Rik Mayall
Richard Michael " Rik " Mayall ( born March 7, 1958 in Harlow, Essex ) is an English comedian, writer and actor. He became internationally known for his performances in the Blackadder series starring Rowan Atkinson and the movie Drop Dead Fred. He was in his native England also popular by the television series The Young Ones and The New Statesman. Together with his partner Ade Edmondson, he was one of the pioneers of alternative British comedy in the early 1980s.
Life
Mayall, the second of four children, is the son of John and Gillian Mayall. He has an older brother, Anthony, and two younger sisters, Libby and Kate. At the age of three he moved with his parents, who worked as a drama teacher, according to Droitwich Spa in Worcestershire, where he spent the rest of his childhood and performed in the plays of his parents. After finishing school, Mayall went to the Victoria University of Manchester to study drama. There he became friends with his later partner Adrian ( Ade) Edmondson and met Ben Elton and Lise Mayer, with whom he collaborated for the TV series The Young Ones.
Mayall and Edmondson had 1980 first successes in the Comedy Store, a comedian club in Soho, London. In other aspiring comedians such as Alexei Sayle, Nigel Planer, Peter Richardson, Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders, they founded their own club called The Comic Strip.
1982-84 turned Mayall the successful series The Young Ones for the BBC, in which he embodied the would-be anarchists Rik. Known the Mayall was the show Saturday Live, which was the U.S. Saturday Night Live modeled. He also gained attention with his portrayal of Flash Heart in Blackadder and his role as windy Tory MP of the Thatcher era in The New Statesman. In 1991, he starred in the movie Drop Dead Fred with Phoebe Cates.