# Rik Mayall: Accent or speech impedement? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 9, 2004, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rik-mayall-accent-or-speech-impedement/254314 "2004-07-09T16:59:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**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:** [July 9, 2004, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rik-mayall-accent-or-speech-impedement/254314/1 "2004-07-09T16:59:56Z")
Ok right off the bat, I think this may offend some folks but I have been soooo curious, I just have to ask! I’ve been watching “Young Ones” DVDs and Rik Mayall’s speech is just mind boggling to me. Seems that he can’t pronounce a hard R or L sound. Is this how he always talks, or jus this character? Accent or speech impedement? I also noticed that Terry Jones (Monty Python) speaks like that too. I know he’s Welsh. I wasn’t sure if Mayall was or not. So I apologize to anyone who also shares this accent (if it is an accent) for being an ignorant American. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2004, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rik-mayall-accent-or-speech-impedement/254314/2 "2004-07-09T19:34:57Z")
Yup, it is his way of speaking and no it is not a regional accent thing. That said, there is a regional aspect to this in that there is a type of London accent, blue collar mainly, does have this aspect. The show ‘Only fools and horses’ shows it up well, and given the ability of the actors, especially David Jason, and the production teams which employs someone largely to ensure authenticity of speech for the charactors then I’d say that this is a good representation. Jonathon Ross, the tv presenter and chat show host is somewhat famous for not being able to pronounce his own name correctly, as his R’s become W’s, he has a slight London accent, but I’d guees those from ‘The Smoke’ was say this accent is very mild, us Northerners can detect it easily though. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2004, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rik-mayall-accent-or-speech-impedement/254314/3 "2004-07-09T20:17:22Z")
He doesn’t have that characteristic to his speech as Lord Flasheart in Black Adder, so at the very least, he can turn it off and on as needed. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2004, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rik-mayall-accent-or-speech-impedement/254314/4 "2004-07-09T21:56:02Z")
Ayuh, I think it’s just a comic voice that he’s developed. In the _Rik Mayall Presents_ series, which leaned a little more to the dramatic side than his usual work, his enunciation was usually clear. (He played different characters in each installment.) ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2004, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rik-mayall-accent-or-speech-impedement/254314/5 "2004-07-10T01:22:01Z")
I remember years ago Rik appeared on the David Letterman show. Explaining _The Young Ones_ to Letterman, who obviously knew nothing about it, Mayall noted that he played … _“W’ik”_. My g/f adores him (she **loved** _Drop Dead Fred_) and refers to him exclusively as W’ik. (Not sure if that’s the exact spelling, mind.) I have heard this peculiarity elsewhere; _Doctor Who_ writer Terrance Dicks comes to mind for some reason. So it’s a London thing then? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2004, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rik-mayall-accent-or-speech-impedement/254314/6 "2004-07-10T01:46:10Z")
Rick from _The Young Ones_, Richard Richard from _Bottom_, and Richie Rich from _Filthy, Rich, and Catflap_, each have slightly different degrees of speech impediment, ranging from occasional, to not at all. It’s just a characterisation. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2004, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rik-mayall-accent-or-speech-impedement/254314/7 "2004-07-10T02:05:05Z")
Affectation. Like Captain Jack Sparrow’s swishy oddness. ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2004, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rik-mayall-accent-or-speech-impedement/254314/8 "2004-07-10T02:26:02Z")
I used to have an Utter crush on Rik. ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2004, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rik-mayall-accent-or-speech-impedement/254314/9 "2004-07-10T16:56:16Z")
> [@vanilla](#): > > I used to have an Utter crush on Rik. OH! \*\*Vanilla/b]! You were a quad bike in a previous life? 🙂 As for the accent/impediment thing, I don’t htink I can say for sure. I’ll say it is a bit more ccommon in the south of England, though, so accent might be a good bit of the explanation. Ahd, haha, I just _knew_ that Jonothan Woss would have to get a mention here. Likewise, (going back rather a few yars) a political interviewer named Bwian Walden. (Welease Woger!", I say. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2004, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rik-mayall-accent-or-speech-impedement/254314/10 "2004-07-10T16:58:22Z")
Mea culpa - the above might not have made any sense. [http://www.orangeneko.com/rik/guardia2.htm](http://www.orangeneko.com/rik/guardia2.htm) > [@](#): > > ACTOR Rik Mayall was seriously ill in intensive care last night after coming off a quad bike at his country home in Devon. > > Mayall, aged 39, suffered severe head injuries in the fall on Thursday night, and was unconscious while airlifted by helicopter to Derriford hospital in Plymouth, where last night a spokeswoman said he was stable but “very poorly”. > > Mayall began as a stand-up alternative comic, achieved fame in the 1980s in the BBC series The Young ---
**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:** [July 10, 2004, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rik-mayall-accent-or-speech-impedement/254314/11 "2004-07-10T17:34:16Z")
Hmmm… seems like you guys can’t agree on the accent/characterization angle 🙂 Oddly enough, I’m watching the Blackadder episode right now (hilarious!) and no sign of accent. Seems like the only way to tell is during interviews when he’s not playing a character. **Nonsuch** , was he just fooling around when he called his character “Wik” or was he speaking in the “Rick accent” the whole interview? ---
**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:** [July 10, 2004, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rik-mayall-accent-or-speech-impedement/254314/12 "2004-07-10T17:53:29Z")
Hands up—who likes me? I said, **Hands up—who likes me?** ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Boods](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Ms\_Boods](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Boods)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2004, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rik-mayall-accent-or-speech-impedement/254314/13 "2004-07-10T18:04:57Z")
> [@Thudlow Boink](#): > > Hands up—who likes me? > I said, **Hands up—who likes me?** I’ve got a Porsche! ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2004, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rik-mayall-accent-or-speech-impedement/254314/14 "2004-07-10T18:39:59Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > **Nonsuch** , was he just fooling around when he called his character “Wik” or was he speaking in the “Rick accent” the whole interview? Just when he said the name, not a trace of it otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![WILLASS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/54ee81/32.png) [@WILLASS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WILLASS)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2004, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rik-mayall-accent-or-speech-impedement/254314/15 "2004-07-10T19:38:13Z")
Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson are both quite well spoken in real life, it is just a comedic accent. With regards to this being a London accent I can’t honestly say I have ever noticed it myself, Johnathon Ross simply has a speech impediment IMHO. ---
**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:** [July 11, 2004, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rik-mayall-accent-or-speech-impedement/254314/16 "2004-07-11T02:50:04Z")
Ok then. How do we explain Terry Jones? Speech impedement? AFAIK, he’s got the same “problem” as Rik-the-character when not in character. ---
**Author:** ![WILLASS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/54ee81/32.png) [@WILLASS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WILLASS)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2004, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rik-mayall-accent-or-speech-impedement/254314/17 "2004-07-11T06:07:38Z")
Maybe he has a slight speech impediment as well? Is he from London? I’ve never really heard him in an interview so wouldn’t know what his ‘real’ voice is like but as far as I remember he has a pretty distinct voice - not easily placed as a particular region and more likely to be peculiar to him IMHO. ---
**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:** [July 11, 2004, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rik-mayall-accent-or-speech-impedement/254314/18 "2004-07-11T19:56:54Z")
Terry Jones is very much Welsh. It’s mentioned alot in all of the Python-related things I’ve read and seen. They attribute his screechy yelling to him being Welsh. He’s done some documentary shows for the History Channel, one of them being the history of sex. He definitely “slurrs” his R’s on that show. Exactly like Rik in the Young Ones. I’ve been watching some of “Bottom” with Mayall, and he doesn’t slur as much as in the Young Ones, but it’s definitely there. Also, in the episode “Time” of The Young Ones, in the beginning he plays an American Oil Tycoon and he’s got the “American Accent” down pat. So he can definitely do voices and turn off the slur. Ah well. I will continued to be fascinated and awed by that which is Rik 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2004, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rik-mayall-accent-or-speech-impedement/254314/19 "2004-07-12T05:01:08Z")
So maybe it’s a Welsh thing. I note that Catherine Zeta Jones also seems to have trouble with her Rs. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2004, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rik-mayall-accent-or-speech-impedement/254314/20 "2004-07-12T05:57:09Z")
I think it’s reasonably clear that Rik Mayall is putting it on, however, in general I think it is an impediment rather than an accent. I know or have heard a number of people from various different parts of the world with a similar affliction. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rik-mayall-accent-or-speech-impedement/254314.md?page=2)