# Comedian/actor Rik Mayall dead at 56 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** celebrity-death\ **Created:** [June 9, 2014, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedian-actor-rik-mayall-dead-at-56/690410 "2014-06-09T15:15:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedian-actor-rik-mayall-dead-at-56/690410/1 "2014-06-09T15:15:56Z")
[Cite](http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-27770266) Oh, dear ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedian-actor-rik-mayall-dead-at-56/690410/2 "2014-06-09T15:20:44Z")
Wow, his [IMDB page](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0562201/?ref_=nv_sr_1) shows how hard the man has been working. [Obligatory Lord Flashheart video link](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKfbSHW9uGAhttp://) ---
**Author:** ![Charley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/97f17d/32.png) [@Charley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charley)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedian-actor-rik-mayall-dead-at-56/690410/3 "2014-06-09T15:24:18Z")
Just saw this too. Very sad news - I grew up with The Young Ones and The Comic Strip. Love a man who can make me laugh… ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedian-actor-rik-mayall-dead-at-56/690410/4 "2014-06-09T15:31:12Z")
A “quad bike” accident in 1998? :eek: Talk about your slow, lingering deaths! ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedian-actor-rik-mayall-dead-at-56/690410/5 "2014-06-09T15:32:12Z")
I’m genuinely sorry to hear this. I was a student in the UK in the '80s and first watched the Young Ones and Comic Strip Live then. I’ll have to get out my Blackadder DVDs to do a Flashheart memorial-fest tonight. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedian-actor-rik-mayall-dead-at-56/690410/6 "2014-06-09T15:37:22Z")
I guess you can commit suicide by laxatives. It just takes awhile. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedian-actor-rik-mayall-dead-at-56/690410/7 "2014-06-09T15:38:03Z")
Aw, Drop Dead Fred dropped dead. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedian-actor-rik-mayall-dead-at-56/690410/8 "2014-06-09T15:42:00Z")
Bummer… ☹ RIP, (P)Rick. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedian-actor-rik-mayall-dead-at-56/690410/9 "2014-06-09T15:54:27Z")
And just yesterday I came this \<\> close to randomly posting “Doctor Martin’s Boots” on my FB page. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedian-actor-rik-mayall-dead-at-56/690410/10 "2014-06-09T15:55:00Z")
No mention of [Bottom](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bottom_%28TV_series%29)? He was brilliant in that. RIP, Rik. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedian-actor-rik-mayall-dead-at-56/690410/11 "2014-06-09T16:07:37Z")
Ade must be heartbroken. RIP Rik. You were one of the best of your generation and all of us who saw all your work will never forget all the laughs you have us. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedian-actor-rik-mayall-dead-at-56/690410/12 "2014-06-09T16:14:23Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > No mention of [Bottom](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bottom_%28TV_series%29)? He was brilliant in that. > > RIP, Rik. ☹ The article did mention it. I don’t like that show at all, but my GF does. She texted me about this a few hours ago and is genuinely upset. He did die very young. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedian-actor-rik-mayall-dead-at-56/690410/13 "2014-06-09T16:15:43Z")
Oh, man! I saw him live on stage in York many years ago, doing a stage production based on his New Statesman character. He’s the only British actor/comedian type I’ve ever seen live. Bummer. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedian-actor-rik-mayall-dead-at-56/690410/14 "2014-06-09T16:16:52Z")
Darling Facist Bullyboy: It was my enjoyment of Rik & Ade’s work that brought me to find scads more British comedy and even drama that had brought me so much enjoyment. I keep a signed cricket bat next to my front door, just in case any hippies come through. What a huge hole he will leave in the British acting landscape. Sleep well, people’s poet. ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedian-actor-rik-mayall-dead-at-56/690410/15 "2014-06-09T16:30:14Z")
☹ ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedian-actor-rik-mayall-dead-at-56/690410/16 "2014-06-09T16:38:25Z")
Here he at a do and listening to a speech when he sees the camera. God he was a very funny guy. Here's part 1 of an interview with Rik by Ben Elton about the 80's and the Young Ones which is very good https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUHOmSZwLZE ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedian-actor-rik-mayall-dead-at-56/690410/17 "2014-06-09T16:47:41Z")
☹ ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedian-actor-rik-mayall-dead-at-56/690410/18 "2014-06-09T16:58:36Z")
Oh shit, I really feel old now the young ones, the younger generation, are dying off! ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Ashley\_Pomeroy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c68b51/32.png) [@Ashley\_Pomeroy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashley_Pomeroy)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedian-actor-rik-mayall-dead-at-56/690410/19 "2014-06-09T17:09:20Z")
Poor chap. I remember he was in a quadbike accident several years ago that kept him out of work for a while, but I thought he had recovered. I wonder if this is related? For some reason I always think of him as the clueless but very violent SAS man from _Whoops! Apocalypse_: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnpKqFWsbSk&feature=kp](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnpKqFWsbSk&feature=kp) “We lost eleven men - but the dummies lost 28” I remember _Drop Dead Fred_ as his one shot at cracking Hollywood, but alas being a British film it went nowhere. One of Phoebe Cates last big(ish) roles as well. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedian-actor-rik-mayall-dead-at-56/690410/20 "2014-06-09T17:24:42Z")
Sad news. The Young Ones really blew me away, I had never seen anything like it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedian-actor-rik-mayall-dead-at-56/690410.md?page=2)