we dashed
01:13:01something off it was the uh mythical fourth series of bottom and they wanted it i thought it was going
01:13:12to put an end to the argument but they wanted it but it and i hate to tell people this it just wasn't good
01:13:19so i had to turn it down again oh it's so oh it's so he hated me for it absolutely loathed me for it
01:13:30look at you what's happening we used to be friends good friends what do you remember of the
01:13:43fateful attempt to write something in the 2012 or whatever it was basically a hooligans island i
01:13:50i understand and that there's a there's a typhoon of some kind yeah and so everything's going
01:13:58sideways so the coconuts and everything come flying past them now you're saying that that rings some
01:14:05bells and because rick had had an accident and so he wasn't so he couldn't drop anything on his head
01:14:10i mean talk about sports more yeah so no so we cancel the show there were some other good bits
01:14:19there was a an idea about democracy because only two people on the island and rick had been in uh
01:14:26de facto leader and as part of his leadership campaign he emptied all the bottles of hooch
01:14:33that were on the island and uh eddie became sober and we discovered that when he was sober eddie
01:14:39was a very cogent and intelligent human being he'd been to eton uh not as a student but when he used
01:14:47to nick stuff from eton running through the classrooms he couldn't help but take things off the blackboard
01:14:53and they all went in his brain uh and his his campaign was so good that richie voted for it and he
01:15:00became leader it was sort of all right it was it was tortuous do you know it didn't really work
01:15:06it's sort of it was bottom ish and um bottom ish isn't enough
01:15:18yeah the last thing we ever did was um let's dance for current relief or i was being the dying swan
01:15:24and um he came on and his job was to uh tell me to stop and hit me with a frying pan and uh true to
01:15:32form he uh he really whacked me that really quite quite badly and then i got through to another round
01:15:39and he came and he cut the rope from the ton weight fell on top of me i think that was the last bit we
01:15:45ever did rick died on the 9th of june 2014 of a heart attack aged 56.
01:15:58i was sort of in the middle of the garden and there's a very little phone signal in devon and um
01:16:08my friend nick rang and said i'm so sorry and uh i said what about he said oh god you haven't heard
01:16:16have you and i hadn't because you know my phone and uh i was in the middle of devon and um
01:16:21um yeah it was a a remarkable shock i mean absolutely remarkable there was no hint of that gonna happen
01:16:41no come on this is a funeral funeral funeral what's the mood sad that's clever sad face oh
01:16:53speaking to rosie his daughter at the funeral and her take on his death was that actually i had 16
01:17:01more years of him than i should have had because he could have died that day as well which i thought was
01:17:07so typical of her being very positive and and you know seeing the positive side of things even now
01:17:15find it hard to believe actually i mean he was so vibrant so he was a force of nature
01:17:23and uh you know the fact that he's not here is hard really so i might as well call the whole bloody thing
01:17:29off
01:17:36now you listen to me bustle
01:17:39you're just a door i'm rick
01:17:41fucking male
01:17:42it's very weird being in a world without him very weird thinking that he you know
01:17:55didn't know anything about brexit didn't know about covet
01:18:00you know i mean our relationship was strained towards the end and
01:18:06and when i do things like this and i i remember the absolute joy of sitting in that little office
01:18:16in richmond opposite the hole in the wall pub it was it was absolute you know the the distilled joy
01:18:28the the most joy i've ever had in my life i think making each other laugh
01:18:37properly laugh big guffawing belly laugh laughs you know proper can't stop laughing laughs
01:18:46very rarely you you you get a relationship like that with someone
01:18:58well i have to say he's my best friend um otherwise he kicked my teeth in
01:19:10you know i mentioned um
01:19:17the way we used to write each other's characters and we're in love with each other's characters
01:19:22i miss
01:19:31that love
01:19:38yeah
01:19:42i miss that other opinion of me
01:19:48a very loving opinion
01:19:52all rick have made of us doing this documentary this celebration of a show 30 years after the
01:19:59initial production event uh rick would have hated a program like this and would have told you to
01:20:03fuck off
01:20:06i mean that quite sincerely
01:20:22oh safe on sand at last i never thought we'd get away with it it's always a good way to finish
01:20:28in a moment of you bastard feeling poorly again are you no you are the end what that do
01:20:37afraid not boys it's just trying to find that moment where you normally freeze frame and then run the
01:20:43music
01:20:58i'm just going to show that back to you just one or two things you have to start
01:21:01yeah i remember the end credits very well because it was one of the most knackering things we ever did
01:21:16i think we did it five times
01:21:19it's incredibly physical um it probably doesn't look it but you know we were we enjoyed a drink and
01:21:35didn't do much exercise we were a couple of has-beens and we were you know knackered
01:21:41we did the end credits before we did anything else and i remember thinking who are these guys
01:21:52what have i been put on what is this show and i think it was before i'd seen a script or anything
01:22:00and they're just you know doing all this against the background and i just thought
01:22:04i don't know what this is i don't know what it's going to be like
01:22:11it was quite revolutionary in those days we thought that we would shoot them silhouette
01:22:20and then when we were running the credits over the silhouetted figures i said would you be able
01:22:26to make the letters white when it's going over the black and can they be black when it's going over
01:22:31the white so we started kicking the machines down on the basement of bbc i managed to get it to do it
01:22:38and it was great i went we have not seen anything like this before and we've got these two lunatics
01:22:44fighting in the background and we've got the bum notes music i said this is it these are great closing
01:22:49titles what okay no i'm fucked i wasn't talking about your career love
01:22:58over three decades on from our introduction to these unreconstructed it's not your fault that you're
01:23:09lesbians no please give me one more chance come back to my place and i'll cure you
01:23:16it unhygienic that's not crest that's like yogurt you started during the gulf war might as well
01:23:23finish it environmentally unfriendly i thought i'd burn it off what your face
01:23:29well the excess gas really and how long do you think it'll take to burn off the entire north sea
01:23:34gas reserves underachievers absolutely nothing to do for 24 hours that's a bit like every other day
01:23:40then really richie and eddie still remain one of british comedy's greatest double acts
01:23:49we're still talking about bottom 30 is on because i don't think anything else has replaced it
01:23:54because times have changed and we can't roll our sleeves up and get so filthy and dirty and violent
01:24:02and immoral we can't go there so there's a part of us that gets a vicarious pleasure from seeing them do it
01:24:10so well i think one of the enduring things of it is that they're doing anything that they want you know
01:24:22this is just like selva and louise isn't it the freedom that they they gave themselves and and they
01:24:31do it so quickly the pace is amazing how are you feeling by the way i think if you hated them it
01:24:40would have never have worked i'll help you shall i it'll be more erotic
01:24:48how the bras work i've never seen one before i think that they caught that sympathy while being
01:24:58completely repugnant and funny at the same time
01:25:04i mean it's a major achievement what they managed to do look out parting shot get down what duck who
01:25:10where they caught me with a blue dart the thing that some comedians forget that that rick and aid never
01:25:20forgot is that what makes a comedy show it's the audience laughing as much and as often as possible right
01:25:27on the end of the knob and they never let anybody down with that oh that was a bloody good shot
01:25:35considering the size of the target being funny above everything else hello my name's james bund
01:25:46not a lot of people know that above you know realism above continuity it just
01:25:52wanted to be funny and now that's just timeless really isn't it
01:26:02so it's agreed then i'm the winner
01:26:08their relationship both on and off screen made bottom as funny as it was
01:26:13i can't find my fucking balaclava i just think they had a very special bond with each other
01:26:23and that definitely came across when you watched it that's what i love about you richie what you're
01:26:30completely insane when you watch rick and aid playing them they are just two mates sticking about
01:26:40having the time of the lives it just looks fun you want to be on set all right right well it's dangerous
01:26:47under there only from the swinging tackle they're never learning lessons they're constantly just
01:26:57putting themselves in dangerous scenarios for our pleasure what on earth are you eating
01:27:02lard you couldn't find anything that looked like lard so it was lard you are eating lard yeah i'm hungry but
01:27:17i'm too drunk to cook it was a joke what are you going to do not do it
01:27:24that show is just it's like was like nothing before and it's like nothing since
01:27:42and i can't imagine anything like it ever being made again so thank goodness we have it what are we
01:27:49doing just uh it's called television where do you think richie and eddie would be today um
01:28:03i i think it'd be quite good if richie and eddie
01:28:08actually did waiting for goddard if the characters did waiting for goddard
01:28:12because that's that's the essence of what they are and that could be quite funny
01:28:24oh that's a shame we just have to wait for a technical clear all right oh we are doing
01:28:33oh thank you very very much ladies and gentlemen well ed it's been a pleasure talking to you about it
01:28:37you too cheers cheers yes thank you very much we couldn't have done it without you and i know it's
01:28:45been a very long evening but you've been fantastic thank you very much indeed good night bottoms up
01:29:03oh
01:29:10oh
01:29:12oh
01:29:14oh
01:29:23oh
01:29:24oh
01:29:26To be continued...