He failed most of his O-levels and scraped through A-levels. In 1975, Mayall went to the University of Manchester to study drama. He claimed that he failed his degree, or that he did not even turn up to his finals, but in reality he graduated with lower second-class honours in 1978. It was there that he met his future comedy partner Ade Edmondson, Ben Elton, a fellow student, and Lise Mayer, with whom he later co-wrote The Young Ones. Career Young Ones and The Comic Strip Įdmondson and Mayall gained their reputation at The Comedy Store, from 1980. Apart from performing in their double act, 20th Century Coyote, Mayall developed solo routines, using characters such as Kevin Turvey and a pompous anarchist poet named Rick. This led to Edmondson and Mayall, along with Comedy Store compere Alexei Sayle and other up-and-coming comedians, including Nigel Planer, Peter Richardson, French and Saunders, Arnold Brown and Pete Richens, setting up their own comedy club called " The Comic Strip" in the Raymond Revuebar, a strip club in Soho. Mayall's Kevin Turvey character gained a regular slot in A Kick Up the Eighties, first broadcast in 1981. He appeared as "Rest Home" Ricky in Richard O'Brien's Shock Treatment, a sequel to The Rocky Horror Picture Show. He played Dentonvale's resident attendant as the love interest to Nell Campbell's Nurse Ansalong. Mayall's television appearances as Kevin Turvey led to a mockumentary based on the character titled Kevin Turvey – The Man Behind The Green Door, broadcast in 1982. The previous year, he appeared in a bit role in An American Werewolf in London. His stage partnership with Edmondson continued, with them often appearing together as " The Dangerous Brothers", hapless daredevils whose hyper-violent antics foreshadowed their characters in Bottom. The series, which continued sporadically for many years, saw Mayall play a wide variety of roles.Ĭhannel 4 offered the Comic Strip group six short films, which became The Comic Strip Presents., debuting on 2 November 1982. It was known for anti-establishment humour and for parodies such as Bad News on Tour, a spoof " rockumentary" starring Mayall, Richardson, Edmondson and Planer as a heavy metal band.Īt the time The Comic Strip Presents. was negotiated, the BBC took an interest in The Young Ones, a sitcom written by Mayall and his then-girlfriend Lise Mayer, in the same anarchic vein as Comic Strip. The series was commissioned and first broadcast in 1982, shortly after Comic Strip.
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