Bottom

Bottom is like The Young Ones a show I did enjoy a lot when I was young. Bottom is slightly better though. It's still silly provocative humor with Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson. Maybe not the sort of humor everybody will enjoy but if you like overexaggerated humor with some sexist passages you can't go wrong with Bottom. Rik Mayall is the absolute star in this comedy. His facial expressions, his body language, it's just hilarious. Adrian Edmondson is not bad at all but Rik Mayall is just stealing the show. It's one of those shows I can watch over and over again, the kind you know by heart at one point.

This crude comedy series is centred on Richie Richard and Edward Hitler; a couple of unemployed losers living in Hammersmith. Over the course of eighteen episodes they get into a number of situations where things inevitably turn out for the worse or their feeble plans fail miserably. Their frequent arguments inevitably end up with violence.

If you object to puerile humour you won't like this but if crudity and slapstick violence amuse you then you should find this hilarious... more than once I laughed till I cried I found it so funny. Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson are great as Rich and Eddie; in many episodes the only characters to feature. The violence is so over the top, in the manner of a 'Tom and Jerry' cartoon, that it is no longer disturbing. Characters recover from serious injuries, including having legs removed with a chainsaw, by the next episode. Overall I'd definitely recommend this to fans of lowbrow humour.

'Bottom' is one of those programmes whereby you know what it will be like before you watch it. If you like crude, dirty, juvenile slapstick then watch and enjoy. If you don't, then don't.

Edmundson and Mayall have been long famous for this type of comedy, so to watch it then complain about, it is rather like buying the Beano then moaning about it being childish.

Both are clever men and capable of doing more cerebral stuff than this. They just don't want to.

Long may this continue.

Bottom is one of my favorite tv-series. It is a really funny show with over-the-top-violence and starring two men who just refuse to accept what they really are: losers. There is plenty of needless violence, weird-situations and laughable special-effects which makes Bottom a real cult-series. This series rocks and everyone who`d enjoy a different comedy-series should buy the series on video or catch the re-runs on tv. Magnificent!

Richard Richard and Edward Hitler while away the hours with drinking, fighting, letching and the odd money-making scheme.

Bottom is the most British of comedies with its toilet humour, sexual innuendo and the pleasure it takes from seeing its main stars hurt themselves in numerous painful ways. Richie and Eddie are like a filthy and violent Laurel and Hardy as they insult and frequently batter each senseless.

Richie, played by the late comic genius Rik Mayall is a both child and adolescent trapped within a thirty-something man's body. He's almost (Harold) Steptoe-like in his desire to be a bit more refined than he appears, but deep down he is as much of an animal as his mate Eddie. One of Richie's greatest ambitions in life is to finally lose his virginity, but when you get to know the character you see why he is in the position he is in. Mayall's performances as this character contains mesmerising levels of energy, skill and comic timing.

Adrian Edmondson's Eddie is perfect foil for Richie's madness. He is usually either drunk or drinking and takes an enormous amount of pleasure seeing Richie either hurt or humiliated. Much of the harm that comes to Richie is directly from Eddie via a fisticuffs, household weapons or simply Eddie's blunt manner getting them into trouble.

These are a pair of early 1990s, post-Thatcher, recession era British dole scroungers with no interests except drinking, watching TV, attempting to have sex and filling their lives with delinquency to pass the time.

Some episodes introduce supporting characters like Spudgun, Dave Hedgehog, Dick Head, Mr Harrison and Lady Natasha. All these serve the show well to give more variety to the proceedings.

My favourite episodes are 'Gas' (Series1), Holy (Series 2) and Hole (Series 3). Series 2 is the most consistent in my opinion as it has no weak episodes. Series 3 is mostly strong with a couple of slightly weaker ones. Series 1 for me loses its way a bit in the middle, but picks up again towards the end.

A word of warning - the show contains lots of crude and misogynistic behaviour from the main characters. Take heart though, the audience is meant to be laughing at them and not with them. Ridiculing their outrageous behaviour is the point of it all.