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00:00:06in 1991 the world was rocked by a new and explosive sitcom
00:00:15featuring two sexually desirable comedy guards
00:00:19smooth, suave and sophisticated
00:00:21big junks
00:00:23death by sex
00:00:26who brought an intellectual rigor to british television
00:00:30checkmate
00:00:33more than 30 years later it still packs a punch
00:00:37a few wallops to the head
00:00:42and mousetraps to the natchez
00:00:46we're diving deep into bottom
00:00:49this genre-busting sitcom that ran for three series
00:00:53five sellout stage shows
00:00:56and one hell of a feature film
00:01:00aided by famous fans
00:01:02the actual physical violence made me howl with laughter
00:01:07they're just two mates having a blast doing the best job in the world
00:01:11it's genuinely a joy to watch
00:01:15guest stars
00:01:16those studio audiences love rick and age
00:01:19sometimes you have to suffer for your heart
00:01:23crew
00:01:23i'd planned a shot for that and a shot for that
00:01:26not that that that that that that that
00:01:29and mr eddie hitler himself
00:01:32it's something in between art and boulder
00:01:35is it
00:01:36i don't know
00:01:40we'll be getting to the bottom of bottom
00:01:43so let's talk bollocks
00:01:44that that's all we have to do
00:01:59ah
00:02:01an approximation of the set
00:02:03i spent a long time on this
00:02:07i mean it's wrong obviously
00:02:09should be two doors
00:02:11edmund hitler come down here at once
00:02:17kitchen's in the wrong place should be there
00:02:26the organs gone where's me organ
00:02:33she's very famous isn't she but um
00:02:35very tacky
00:02:36i know i had a smoking jacket
00:02:39hang on
00:02:40it's got the same kind of feel
00:02:42it's a lot cleaner to be honest
00:02:46not bad not bad
00:02:49set dressers used to love us
00:02:50they could put lots of little jokes around the set
00:02:54and have fun with it
00:02:56they've got 30p and a second-hand copy of parade
00:02:59little porn mags here and there
00:03:02it doesn't matter how you art it up eddie
00:03:04it's still a jazz mag
00:03:08nice old telly
00:03:09proper telly
00:03:14very nice indeed
00:03:18it's a long way down
00:03:20first board
00:03:24fantastic
00:03:25okay
00:03:27do you want me to tell you the birth of it
00:03:29yes please
00:03:31how was bottom born
00:03:40Rick and i met in 1975
00:03:42at university
00:03:44we're both drama students
00:03:45we've both got degrees
00:03:48i think if you'd asked either of us
00:03:50what we thought we were doing there and what we were going to be
00:03:53we'd have both said actor
00:03:56i thought i'd go to university study drama but then i've failed my a levels
00:04:00but i got a free place
00:04:01because everybody made a mess of their a levels
00:04:04there's a load of us got in
00:04:05to manchester university
00:04:07who were kind of sleazy naughty boys
00:04:10and that's where my aid is very sleazy naughty boy
00:04:15we bonded over the fact that our mums had sent us with the same cna dressing gown
00:04:21we each had a copy of gorilla by the bonzo dog doodah band
00:04:25and we both thought that waiting for godot was the funniest play ever written
00:04:32and i remember they did this sketch where they were both sewed into pink duvets
00:04:38either side of the stage and they were just sort of talking to each other
00:04:41and the tutor said so yes it was very very funny but um you know what we were supposed to
00:04:46be
00:04:47and rick said oh didn't you get it we were god's bollocks
00:04:53we used to be in a sketch group with some other people then we became a sketch group with two
00:04:57people in it
00:04:57where are we up we're on after him
00:05:00come back you'll give it all away you'll lose the elements of surprise
00:05:05uh and that sketch group well a double act went to the comedy store and the comic strip club
00:05:12david and german we are the dangerous brothers
00:05:15my name is which are dangerous well this is adrian dangerous
00:05:20i was the original mc at the comedy store and they came on after me and they just went down
00:05:25a storm
00:05:26they were just phenomenal really and i hated them from the first second
00:05:33there's this extraordinary energy about them you know and and kind of focus
00:05:40and then we sort of snagged our way by being groovy and young onto the young ones and the comic
00:05:48strip presents
00:05:55they knew each other extremely well they weren't frightened of anything they were kind of like
00:06:00puppies or children you know they just didn't hold back
00:06:06the young ones was mostly written by ben
00:06:08right and the comic strip we all wrote our own episodes and after that we made the dangerous
00:06:13brothers ladies and gentlemen my impression of dante's classic film the towering inferno
00:06:19music please we made these seven minute segments of the dangerous brothers and we found it the most
00:06:27painful thing we'd ever done in our lives because we didn't know how to write
00:06:47but to sit down with a blank piece of paper we used to get it from the piece of paper
00:06:50right
00:06:51right what's what's the most exciting thing that can happen
00:06:53bloody hell wait a minute i haven't got my pants off yet
00:06:59all right there's an explosion
00:07:01and we're right what would happen next what's better than an explosion
00:07:05oh a bigger explosion
00:07:07and we're right there you know what's what's after that well
00:07:10an even bigger explosion
00:07:12wow there he goes ladies and gentlemen
00:07:14and we'd we'd get stuck
00:07:16we got completely stuck writing these things
00:07:22fantastic evening thank you and good night
00:07:27rick went off and did new statesman i think
00:07:30um i think in the end he got a bit bored with new statesman
00:07:33and the comics trip had sort of reached a kind of
00:07:37you know we'd we'd kind of done that
00:07:39we sort of met up because we were still you know best of friends and uh
00:07:45decided we'd get the band back together again man
00:07:48and uh that we'd write what turned out to be bottom
00:07:56we didn't pitch it to anyone apart from paul jackson
00:07:58paul jackson was our ally
00:08:00as a producer he put the young ones together
00:08:03he put uh friday and saturday live together
00:08:05he put filthy rich and cat flat together
00:08:07so we we naturally just took it to him and he took it to the bbc
00:08:14how have you done that do you get the drawings or what
00:08:19yeah
00:08:22enough said where do you want me
00:08:26bottom exposed paul jackson take one
00:08:30so i went to alan yendo and said alan do you want the next rick and age show and of
00:08:33course
00:08:34what would he say except yes uh and i said great um do you want to see the script and
00:08:39he said
00:08:39uh yeah what's it called and i said it's called bottom and he said does it have to be called
00:08:43bottom and i said i think it probably does have to be and he said i'd really rather it wasn't
00:08:48because we wanted to call it your bottom
00:08:51or you know or my bottom it was whichever and uh because we wanted people to say you know
00:08:57on the bus stop the next day did you see my bottom on television last night
00:09:01uh very very simple joke uh you wouldn't believe who they had in my bottom yesterday
00:09:13so i said well let me talk to him so i went back to rick actually and he said no
00:09:17the very fact he's
00:09:18asked that question means we won't do it unless it's called bottom and bottom actually was was it was
00:09:22a more suitable title because there's about two people at the bottom it's not about bottoms it's
00:09:28about the bottom of the pile that was of course slightly belied by the fact that when the episode
00:09:36titles came out the first one was bottom smells followed by bottom hole bottoms up bottoms out
00:09:42um bottom finger bottom gas i mean you know it's quite obvious what the joke was so
00:09:47anyway i went back to alan and said um no it's got to be bottom and he said okay
00:09:57with an uncompromised title and an uncompromised script would the public take to the show in june
00:10:051990 a pilot was filmed before a live studio audience when we used to do a traditional sitcom
00:10:11in front of the studio once you'd have a warm-up person and you know and he would he would
00:10:16introduce
00:10:17the actors you know and they would come out and we'd all be lovable and nice and hello and popular
00:10:23and everything and then when rick and ada are introduced to the studio audience you know this is very
00:10:29different
00:10:40why did the pervert cross the road because he couldn't get his knob out of the chicken
00:10:46thank you thank you thank you that's right it was me
00:10:51the bbc was nervous because it was being pushed even further than it was in the young ones
00:10:57i'd just like to say fucking bollocks
00:11:01because these are words we're not allowed to use during the show
00:11:04and uh so it's like to get them out of the way now
00:11:07so we can get the show out of the way and start talking like real people again
00:11:11thanks for fucking love
00:11:14cool look at this we're in bottom land
00:11:19we like do you want me to smash the telly up later on
00:11:22that just said
00:11:25paul got the show off the road in terms of it being commissioned
00:11:28and then he asked me to direct and produce it
00:11:32you know obviously there were doubts at the bbc about a show like this
00:11:35so even though the young ones have been very successful there's always you know doubts
00:11:39well the main setup is that uh my character's called richard richard
00:11:43and uh its character's called eddie hitler
00:11:48and uh and this is our flat um we're both single
00:11:54the whole reaction on the night is sometimes can determine your entire attitude to the to
00:11:59the show i know you shouldn't really rely on an audience like that but that's your feedback
00:12:03uh it'll take a couple of seconds and then we'll be ready thanks very much for coming
00:12:06and do laugh a lot otherwise i'll come around and chat you all
00:12:09i think on that first one they thought we've got to write a proper script you know we can't
00:12:13write richie hits eddie and falls out the window and we've got to have something slightly more
00:12:17substantial and so i think they purposely set out to have a plot the miss world contest and the
00:12:23argument about watching the miss world contest
00:12:25now itv that's the channel for me nothing to worry about and plenty of sauce
00:12:31really and what particularly edifying program have the lights channel prepared for us this evening
00:12:36that i'm not going to let us watch miss world actually how disgusting
00:12:44they knew a lot about television they understood how um sitcoms work
00:12:56right that's it get out of my house thank you pardon you heard no i didn't well i'm not saying
00:13:02something like that twice young man well can't do anything about it then can i
00:13:07the feedback was fantastic i remember it went really well and then you kind of go phew
00:13:21so and then we had to write five more episodes um we were petrified that it wasn't going to be
00:13:28funny but it's not funny like the emperor's new clothes you know that was a constant fear
00:13:36oh god what are we going to do
00:13:38calm down
00:13:46i am calm
00:14:03no no no no no no no i'm not watching the bloody good life bloody bloody bloody i hate it
00:14:14it's so bloody nice the young ones may have ripped up the sitcom rulebook in the early 80s
00:14:21but by the end of the decade normality had resumed with schedules full of safe likeable characters
00:14:27living in cozy middle-class houses
00:14:37what time do you call this
00:14:39you watch the conventional sitcom in a kind of fog of reaffirmation of your own views whereas
00:14:45when you watch something like bottom it's tremendously challenging
00:14:50oh what a lovely day god i love sundays
00:14:54that you're constantly jolted out of your kind of complacency
00:14:59morning vicar lovely day
00:15:02charming to be popular but nevertheless to do something which is really interesting is so
00:15:08much impossible in the sitcom and the same to you with brass knobs on your steaming great twat
00:15:18we acquired an office space and um and it's right next door to a pub
00:15:22uh what could be better living in a pub uh and right then where are we uh here we are
00:15:30yeah we used to turn up at 10 and the way we used to write
00:15:34was we used to talk about the world
00:15:39it's one of the most delightful things about being in a double act
00:15:41writing team is you just kind of talk about stuff
00:15:44all right dickens get on with it
00:15:47observing people in the supermarket or someone on the bus
00:15:50or what the kids are doing at school you know mundane things
00:15:54and then and then after 45 minutes
00:15:57that is absolutely brilliant
00:16:01one of us would say well what about if they
00:16:05and then and you'd be in
00:16:06that's good that's good no that is good
00:16:11stoat
00:16:14foxy stoat
00:16:16yeah
00:16:18yeah it's got a ring to it
00:16:20foxy stoat seeks pig
00:16:26foxy stoat seeks pig
00:16:30shut up baby
00:16:31we were properly right till one
00:16:35uh then go for lunch
00:16:38and uh that was the end of the day really
00:16:40two halves of mild please
00:16:42in pint glasses
00:16:44and uh
00:16:46it was a delightful period
00:16:48this bloke goes into the bank and says to the girl stick him up
00:16:51she says righty home major boy and seller takes his bollocks to the ceiling
00:16:57we just used to laugh
00:16:59remember just laughing a lot
00:17:01it's when we heard the jokes first time round
00:17:05fantastic
00:17:11four hours and 17 minutes to get in next door and remove the illegal gas
00:17:17that's what makes the plan so flawless
00:17:20and i don't know my next time
00:17:23it was just a delight
00:17:24you used to love going in
00:17:25it was like going out to have fun
00:17:28right
00:17:34when oh when
00:17:35will the bbc wake up and realise
00:17:36that his fingers
00:17:37you know i don't like anyone to make it
00:17:41leave that in
00:17:48that was the line wasn't it
00:17:50that's what we wrote
00:17:53in that time we'd learned how to put
00:17:56the emphasis on character
00:17:58not on plot
00:17:59this is where we'd always gone wrong before
00:18:01we thought you have to do
00:18:02what's the next thing you do
00:18:04it's not
00:18:05it's
00:18:05how
00:18:06how do you explain what they think all the time
00:18:10for inspiration
00:18:11rick and a drew upon the play
00:18:13that first bonded them in their early university days
00:18:17samuel beckett's waiting for goddow
00:18:19do you
00:18:20oh pardon
00:18:21carry on
00:18:21no no after you
00:18:22i think that's where they learned
00:18:24that the people at the very bottom of the pile
00:18:26the people who have got nothing
00:18:27the people who are just waiting for death
00:18:29to come to them
00:18:31can still be very funny
00:18:32and they learned that from samuel beckett
00:18:34shero
00:18:36moron
00:18:36and of course famously
00:18:38they did the show in the west end
00:18:39they did a run at the queen's theater
00:18:41of waiting for goddow
00:18:42what we mostly enjoyed about waiting for goddow
00:18:44was how bleak it was
00:18:46we find bleak very funny
00:18:48and despair very funny
00:18:56that kind of sense of despair
00:18:58permeates the entire series
00:19:05and i think gives it a kind of proper ground
00:19:08and i think that's strangely what people enjoy more than the slapstick
00:19:13why can't we ever bloody win anything
00:19:16oh don't be stupid richie
00:19:19people like us aren't meant to win things
00:19:22what are we meant to do then
00:19:24look
00:19:25you get born
00:19:26you keep your head down
00:19:27and then you die
00:19:28if you're lucky
00:19:32it's one of my favourite lines in it
00:19:34it's a
00:19:35i think that's funny
00:19:37i think their situation is is very funny
00:19:40go on
00:19:42top yourself
00:19:45the telly's bust
00:19:46it'd be a good bit of entertainment
00:19:49what an achievement to have such a
00:19:51a well-loved sitcom
00:19:53which presents such an extraordinarily negative
00:19:58despairing view of the world
00:19:59there's something so desperate about
00:20:01richie and eddie
00:20:02and you know that it's not ever going to get any better for them
00:20:06if they were two cambridge students
00:20:08you wouldn't warm to them
00:20:10you wouldn't want to because you go we'll be all right
00:20:12you don't get your job
00:20:13you'll be all right
00:20:16terror
00:20:23there's a lot of laurel and hardy in it
00:20:25you know the fact that you're stuck with
00:20:26two guys who obviously can't
00:20:29operate in the real world
00:20:31and all they've got is each other but they hate each other
00:20:34happy birthday dear richie
00:20:37happy birthday to me
00:20:39eddie's looking to camera was just a
00:20:42direct steal from
00:20:43oliver hardy
00:20:44you know
00:20:45he does a lot of looking at camera
00:20:47and
00:20:47and um
00:20:48we uh
00:20:49we stole that
00:20:53so many people stole from
00:20:55that situation from laurel and hardy
00:20:57so stepton and son stole that
00:20:59hancock and sid james in hancock's half hour stole that
00:21:03i've got the law of contract on my side
00:21:07i have been hobbs on my side
00:21:10i remember when the first episode went out
00:21:13we thought oh now we're going to get sued by golden and simpson
00:21:16because we thought it looked exactly like one of their shows
00:21:20you cannot put a bbc 2 on
00:21:22no
00:21:26no eddie no
00:21:27this is stupid
00:21:28yes
00:21:29they can't break away
00:21:30harold cannot pull the cart out of the yard
00:21:33the famous symbolic image from stepton
00:21:36either of them couldn't survive without the other
00:21:38i mean for richie
00:21:39eddie's his only friend
00:21:41hey everybody
00:21:43the birthday boy's here
00:21:44hooray
00:21:49there you are
00:21:50see
00:21:50look how popular you are
00:21:52you know one of the things that's interesting throughout
00:21:55is how the relationship ebbs and flows really
00:21:58that 1.1 is dominant
00:21:59and then the other one's dominant
00:22:00oh one more thing
00:22:01yeah
00:22:02well seeing as you're here
00:22:03we tried to kick eddie in the bollocks
00:22:06don't mind if i do
00:22:07thank you very much
00:22:08see if i get it
00:22:11they're always stabbing each other in the back
00:22:12and then always but always kind of coming together
00:22:14come on let's shake and make up
00:22:23there are alter egos
00:22:25so which is the kind of version of rick which is ambitious looking up to the stars but and vain
00:22:33but
00:22:33they're completely useless
00:22:35and he was just a psychotic violent madman
00:22:38but when he was in character
00:22:40he was a psychotic violent madman
00:22:45i imagine most people think richie wrote richie and i wrote eddie
00:22:48but
00:22:50i wrote quite a lot of richie and he wrote quite a lot of eddie
00:22:52because we were in love with each other's characters
00:22:57some 15 months since the pilot was shot
00:23:00bottom finally hit our screens
00:23:02and with six to choose from
00:23:04the team went with the most
00:23:06fragrant episode to introduce
00:23:08richie and eddie to the world
00:23:12what happened there
00:23:14i just don't understand it
00:23:15i made all the right moves
00:23:17i winked
00:23:18i smiled
00:23:20one of my nice ones as well
00:23:21i sat down very nicely
00:23:23leaned forward
00:23:24put on my special eyes
00:23:26and said
00:23:26hello big tits
00:23:27look at his action
00:23:29it's a running gag about rick's virginity
00:23:32whichever character he's playing
00:23:33and they play that so well in smells
00:23:35ugh
00:23:36what's this
00:23:37instant sex appeal
00:23:39you can get it in a bottle
00:23:42smells actually happens to be my favourite episode
00:23:44because i always wondered what it'd be like
00:23:46for these guys to actually try and meet girls
00:23:49please i've only got so many ribs no coward
00:23:53it shows their vulnerability a lot in it
00:23:57it's one of those episodes where they really want something for themselves
00:24:01and what they want is women
00:24:02what they want is sex
00:24:03and and they're not gonna get it
00:24:05i mean just look at them
00:24:11can i help you sir
00:24:12i knew that you know i wasn't there to be funny
00:24:15i was there to be a foil to to their comic genius you know
00:24:19this is a sex shop isn't it
00:24:22yes
00:24:22i'll have five quids worth then
00:24:27i do remember walking onto set and seeing the sex shop
00:24:32and having no words at all
00:24:35i really didn't think we'd get away with it
00:24:39because some of the toys were so prominent
00:24:43there's a last frame of me laughing which isn't part of the scene
00:24:47i think it's me laughing at um rick holding the dildo
00:24:51but they put it in as me sort of laughing at them at the end
00:24:54we are men of science
00:25:04it's such a stupid idea the sex you know sex spray and all the rest of it
00:25:08the thing is the story isn't that important
00:25:12you're watching them perform
00:25:16what smells like the drains have gone again
00:25:19and with assaulting these girls he's flapping his coat around and sticking their heads under his armpit
00:25:25but uh he tells you who he is
00:25:27he's a complete idiot
00:25:29he'll never get laid
00:25:30he's the only one who doesn't know it
00:25:32excuse me excuse me
00:25:37there's something more
00:25:39no
00:25:40there's everything right
00:25:43my love
00:25:44is that one mine
00:25:45yeah that's your bet
00:25:46right
00:25:48we better get started
00:25:51when bottom came out i was like 10 or 11
00:25:54and it was just incredible
00:25:56watching it now it's almost impossible to believe that it was aimed at adults
00:26:00do you know what i mean
00:26:06obviously it was like grown-up telly
00:26:07you'd have to sort of stay up past nine o'clock to watch it
00:26:10but like who was it aimed at
00:26:13matches what flavor
00:26:15flavor
00:26:15yeah
00:26:17it's banana
00:26:18strawberry
00:26:19peanut butter
00:26:21marmite
00:26:22or cheese and onion
00:26:26well everyone likes cheese and onion doesn't they
00:26:28of course they do
00:26:29it couldn't be named at grown-ups
00:26:31but then at the same time
00:26:32so much of it just goes over children's heads
00:26:35fancy me first go with it
00:26:39get two
00:26:39get two
00:26:41yeah
00:26:41wow man
00:26:43i remember watching this with me dad
00:26:45you know
00:26:46i mean it was just the funniest thing i'd seen
00:26:48it was ridiculous
00:26:50and it was obscene
00:26:52it was
00:26:53i mean you'd never get it made now would you
00:26:55well i don't think ultra sensitive is our style do you
00:26:59just grown-up boys being stupid and naughty like at the extreme end and that's what was really popular and
00:27:07fun about it
00:27:12i felt it was a real marmite show you either absolutely loved bottom or you went i'm not putting that
00:27:18on
00:27:23we absolutely loved the show it was it was critically panned and that always irked us
00:27:28but we did have an audience
00:27:29but we did have an audience you know so we we won the popular vote
00:27:32plant that big one right on the kisser
00:27:38we were number one when we first went out until it was toppled by my wife's program
00:27:44oh what a disaster
00:27:46that's my whole standard ruin
00:27:48but then she moved to bbc one and we went to the top again
00:27:51yabba dabba doo
00:27:536.4 million viewers welcomed rick and aides unique smells into their homes
00:28:00and as series one continued it fast became a british comedy classic
00:28:07who on earth can that be at this time of day
00:28:10hello i wonder if i could just read your meter
00:28:12hello mr gas man
00:28:35like all classic sitcoms bottom needed a title sequence to set the tone of the show
00:28:41so in june 1991 during production of the first series
00:28:45the team did the obvious thing
00:28:47and headed to a building site on a roundabout in west london
00:28:51to work it out from there
00:28:52damn it how lovely to see you
00:28:54lovely to see you
00:28:57so this is hammersmith
00:28:59that that there see that
00:29:02that is a bench
00:29:04yeah yeah
00:29:05but it's not the bench is it
00:29:07no i don't
00:29:07yeah
00:29:08no it's not
00:29:09that bench
00:29:10has replaced the bench that was over there
00:29:12yeah
00:29:12where we shot the site
00:29:13nearly everything you can see
00:29:15from here
00:29:16yes
00:29:16is different from when we shot it
00:29:18absolutely
00:29:19i remember the day being
00:29:22haphazard
00:29:23yes that's right
00:29:24mainly because i was in charge
00:29:26well we didn't really know what we were doing
00:29:28we were looking for things
00:29:29there was nothing really planned
00:29:31well i planned that window
00:29:32did you
00:29:33because it was a window
00:29:34it was quite hard to get up to
00:29:35we had to get some step ladders
00:29:37to get up so i had to plan that a bit
00:29:39made you stand there for ages and ages and ages
00:29:42i thought it'd be funny to see you guys in that window
00:29:44yeah
00:29:45and then we take a tight shot
00:29:46yeah
00:29:46and then pull out to reveal
00:29:48ha ha ha
00:29:48you're just in the window and the rest of it's construction
00:29:50yeah
00:29:51and then see sort of urban life in the background
00:29:53yeah
00:29:54because i knew by then that we weren't going to come out
00:29:56once we're filming the series
00:29:58so i thought set it somewhere
00:30:00hammersmith
00:30:00yeah
00:30:06so
00:30:06so
00:30:07what's it say
00:30:09um
00:30:10pan global phenomenon
00:30:11yes
00:30:13not quite true
00:30:16i don't think they knew who he was in china
00:30:19no
00:30:19no
00:30:25so you had this idea to come over here
00:30:28so we wandered over here
00:30:29and you said we'll do something
00:30:31on the bench
00:30:32on the bench
00:30:33all right okay
00:30:34well i'll set a camera across across the road
00:30:36over there
00:30:37and really
00:30:38you just made it up
00:30:40yeah i think we made it up
00:31:01well i think you also kind of polished it by discovering the editing prowess of a bus
00:31:11my memory was that the bus came past and rick just ran
00:31:15yeah
00:31:15with it
00:31:16and you were left on your own
00:31:17i don't know i thought it was two buses
00:31:19so one goes
00:31:22and then another one came
00:31:23one after he
00:31:24well maybe he did run
00:31:26maybe he was clever enough to do that
00:31:27i think he was at that time
00:31:29yeah
00:31:30do you remember when he was bright
00:31:31yes i do
00:31:33gosh it was a short window
00:31:34but god yes i remember that
00:31:39so hello hello
00:31:41adrian hi
00:31:42i came here especially to see the bench
00:31:44did you
00:31:45i've always wanted to see
00:31:48well how far have you come to look at it
00:31:50and over
00:31:51bloody hell i've always wanted to see rich bench
00:31:54but i've no idea
00:31:55you know it's not just his bench
00:31:58goodbye
00:32:00i can only apologize
00:32:02it's a very sensitive subject
00:32:04wait don't go to the pub without me
00:32:15stand back birds it's the hammersmith hard man
00:32:18a pint
00:32:20two pints
00:32:21yeah sorry two pints
00:32:22cheers cheers chin chin
00:32:24cheers
00:32:24ah
00:32:27well we've done very well to get this far really
00:32:29i think so i mean considering how we shot some of that stuff it's a miracle you're actually alive
00:32:33anyway my daughter read my autobiography
00:32:37and she came to me and she said
00:32:40i didn't realize you were basically a stuntman
00:32:46who did jokes in between the structure lies in between stunts
00:32:50yeah
00:32:55bottom was celebrated for its outrageous slapstick violence captured perfectly here in this fan
00:33:03supercut by pip maidly
00:33:26i did a study of a an episode of terry and june
00:33:31they they spent as much time as we did right making an episode where nothing happened
00:33:37from people walking in out of doors right and we we would have 300 stunts
00:33:43yeah
00:33:43ours were basically roadrunner cartoons with live-action people
00:33:48what
00:33:52when we talk about the fights
00:33:54they're they're so clever
00:33:56oh
00:33:58to receive a punch with your head at the right time
00:34:01and a kick in the crotch and for your body to convulse at the right time is a real skill
00:34:06i mean they're just amazing stuntmen
00:34:13we had no uh formal stunt or fight training
00:34:18one more take
00:34:19yeah fine
00:34:26we were desperate to get people to laugh it was just a sheer desperation
00:34:31how did you hit me in the face with that thing
00:34:33sorry
00:34:35i've got a permanently damaged right shoulder
00:34:38uh from throwing punches that don't connect
00:34:44so it's not even how you'd actually hit someone you do it in a much more exaggerated way
00:34:49great idea
00:34:51what are you doing that for
00:34:54this occasionally pops out
00:34:57i can't sleep on it one side because of my shoulder because i was trying to get a laugh
00:35:03in the 90s don't i'm collecting for the needy this is for victims of domestic violence
00:35:09all very much
00:35:15i love bugs bunny and wiley coyote and tom and jerry and you know you grow up with all of
00:35:20that
00:35:22this is that next level where there's blood and broken bones but by the end of the episode
00:35:29everyone's back to normal again do you know what i mean no one's no one's gonna die it's just
00:35:33like horrifically gratuitously violent
00:35:40do you know what it is it's the sound effects
00:35:46because they really sell everything
00:35:50everything sounds really heavy and sharp and gooey like with the pencil going through kind of like
00:35:56a layer of kind of like cartilage or gristle
00:36:01and then like this like squelch
00:36:06yeah it's brilliant
00:36:12right let's get on shall we
00:36:13it was definitely a challenge uh because there were so many sound effects to put into it
00:36:21and also because of the the live nature and they're throwing an extra punch or an extra frying pan hit
00:36:28um i've got to be very ready with my finger on the button
00:36:38and they're all from bbc sound effect libraries but i would often blend two together i might have a a
00:36:43punch plus a sort of a squidgy noise for a broom hitting and then sellotape to the ceiling
00:36:52when i was when i was winched up they had a couple of people on ladders to put the sellotape
00:36:57on the
00:36:57ceiling you know so it was quite uncomfortable and then i got whacked in the ghoulies
00:37:05some of the things weren't from sound effects like i could remember bbc plastic spoons
00:37:08being crunched for some bones actually that's right
00:37:18polystyrene cups for tea and twisting a polystyrene cup in front of the microphone
00:37:23could make sounds of bones or necks or that kind of thing there was some discussion about
00:37:33cutting a hole in the set but then he had to be moved as well at the end of that
00:37:38scene
00:37:39so so we made escape for him to sit on and he tucked his leg underneath very uncomfortable
00:37:50the slide down the stairs was really complicated well don't you worry he can't get down the steps
00:37:56without us we used a stuntman for that he did the damn stunt on the james bond film was the
00:38:03highest paid
00:38:04stunt that year i think but he was pretty scared on that stairs because he kept asking for um us
00:38:10to go
00:38:12slower which we didn't we made the pliers and all the softs that he was banging his head on uh
00:38:24the
00:38:25toilet the table we made a lot of soft uh soft props like that loads of frying pans a couple
00:38:32of pokers
00:38:33it ended up looking like a shape of his head and they were they were quite difficult to make because
00:38:39they really went at each other these these two
00:38:43my poker
00:38:47as series one continued we saw richie and eddie welcome their first visitor
00:38:55hello i wonder if i could just read your meter gas is one of my favorite episodes
00:39:01because it is slapstick comedy at its very best
00:39:07the performances of rick and ed are spot on from start to finish it's just one of the best half
00:39:15hours
00:39:15of comedy i've ever watched right uh i think i'll be on my way then no no wait what is
00:39:24it
00:39:25do you want a cup of tea the gas man goes along with their shenanigans in a way that no
00:39:33normal person
00:39:34would you know three mugs of steaming cold tea
00:39:41better drink it before it gets warm i just love how desperate richie and eddie get towards the end of
00:39:48the scene i'll just be on my way then no you can't go well why not because i love you
00:39:57what i love you and i can't live without you at least not for the next eight minutes it goes
00:40:01on and
00:40:01on and on you go it can't build anymore but then it does and this is the thing about bottom
00:40:07that
00:40:07it just builds and builds and builds and build no i'm afraid i'm on my way you're not going anywhere
00:40:15just when you think ricky and eddie can't get any worse they get even more violent
00:40:24and now that was supposed to last like i don't know three or four hits and a bash and it
00:40:28was done
00:40:29but they wouldn't stop
00:40:37and i think there's a little bit of a competition going on with them a bit and so it kept
00:40:41going and
00:40:42i was looking at it going we're never going to finish wake up
00:40:49it was a great sequence that's one of those things where you go this is perfect i'm just
00:40:54going to sit back and watch this they can go on as long as they like this is hilarious
00:41:01but it wasn't just bottom's violence that created equal amounts of joy and consternation tonight's the
00:41:08night i'm actually gonna it was the sexy stuff too see you in a mo a sex mo
00:41:18i don't
00:41:46don't say
00:41:50you want someone homely oh you raven-haired temptress from below stairs
00:41:55cooking skills
00:41:57pork
00:41:59to be with
00:42:00want to come for a ride with me and a wazzle pair of jokes
00:42:12i had a fan come up to me once and talk about how sexist it was right
00:42:21which i i really don't think it is what would you like oh sexual favors now is it no
00:42:30what do you mean no what's wrong with me well i would have thought that was patently obvious to
00:42:34everyone the the comedy is in the poking funny attitudes i'm not a homosexual if that's what
00:42:43you're thinking yeah you're not strictly heterosexual are you judas you're challenging the conversation
00:42:52you're challenging people's thoughts and challenging people's ideas and i think that's what comedy should
00:42:56do because you're doing it in a light-hearted way i've never done it with a bloke yeah but you've
00:43:01never done it with a bird rick talks about sex and not having sex and wanting sex and if only
00:43:10he
00:43:11could have sex this is his life's work are you a page three girl because i'm sure if you wanted
00:43:16to
00:43:16you could be richie sexually frustrated a desperate sex obsessed virgin but um you know he just wants to
00:43:26be loved really doesn't he despite being a disgraceful filthy human being have you any idea
00:43:33how women actually feel no i haven't that's my problem really it's a magic trick it is a magic
00:43:41trick like it blows my it's incredibly hard to do to say half the stuff that comes out of his
00:43:45mouth
00:43:46and not have the audience go oh you rotter and if i may say so what a charming blouse you've
00:43:52got on
00:43:54these knickers well they were something else the y-fronts i actually had to have those made
00:43:59especially so i don't know what some of the dress makers that were working for thought this was all
00:44:04about richie and eddie's pitiful attitude towards women came to the fore in the first episode of series
00:44:12two when they hatched a plan to find that special someone now what sort of woman are you looking for
00:44:19um kim bassinger i remember being really really nervous and sitting in the makeup room on the
00:44:26recording night and rick coming over to me and he whispers in my ear and he says if i say
00:44:33or do anything
00:44:34really weird or off don't take any notice i just get so nervous i think that should work if you
00:44:41want
00:44:41to get off with an insane
00:44:50and i was like oh my god how generous of him when i was feeling really nervous he didn't know
00:44:58that
00:44:58he was just thinking about putting me at my ease because he gets in such a state about it and
00:45:05i
00:45:05just thought what if he's like that you know that's that's so reassuring
00:45:11they were incredibly nice during rehearsals and made sure that everybody was having a good time
00:45:22come on i want you and they were very particular about what to do i mean they knew what they
00:45:30wanted
00:45:30but also it was a really happy ship working with them so you it was just such pleasure
00:45:59like their sex lives series two continued to satisfy
00:46:16including a christmas episode that was so unfestive it was broadcast in october
00:46:22merry christmas one of the best christmas episodes of tally ever made i'll get on with the brandy butter
00:46:50and who better to spend christmas day with them than the rest of the hammersmith hard men
00:46:58i think the spud gun and hedgehog are my favorite characters in it
00:47:02what is their life what you know whenever i see them i think what is your life outside gosh
00:47:09it's been what raining no no no it's been ages why well since we last you know we never you
00:47:22know with
00:47:22you it's just got one of the finest jokes in it when they've got the baby there and they give
00:47:29out the
00:47:29gifts you can have my christmas present it's a box of terry's all gold we'll have to wait for his
00:47:36little teeth to come through before he can manage the cherry ones oh yeah look he can have my frankenstein
00:47:44mask i was gonna scare the shit out of richard and you can have my bottle of aftershave it's a
00:47:53new one it's called
00:48:05i just didn't see any of the signposts along the way to that punchline and it was fabulous and you're
00:48:26one of the things that i did like about it we never went outdoors we were always in bottomland
00:48:32bottoms out it's supposed to be an exterior oh i don't know about you but after a long hike like
00:48:36that i'm just about ready to pitch camp and hit the sack what do you mean i can still see
00:48:40the bus stop
00:48:41from here yes this looks like a good spot a natural sort of uh shithole we thought we'll
00:48:48not shoot this out in wimbledon common we'll build wimbledon common in the studio i wonder how much
00:48:55meat you get on a womble any any wombles don't exist oh yes they do i've seen them on the
00:49:03telly
00:49:05i've always loved that of sort of you know creating the outdoors i mean the wimbledon common set was
00:49:12fantastic you know had a pond we were writing for a live audience i think sitcom has has to have
00:49:30a live
00:49:30tv audience and if you need to laugh at the rest of the show like that only a lot louder
00:49:35okay
00:49:36oh i hate it when people say no i mean our day it was better in our day um and
00:49:43it wasn't better in our
00:49:44day it was different and in our day a joke had to be tested against an audience and if they
00:49:49didn't
00:49:49laugh you cut it out what was that film where they ate each other deep throat wasn't it
00:49:58those studio audiences loved rick and aid and the vibe was like we're just gonna laugh at anything
00:50:06it takes it to another level it's different doing a stunt in front of you know 50 crew to then
00:50:11doing
00:50:12in with an audience of 250 people you know whether there are cameras there or not you forget about
00:50:16those because you're performing for the audience for those laughs thank you can i just say uh what does
00:50:22a man with a two-foot cock have for breakfast well this morning i had a boiled air like i
00:50:28bet it felt
00:50:28really special like a select few were there to witness these two at the height of the game
00:50:35the atmosphere on bottom studio recordings was electric so rick and aid decided to take that
00:50:42energy on the road to power a national theater tour i forgot to mention i was actually born in south
00:51:11in 1993 after two hugely popular tv series
00:51:18rick and aid took their hammersmith hovel around the uk allowing thousands of fans
00:51:24to experience their bottom live there is no better physical humor i just think that
00:51:31hey you know absolutely excellent but i'm hoping that this is a lot ruder than the tv
00:51:34because they can get away with it he said we'll do it if you build us the exact replica of
00:51:41the set
00:51:43but it worked we played the actual theme music and the curtains went up and there was the set
00:51:50and the the cheers and the applause went on for about 10 minutes because people
00:51:56were just so relieved that we were going to do it
00:52:06do the actual thing pretend to be the real people in the real place
00:52:12but with ruder words
00:52:24it's a no-brainer of course you're going to put it on a stage you just need the two of
00:52:28them don't you
00:52:28you just need the two of them and a stained sofa and you know you're on your way that's all
00:52:34you need
00:52:36oh well saves money on alarm clocks i suppose hey ho another day good morning world you bastard
00:52:47their relationship with the audience is you can only compare it to a bruce springsteen concert or
00:52:53something like that it's the the energy in the room is quite extraordinary
00:53:03night after night doing that physical stuff is really um an achievement you know you really have
00:53:08to be fit morning eddie scrambled eggs
00:53:14yes i think i must have twisted my trousers in the fall
00:53:18and you have to know what you're doing really because it's dangerous
00:53:27so pack it in eddie pack it in we're too old for this
00:53:30oh look at me sweating like i've been masturbating for a month
00:53:40yeah well you have haven't you
00:53:44well yeah but it's been a long tour haven't it
00:53:48on the telly you play with camera angles to to land punches that just go you know
00:53:53they look like they're hitting but on live there's everyone's got a view from around here
00:54:00so you've got to go a bit closer uh which is why we we occasionally hit each other
00:54:05all right you all right i actually hit you on the nose then didn't you
00:54:14that's okay
00:54:19and sort of ended up getting stitched up in the hospital
00:54:22on at least three occasions i'll see you later
00:54:25righto take care eddie
00:54:32they weren't restricted to 30 minutes and they weren't restricted to television guidelines
00:54:39super fucking glue
00:54:46here look you two grab that
00:54:50the price is coming back
00:54:51and i think that the life shows really came into their own because of that
00:54:56i've got a bit of a girly super glue to the end of my knob so uh
00:54:59be a pal and give it a bit of a yank would you
00:55:02all right
00:55:15with the stage shows with the audience is howling for them
00:55:18why would they mean peg back what they're doing
00:55:26following the huge success of their first live tour the boys went back to the studio after a two-year
00:55:32break
00:55:33to record bottom's final six episodes
00:55:40three of which just focused on richie and eddie
00:55:44as much as i like the other stuff that they did with other with the other guys
00:55:49it for me it really kind of like made perfect sense when it was just the two of them
00:55:56and the waltzers closed as well hasn't it
00:55:58yes
00:55:59i had no idea i'd eaten so much
00:56:03it went everywhere
00:56:07you looked like a sprinkler as you went round
00:56:10it was really actually very attractive
00:56:13obviously bottom had been off uh tv for the best part of three years
00:56:17yeah we'd enjoyed the video of the live show and they come back with them trapped up a ferris wheel
00:56:22and the entire thing again it's like a play it's a two-hander and it takes place entirely in real
00:56:26time
00:56:31you know if we ever get through to the other side of this one
00:56:37i want to change the way i live
00:56:40i want to get back to blighty
00:56:43find myself a piece of land
00:56:46find myself a beautiful woman
00:56:48heck
00:56:50maybe even raise some kids
00:56:52we always like the one on the ferris wheel
00:56:54that is the epitome of two characters in a small space
00:56:57having only each other to bounce off
00:57:00and that's that's why it becomes funny
00:57:03why are we talking such complete and utter bollocks
00:57:11i don't know eddie
00:57:12oh shut up shut up
00:57:14it's just the two of them are not going anywhere
00:57:17they're sat in the same place
00:57:19every single beat of emotion
00:57:21every comedy beat
00:57:23it's an absolute master class
00:57:25what's in this
00:57:26brandy
00:57:27good
00:57:28meths
00:57:29perno
00:57:29paint stripper
00:57:30mr sheen
00:57:31brake fluid
00:57:32and drambuie
00:57:36drambuie
00:57:39yeah yeah yeah all right
00:57:41you've got to put something in for the birds haven't you
00:57:45oh jeez
00:57:47how are you alive
00:57:49i may very well not be
00:57:53we had a constant
00:57:57battle with the idea that we were unintellectual
00:58:00i mean we'd been to a university
00:58:02you know we had degrees
00:58:07then people sort of
00:58:09were constantly saying
00:58:11that we were puerile
00:58:13i mean puer is latin for boy you see
00:58:19i'm an intellectual
00:58:20so it's childish
00:58:21and people imagine that childish is wrong
00:58:24and i don't
00:58:26i think it's pure
00:58:32our small rebellion
00:58:33um
00:58:35was to at the end of every script
00:58:37when we used to write
00:58:38fin
00:58:39f-i-n
00:58:40which is the french for the end
00:58:42as if it was a kind of
00:58:43you know
00:58:44nouvelle vague film
00:58:51i was there for the fiery flatulence yes
00:58:56hello
00:58:57hello
00:58:57i'm looking for little dave hedgehog
00:59:00what can i say
00:59:04they farted and fire came out of their bottoms
00:59:10he always recorded those bits
00:59:12it's one thing to set fire to your own farts in the privacy of your own home
00:59:16but to do it
00:59:18in front of a television audience
00:59:21with the possibility of
00:59:23of them catching fire as well
00:59:25is uh
00:59:26is too dangerous to mention
00:59:57sorry
00:59:58and eddie attempting complex surgery
01:00:06forging money
01:00:07how can you expect to pass off these pornographic doodles as real money
01:00:11especially when you see what the duke of edin was up to on the back of a tenner
01:00:15who's that with him
01:00:22who's that with him
01:00:44until they discovered a video recording of something truly shocking
01:00:49what is that
01:00:50what is that
01:00:52what is that
01:00:53what is he sticking in there for
01:00:58i mean let's just let's just describe her as what it is
01:01:01it's um
01:01:02it's it's the two of them audio describing john major
01:01:08in a three-way sex pegging
01:01:10in a hotel room
01:01:14i think they must be sisters
01:01:16yes that'll be it
01:01:17no don't sit there
01:01:19he can't have seen him
01:01:20but he'll suffocate
01:01:24i can't think that that's hygienic
01:01:28it's a great end to the series
01:01:30whether or not rick and aid knew they might be coming back for a fourth series or not
01:01:35hello give me the prime minister
01:01:37because i want to blackmail him
01:01:40richard richard
01:01:41oh shit
01:01:43for carnival to end like that
01:01:45it's quite a nice and brave ending for them
01:01:49hello
01:01:50what kind of sandwiches do you do
01:01:53sandwiches
01:01:57they say they don't do sandwiches
01:01:59they're a highly trained anti-terrorist organisation
01:02:02if you look at the end of most episodes
01:02:05they appear to have as it were reached the cliff edge
01:02:09and be about to fall off it
01:02:10so almost any episode could be the end of the series
01:02:15go a squad
01:02:17go a squad
01:02:19go a squad
01:02:27oh shit
01:02:35just to go you know what we're just gonna have them gunned to death
01:02:38yeah
01:02:38like the sas
01:02:39it may be one of the most violent endings
01:02:41absolutely the most violent death
01:02:44although they may not have known it at the time
01:02:46these were to be richie and eddie's final shots on tv
01:02:57but they lived on in more live shows and a movie
01:03:00before things took a tragic turn
01:03:21we got to the end of the third series and we did the second live show
01:03:28and the bbc never came back
01:03:31so you know
01:03:33they didn't want any more
01:03:39it never kind of became a bbc one
01:03:42smasheroo
01:03:45the bbc's appetite for bottom may have been sated
01:03:48but the fans were still hungry for more
01:03:51and their loyalty was rewarded with a trip
01:03:55to hooligans island
01:03:58they made so many bottom live videos
01:04:01don't stand on your special mark
01:04:09every fucking night
01:04:11all of my mates had different
01:04:13different ones
01:04:16it seems to be heading straight to fucking wards me again
01:04:23and you go round and you watch them
01:04:25and there were 18 certificates
01:04:29aren't they rude
01:04:30you thorough and total wank biscuit
01:04:34yeah
01:04:35but
01:04:49rick and a belonged on stage
01:04:51didn't they started
01:04:52exactly they absolutely felt comfortable on stage
01:04:55they wrote bottom when you look through the scripts
01:04:57that they are written like a play
01:04:58oh eddie
01:05:00think what we're missing
01:05:02like a script
01:05:08we're not really missing a script are we
01:05:10it's just that you can't fucking remember it
01:05:16but soon after the third sellout tour
01:05:19their partnership would change forever
01:05:28comic actor rick mayell is seriously ill in hospital tonight
01:05:32after an accident at his country home
01:05:34he's in intensive care in plymouth with serious head injuries
01:05:38after the four-wheel quad motorbike he was riding
01:05:41turned over and trapped him underneath
01:05:45rick changed with the accident there's no doubt about it
01:05:48i mean it was a very very serious accident
01:05:49it was touch and go he was in a coma for many days immediately afterwards
01:05:54and once he was recovered and once he was recovered and came out he was on very heavy medication for
01:05:59the rest of his life
01:06:00and i know he told me he after a time he thought you know do i really need this and
01:06:05he tried just
01:06:07classic rick he started just stopping the medication and he went absolutely apeshit
01:06:13now you've got to remember that i was assassinated there was an assassination attempt on me in 1998
01:06:17you know probably by the blair administration
01:06:19and that's why sometimes i can't remember things
01:06:24he was a different man
01:06:29more emotional
01:06:32more complex
01:06:35catch all phrase
01:06:38harder
01:06:38harder to work with
01:06:42it wasn't getting better
01:06:43it was it was getting worse
01:06:46despite their shifting dynamic
01:06:48they pushed on with their much anticipated big screen adaptation
01:06:52with filming taking place mere months
01:06:54after rick woke from his five-day coma
01:06:57i guess asparadisa was a
01:07:09an odd fish
01:07:12i think we wanted to make it because
01:07:15touring was was quite
01:07:18hard
01:07:19physically hard
01:07:20and we thought this was this might be an easier way of
01:07:23you know doing delivering a two-hour show
01:07:26we were doing a week in each sit like a week in manchester a week in glasgow
01:07:29a week in nottingham whatever
01:07:31and so we had nothing to do during the day
01:07:33and then we sit around the hotel so much
01:07:35even though they were nice hotels we thought
01:07:37god it'd be funny if richie and eddie were running the hotel wouldn't it
01:07:39i thought it'd be a bit of a week in the hotel
01:07:42actually the water was cold
01:07:43well there's no reason not to wash it is good grief we are british you know we invented
01:07:48cold showers to stop people masturbating
01:07:51so my introduction to bottom the world of bottom came through long car journeys on holidays when me and my
01:08:00little brother were probably twelve and eight and i'm the older one
01:08:03only had about three or four dvds and uh we picked guesthouse paradiso are you sure this is the right
01:08:11place it doesn't look very nice it's right next to a nuclear power station dad this is the cheapest hotel
01:08:17in britain so we're just gonna have to make the best of it aren't we
01:08:19we watched it on one car journey and then pretty much every car journey after that to the point
01:08:26where we could like recite it i learned most of the vulgar language i'm aware of from that film
01:08:31look mr twat it's pronounced wait well it's spelled twat t-w-a-t twat it was just it was
01:08:40just brilliant
01:08:47it really had a lot of great moments especially the physical comedy the fight in the kitchen
01:08:51is some of their best work in their careers
01:09:06and i think for a long long time my parents were sat in the front of that car thinking we
01:09:10were watching
01:09:11you know spy kids or something like that and just finding it really really funny
01:09:18we weren't we're watching rick mayles stuck in a chest of jaws with a dildo
01:09:29it's been good all the scenes with me and have been fantastic
01:09:37two more live shows followed the movie putting them back where they belong in front of a raucous live
01:09:44audience
01:09:52by the time we got to the fourth and fifth tours i was bored
01:09:59i was bored and i didn't want to be the person who was remembered just for eddie
01:10:18i'm absolutely proud of it i love eddie
01:10:22uh but i didn't want to carry on
01:10:30oh hold me from earth oh fuck it he's acting
01:10:36wake me up when he's finished but the fifth one was not as good
01:10:42and when you've reached the top yeah you shouldn't plow on if you're headed down the wrong side
01:10:49i absolutely agree and it's so why haven't you retired
01:10:56come on eddie think of the money money what what are you getting paid
01:11:04no
01:11:06i'll make no bones about it we used to earn a shed load of money out of touring
01:11:10and you know i think the reason we did the last two tours
01:11:13was because we were both addicted to the money um which isn't a really good reason to do it either
01:11:20i didn't get paid it's not me it's just that wretch of an actor who plays me
01:11:25oh you know come on what's his name come on you must know him
01:11:29that tosser that fell off a quad bike
01:11:39they weren't as much fun and i wanted to be an actor
01:11:43and he was getting more complicated
01:11:49and it was it had come to a natural end
01:11:53it was one of the great sadnesses of life is that rick never kind of
01:11:58could take that on board
01:12:00yes
01:12:05yes
01:12:06yes
01:12:09yes yes yes i am here
01:12:12ritchie is here
01:12:15back where he belongs
01:12:17in the toilet
01:12:18i used to meet him
01:12:20uh sort of regularly for
01:12:23just to be chums and go out for lunch
01:12:26and uh his mind was already kind of
01:12:31uh getting forgetful by this point
01:12:34and uh every time we met he'd think
01:12:37we were having a meeting to talk about doing another
01:12:39another show
01:12:41and it was
01:12:43it was very hard
01:12:47eventually i came up with this idea
01:12:49and i said
01:12:49let's write something
01:12:52and we'll take it to the bbc
01:12:54and
01:12:56my thinking was they
01:12:58a couple of old gits
01:12:59they're not going to want it
01:13:00you know
01:13:01so we we dashed something off
01:13:03it was the uh
01:13:05mythical fourth series of bottom
01:13:08and
01:13:10they wanted it
01:13:12i thought it was going to put an end to the argument
01:13:15they wanted it
01:13:16but it
01:13:17and i hate to tell people this
01:13:19it just wasn't good
01:13:21so i just
01:13:23turned it down again
01:13:24oh it's so
01:13:25it's so
01:13:28he hated me for it
01:13:30absolutely loathed me for it
01:13:32look at you
01:13:35what's happening
01:13:37we used to be friends
01:13:39good friends
01:13:42what do you remember of the
01:13:44fateful attempt to
01:13:46write something in the 2012
01:13:49or whatever it was
01:13:50basically a hooligans island
01:13:51i did
01:13:52i understand
01:13:53and that
01:13:54there's a
01:13:54there's a
01:13:57typhoon of some kind
01:13:58and so everything's going sideways
01:14:00so the coconuts and everything come flying past them
01:14:02can't you know
01:14:03now you're saying that
01:14:04that rings some bells
01:14:06and because rick had had an accident
01:14:08and so he wasn't
01:14:09so he couldn't drop anything on his head
01:14:11no
01:14:14i mean talk about sports more
01:14:16yeah so no
01:14:17so we cancel the show
01:14:18there were some other good bits
01:14:20there was a
01:14:20an idea about democracy
01:14:22because there's only two people on the island
01:14:23and rick had been in
01:14:27de facto leader
01:14:28and as part of his leadership campaign
01:14:31he emptied all the
01:14:32bottles of hooch
01:14:33that were on the island
01:14:35and
01:14:36eddie became sober
01:14:38and we discovered that when he was sober
01:14:40eddie was a
01:14:41a very cogent and intelligent human being
01:14:45he'd been to eton
01:14:46not as a student
01:14:47but when he used to nick stuff
01:14:49from eton
01:14:50running through the classrooms
01:14:51he couldn't help but
01:14:52take things off the blackboard
01:14:54and they all went in his brain
01:14:55er and his
01:14:57his campaign was so good
01:14:59that
01:14:59richie voted for it
01:15:00and he became leader
01:15:02it was sort of alright
01:15:03it was
01:15:04it was tortuous
01:15:05do you know
01:15:06it didn't really work
01:15:08it's sort of
01:15:10it was bottom-ish
01:15:12and
01:15:13bottom-ish isn't enough
01:15:20yeah the last thing we ever did was
01:15:21um
01:15:21let's dance for current relief
01:15:23or i was being the dying swan
01:15:26and er
01:15:26he came on
01:15:28and his job was to
01:15:29er
01:15:30tell me to stop
01:15:31and hit me with a frying pan
01:15:32and er
01:15:33true to form
01:15:34he er
01:15:34he really whacked me
01:15:36really quite
01:15:37quite badly
01:15:38and he
01:15:39i got through to another round
01:15:40and he came and he cut the rope
01:15:42and the ton weight fell on top of me
01:15:44i think that was the last bit we ever did
01:15:53rick died on the 9th of june 2014
01:15:56of a heart attack
01:15:58aged 56
01:16:01i was sort of in the middle of the garden
01:16:04and there's a very little phone signal in devon
01:16:07and um
01:16:09my friend nick rang
01:16:12and said i'm so sorry
01:16:14and er
01:16:14i said what about
01:16:16he said oh god you haven't heard have you
01:16:17and i hadn't because
01:16:19you know
01:16:20my phone and er
01:16:21i was in the middle of devon
01:16:22and um
01:16:24yeah it was a
01:16:25a remarkable shock
01:16:28i mean absolutely remarkable
01:16:30there was no
01:16:32hint of that
01:16:32gonna happen
01:16:44no come on
01:16:45this is a funeral
01:16:46funeral funeral
01:16:47what's the mood
01:16:48sad
01:16:48that's clever
01:16:50sad face
01:16:51oh
01:16:54speaking to
01:16:55rosie
01:16:56his daughter
01:16:57at the funeral
01:16:58and her take
01:17:00on his death
01:17:01was that
01:17:01actually i had 16 more years of him than i should have had
01:17:05because he could have died that day as well
01:17:07which i thought was so typical of her being very positive and
01:17:12and you know seeing the positive side of things
01:17:14even now
01:17:16find it hard to believe actually
01:17:18i mean
01:17:19he was so vibrant
01:17:22so
01:17:22he was a force of nature
01:17:24and er
01:17:26you know
01:17:26the fact that he's not here is hard really
01:17:29so i might as well call the whole bloody thing off
01:17:37now you listen to me
01:17:40you're just a door
01:17:42i'm rick fucking mail
01:17:51it's very weird being in a world without him
01:17:53very weird thinking that he
01:17:55you know
01:17:56didn't know anything about brexit
01:17:58didn't know about covid
01:18:01you know
01:18:03i mean our relationship was strained towards the end
01:18:07and
01:18:10when i do things like this
01:18:12and i remember
01:18:14the absolute joy of
01:18:16sitting in that little office in richmond
01:18:20opposite the hole in the wall pub
01:18:21it was
01:18:24it was absolute
01:18:26you know
01:18:27the
01:18:28the
01:18:28distilled joy
01:18:31the most joy i've ever had in my life i think
01:18:34making each other laugh
01:18:38properly laugh
01:18:40big guffawing belly laugh laughs
01:18:43you know proper
01:18:44can't stop laughing laughs
01:18:48very rarely you
01:18:51you
01:18:51you get a relationship like that with someone
01:19:03well i have to say he's my best friend
01:19:06um
01:19:06otherwise he'd kick my teeth in
01:19:12you know i mentioned um
01:19:18the way we used to write each other's characters and
01:19:21we're in love with each other's characters
01:19:28i miss
01:19:32that love
01:19:40yeah
01:19:43i miss that other opinion of me
01:19:49very loving opinion
01:19:54all rick have made of
01:19:56us doing this documentary this celebration of a show 30 years after the initial production event
01:20:02er rick would have hated a program like this and would have told you to fuck off
01:20:08i mean that quite sincerely
01:20:27it's always a good way to finish in a moment of you bastard
01:20:32failing poorly again are you
01:20:34no
01:20:35no
01:20:35you aren't
01:20:37boof
01:20:37the end
01:20:38won't that do
01:20:39afraid not boys
01:20:40it's just trying to find that moment where you normally freeze frame
01:20:43and then run the music
01:20:45come on board
01:20:46tapio jones
01:21:08i remember the end credits very well
01:21:11because it was one of the most knackering things we ever did
01:21:18i think we did it five times
01:21:29it's incredibly physical
01:21:31um it probably doesn't look it
01:21:33but you know we were
01:21:36we enjoyed a drink
01:21:37and didn't do much exercise
01:21:39we were a couple of has-beens
01:21:41and we were you know knackered
01:21:47as we did the end credits
01:21:49before we did anything else
01:21:51and i remember thinking
01:21:53who are these guys
01:21:54what have i been put on
01:21:57what is this show
01:21:59and i think it was before i'd seen a script or anything
01:22:01and they're just you know doing all this against the background and i just thought
01:22:06i don't know what this is
01:22:08i don't know what it's going to be like
01:22:15it was quite revolutionary in those days we thought that we would shoot them silhouette
01:22:20and then when we were running the credits over the silhouetted figures
01:22:26i said would you be able to make the letters white when it's going over the black
01:22:31and can they be black when it's going over the white
01:22:33so we started kicking the machines down in the basement of bbc and managed to get it to do it
01:22:40and it was great i went
01:22:41i went
01:22:42we've not seen anything like this before
01:22:44and we've got these two lunatics fighting in the background
01:22:47and we've got the bum notes music
01:22:49i said this is it these are great closing titles
01:22:55what okay no i'm fucked
01:22:58i wasn't talking about your career love
01:23:05over three decades on from our introduction to these unreconstructed
01:23:10it's not your fault that you're lesbians
01:23:14york please give me one more chance
01:23:16come back to my place
01:23:17and i'll cure you
01:23:21unhygienic
01:23:22that's not press that's like yogurt you started during the gulf war
01:23:24might as well finish it
01:23:28environmentally unfriendly
01:23:29i thought i'd burn it up
01:23:30what good face
01:23:31no the excess gas
01:23:33really
01:23:33and how long do you think it'll take to burn off the entire north sea gas reserves
01:23:37underachievers
01:23:38absolutely nothing to do for 24 hours
01:23:40that's a bit like every other day then really isn't it
01:23:43richie and eddie still remain one of british comedy's greatest double acts
01:23:51we're still talking about bottom 30 is on because i don't think anything else has replaced it
01:23:56because times have changed and we can't roll our sleeves up
01:24:01and get so filthy and dirty and violent and immoral
01:24:06we can't go there
01:24:07so there's a part of us that gets
01:24:09a vicarious pleasure
01:24:11from seeing them do it so well
01:24:13i think one of the enduring things of it
01:24:20is that
01:24:21they're doing anything that they want
01:24:24you know
01:24:30the freedom that they they gave themselves that and they do it so quickly the pace is amazing
01:24:36how are you feeling by the way
01:24:40i think if you hated them it would have never have worked
01:24:43i'll help you shall i it'll be more erotic
01:24:50i think that they caught that sympathy while being completely repugnant and funny at the same time
01:25:06i mean it's a major achievement what they managed to do
01:25:09look out parting shot get down
01:25:11what
01:25:11duck
01:25:12who were
01:25:15they caught me with a blue dart
01:25:17the thing that some comedians forget that that rick and i'd never forgot is that what makes
01:25:23a comedy show it's the audience laughing as much and as often as possible
01:25:29right on the end of the knob
01:25:32and they never let anybody down with that
01:25:34oh that was a bloody good shot
01:25:38considering the size of the target
01:25:40it being funny
01:25:42above everything else
01:25:44hello
01:25:45my name's james bun
01:25:49not a lot of people know that
01:25:50above you know realism
01:25:53above continuity
01:25:54it just wanted to be funny
01:25:56and that's just timeless really isn't it
01:26:04so it's agreed then
01:26:05i'm the winner
01:26:10their relationship
01:26:11both on and off screen
01:26:13made for them as funny as it was
01:26:16i can't buy my fucking balaclava
01:26:17i just think they had a very special bond with each other
01:26:26and that definitely came across when you watched it
01:26:29that's what i love about you richie
01:26:31what
01:26:31you're completely insane
01:26:36when you watch rick and aid
01:26:38playing them
01:26:39they are just two mates
01:26:42dicking about
01:26:43having the time of their lives
01:26:44it just looks fun
01:26:46you want to be on set
01:26:47all right
01:26:48all right
01:26:48well it's dangerous under there
01:26:51only from the swinging tackle
01:26:56they're never learning lessons
01:26:58they're constantly just putting themselves
01:27:00in dangerous scenarios
01:27:02for our pleasure
01:27:03what on earth are you eating
01:27:06lard
01:27:09you couldn't find anything that looked like lard
01:27:13so it was lard
01:27:15you are eating lard
01:27:18you know i'm hungry but i'm too drunk to cook
01:27:21it was a joke
01:27:26what are you going to do not do it
01:27:29wow
01:27:33no heavy don't get off the sofa
01:27:38that show is just
01:27:39it's like it was like nothing before
01:27:42and it's like nothing since
01:27:44and i can't imagine anything like it ever being made again
01:27:49so thank goodness we have it
01:27:51what are we doing
01:27:53just uh
01:27:54it's called television
01:27:58where do you think uh richie and eddie would be today
01:28:02um
01:28:05i i think it'd be quite good if richie and eddie
01:28:11actually did waiting for goddor
01:28:13if the characters did waiting for goddor
01:28:16because that's
01:28:18that's the essence of what they are
01:28:21and
01:28:23that could be quite funny
01:28:26oh that's a shame
01:28:29we just have to wait for a technical clear
01:28:31all right
01:28:32oh we are doing this
01:28:34oh thank you very very much ladies and gentlemen
01:28:37well ed it's been a pleasure talking to you about it
01:28:40you too
01:28:41cheers
01:28:45yes thank you very much ladies and gentlemen
01:28:46we couldn't have done it without you
01:28:47and i know it's been a very long evening
01:28:48but you've been fantastic
01:28:49thank you very much indeed
01:28:50good night
01:28:52bottoms up
01:28:52oh
01:28:54oh
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