couldnt believe it when i turned my computeron and saw this news. i was in my early teens when the young ones came out and it just blew me away, thought it was the funniest thing ever (and still do ), thirty years on and i still quote it rik mayall was a comic genius. some of the stuff he did with the comic strip was truly hilarious, mr jolly lives next door is one of the greatest comedy films ever. bottom, alan b'stard, kevin turvey and flashheart in blackadder were out and out comic genius. a sad loss.
As a young boy when Bottom was on he was my childhood hero. In those pre-internet, VHS days I sought out as much of his work as I could and got his less ubiquitous stuff like Filthy Rich and Catflap and Drop Dead Fred for my collection. I wrote to him aged twelve and received a signed photo (wonder where it is). He completely stole the show in Blackadder and as I've got older I've come to really love the New Statesman. I saw him perform as Alan B'Stard live in Ipswich in April 2007; he was excellent and although fluffed a few times he made light of it and worked in new material. I believe he cancelled the rest of the tour not long after due to health reasons. I wish he could have done more after his quad bike accident and hope that he died peacefully and happily.