History Creator / RikMayall

In 1998, Mayall's career was momentarily put on hold after a nasty quad bike accident that left him in a coma for five days, one he wasn't expected to wake up from. While Mayall always made light of the accident, it left him with memory problems and various health issues, for which he had to take medication.

Mayall sadly passed away on the 9th of June 2014, at just 56 years old, from a heart attack.

Mayall was also known for providing voice overs, mostly for children's films and shows, including a television series of ''Literature/WatershipDown'', ''WesternAnimation/TheWindInTheWillows1995'' (as the [[LargeHam hammier-than-a-sandwich Mr. Toad), ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'' and the voice of the puppy in a series of Andrex commercials. Mayall also loaned his voice for a few video games, he and Marc Silk provided all of the voices for ''VideoGame/HogsOfWar''. He also played the titular "Bombardier" William Charles Bedford in a long running series of adverts for Bombardier Real Ale.

Mayall was also known for providing voice overs, mostly for children's films and shows, including a television series of ''Literature/WatershipDown'', ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'' and the voice of the puppy in a series of Andrex commercials. Mayall also loaned his voice for a few video games, he and Marc Silk provided all of the voices for ''VideoGame/HogsOfWar''. He also played the titular "Bombardier" William Charles Bedford in a long running series of adverts for Bombardier Real Ale.

* SelfDeprecation: It's noticeable that whilst most of the characters other people created for him (Lord Flasheart, Alan B'stard, Gideon Pryke from ''Series/JonathanCreek'') were generally successful dashing rogues, the characters he wrote for himself (Rick from ''Series/TheYoungOnes'', Richie from ''Series/{{Bottom}}'', Kevin Turvey) all tended to be miserable unpopular losers.

* BeautyInversion: Frequently covered up his PrettyBoy / {{Bishonen}} good looks with grotesque costumes, make-up, and exaggerated expressions for his roles in ''Series/TheYoungOnes,'' ''Series/TheComicStripPresents'' and ''{{Series/Bottom}}''. Fellow comedian Andy de la Tour even commented "Rik was a very beautiful man, but in all his comedy, he made himself ugly."

* WagTheDirector: Rik agreed to appear in ''Series/Blackadder'' as Lord Flasheart on the condition that every single thing he had to say was funnier than Rowan Atkinson's lines.

Self-proclaimed 'pan-global phenomenon and sex god', Richard Michael "Rik" Mayall (7 March 1958 – 9 June 2014) was a British comedian, writer and actor who made a killing out of portraying [[UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist complete and utter bastards.]] Mayall grew up with two drama teachers for parents, and subsequently starred in some of their productions when he was a child. He later studied Drama at Manchester University, which is where he met his HeterosexualLifePartner [[Creator/AdrianEdmondson Adrian "Ade" Edmondson]] (the actor who played Vyvyan on ''Series/TheYoungOnes'').

* AmbiguouslyBi: He was very HappilyMarried to his wife, and stated that he "couldn't call himself straight". He frequently wrote his characters to be bi-curious, too.

* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Creator/AdrianEdmondson.

* PrettyBoy: When he wasn't pulling faces, Rik was [[http://i.imgur.com/Cn1NKiO.jpg extremely pretty]] as a young man. Even in his older years a lot of people still found him very attractive.

* BeautyInversion: Frequently covered up his PrettyBoy / {{Bishonen}} good looks with grotesque costumes, make-up, and exaggerated expressions for his roles in ''Series/TheYoungOnes,'' ''Series/TheComicStripPresents'' and ''{{Series/Bottom}}''. Fellow comedian Andy de la Tour even commented "Rik was a very beautiful man, but in every character he played, he made himself ugly."

Self-proclaimed 'pan-global phenomenon and sex god', Richard Michael "Rik" Mayall (7 March 1958 – 9 June 2014) was a British comedian, writer and actor who made a killing out of portraying [[UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist complete and utter bastards.]] Mayall grew up with two drama teachers for parents, and subsequently starred in some of their productions when he was a child. He later studied Drama at Manchester University, which is where he met his HeterosexualLifePartner Adrian "Ade" Edmondson (the actor who played Vyvyan on ''Series/TheYoungOnes'').

* HeterosexualLifePartners: With AdrianEdmondson.

* SelfDeprecation: It's noticeable that whilst most of the characters other people created for him (Lord Flasheart, Alan B'stard, Gideon Pryke from ''Series/JonathanCreek'') were generally successful dashing rogues, the characters he wrote for himself (Rik from ''Series/TheYoungOnes'', Richie from ''Series/{{Bottom}}'', Kevin Turvey) all tended to be miserable unpopular losers.

After performing various stand up routines, Mayall's first major role was in the British television series ''Series/TheYoungOnes'', a [[BritCom British Comedy]] about four students and their increasingly wild and whacky antics. Mayall co-wrote the sitcom with BenElton and Lise Mayer, and played one of the students, [[TheDanza Rick]], a character based on one of his stand up personas.

* SelfDeprecation: It's noticeable that whilst most of the characters other people created for him (Lord Flasheart, Alan B'stard, Gideon Pryke from JonathanCreek) were generally successful dashing rogues, the characters he wrote for himself (Rik from ''Series/TheYoungOnes'', Richie from ''Series/{{Bottom}}'', Kevin Turvey) all tended to be miserable unpopular losers.

* MeanCharacterNiceActor: He was nowhere as horrible and nasty as Rick or Richie. Creator/SimonPegg explained in his book ''Nerd Do Well'' after working with him and Ade on ''Film/GuestHouseParadiso'' that "They were everything I thought of them to be, with no bad attitudes or super powers". He loved playing horrible people so he could make fun of them and have them put in their place, basically. Virtually all his characters were snobby, mean, conservative, homophobic and sexist (aside from the ultra-liberal, anarchistic [[Series/TheYoungOnes Rick]] and he was certainly an UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist), while Rik was quite affable, critical of conservative politicians, identified as a feminist, and was very much in favour of gay rights.

* LargeHam: Oh, so very much. He's was like Britain's answer to JimCarrey.

Self-proclaimed 'pan-global phenomenon and sex god' Dr. The Richard Michael "Rik" Mayall (7 March 1958 – 9 June 2014) was a British comedian, writer and actor who made a killing out of portraying [[UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist complete and utter bastards.]] Mayall grew up with two drama teachers for parents, and subsequently starred in some of their productions when he was a child. He later studied Drama at Manchester University, which is where he met his HeterosexualLifePartner Adrian "Ade" Edmondson (the actor who played Vyvyan on ''Series/TheYoungOnes'').

Self-proclaimed 'pan-global phenomenon and sex god' '''Dr. The Richard Michael "Rik" Mayall''' (7 March 1958 – 9 June 2014) was a British comedian, writer and actor who made a killing out of portraying [[UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist complete and utter bastards.]] Mayall grew up with two drama teachers for parents, and subsequently starred in some of their productions when he was a child. He later studied Drama at Manchester University, which is where he met his HeterosexualLifePartner Adrian "Ade" Edmondson (the actor who played Vyvyan on ''Series/TheYoungOnes'').

Mayall was also known for providing voice overs, mostly for children's films and shows, including a television series of ''Literature/WatershipDown'', ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'' and the voice of the puppy in a series of Andrex commercials. Mayall also loaned his voice for a few video games, and he provided ''all'' of the voices for ''VideoGame/HogsOfWar''. He also played the titular "Bombardier" William Charles Bedford in a long running series of adverts for Bombardier Real Ale.

* TypeCasting: He was always playing self centered, badly behaved and over the top characters. Even on the Region 2 ''Film/DropDeadFred'' DVD cover it says "Rik Mayall gives a ''Bottom'' style performance."
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Almost played Peeves the Poltergeist in ''Film/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone'', [[http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/rik-mayall-was-cut-from-harry-potter-movie-9527815.html but was cut]].

* TheCharacterDiedWithHim: After his death the writers of ''Series/TheNewStatesman'' wrote an obituary for Alan B'stard.
* TheDanza: His characters Rick in ''Series/TheYoungOnes'', Richie in ''Series/{{Bottom}}'', Richie Rich in ''Series/FilthyRichAndCatflap'', and Rest Home Ricky in ''Film/ShockTreatment''.

* MoneyDearBoy: Mayall starred in a series of at least eight adverts for {{Nintendo}} in the UK in the early 1990s (see them [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w24KR30nEsg here]] and [[http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2012/08/feature_the_rik_mayall_nintendo_adverts_you_totally_forgot_about here]]). He spent his vast fee on a house in an expensive area of London, which he named Nintendo Towers.
* OneOfUs: If you pay attention while watching ''Bottom'' you'll find posters and memorabilia of comic book superheroes, such as the figure of Spider-Man that Richie plays chess with. Rik also did a large number of ads for Nintendo games and voices every role in ''VideoGame/HogsOfWar'', and in one of the ''Bottom Live'' shows Richie and Eddie reveal they play Playstation and have crushes on Lara Croft from ''Franchise/TombRaider''.

* MeanCharacterNiceActor: He was nowhere as horrible and nasty as Rick or Richie. Creator/SimonPegg explained in his book ''Nerd Do Well'' after working with him and Ade on ''Film/GuestHouseParadiso'' that "They were everything I thought of them to be, with no bad attitudes or super powers". He loved playing horrible people so he could make fun of them and have them put in their place, basically. Virtually all his characters were snobby, mean, conservative, homophobic and sexist (aside from the ultra-liberal, anarchistic [[Series/TheYoungOnes Rick]] and he was certainly an UnsympatheticComedicProtagonist), while Rik was quite affable, critical of conservative politicians, identified as a feminist, and was very much in favour of gay rights.