Double act ends after 25 years

Adrian Edmondson and Rik Mayall are to end their comic partnership after 25 years.

They say that, approaching 50, they are too old to continue with the intensely physical, comic-book violence that has been their double act since the birth of so-called ‘alternative comedy’.

Edmondson said: “It’s definitely time to stop. We're getting too old. We both realised that the show wasn't as engaging as it used to be. We were starting to look a bit ridiculous.

"We're both nearly 50 and we're starting to feel slightly undignified talking about w**king and knobs constantly."

In the interview with today’s Mirror, Edmondson also says the slapstick has taken its physical toll as his  back is permanently damaged and both his shoulders have been dislocated.

He said: “We used to get carried away in the fight scenes. We would have so much adrenaline in us that we'd forget we were acting.

"At our live shows the audience never really quite knew how to handle it when they saw all the blood - and heads do bleed rather profusely when they get cut.

"Rik would tell them, 'Don't be scared, it happens all the time.' We'd just carry on, then go off to hospital afterwards to be sewn up."

Edmondson and Mayall have worked together since meeting at Manchester in 1975, where Rik had formed a sketch group called 20th Century Coyote, which Edmondson joined.

They performed Beckett-like sketches in the early days of alternative comedy, which tended to go down badly, until they created the Dangerous Brothers, the ultra-violent double act that has been the core of their on-screen relationship in everything from The Young Ones to Bottom.

Now they are marking the end of their partnership by releasing a DVD of their best moments of Bottom, called Mindless Violence. Click here for details.

Published: 1 Dec 2004