Adrian Edmondson, played Eddie
Rik Mayall and I met at uni in Manchester in 1975. We thought we were going to be serious actors and became comedians by accident. We started out at the Comedy Store in London, which was new at the time, and then the BBC commissioned The Young Ones. After that, Rik and I did a weekly sketch as The Dangerous Brothers on Saturday Live on Channel 4, and found it very hard work. Then we just happened not to work together for a few years. I was making Comic Strips, he was making The New Statesman, but we were still seeing each other socially because we were best buddies.
Eventually we said: “Should we have another go?” It really was as casual as that. We came up with Richie and Eddie – two unemployed, crude flatmates living together in London. We’d played students in The Young Ones but were now approaching 30, so our characters are demonstrably middle-aged. We were looking towards Tony Hancock and Sid James, Steptoe and Son and The Likely Lads. We understood that we were wankers who liked farting around, not taking the world too seriously.
We took the idea to the BBC and they gave us a little office as an encouragement to write it properly. Ben Elton had written most of The Young Ones and a lot of Blackadder, so we’d been hanging around with him, watching how he wrote sitcom. The fact that we preferred character-led rather than joke-led comedy was something we learned by osmosis. By the time we got round to Bottom in 1991, I think we’d finally worked out how to do it consistently.
We wanted to call it My Bottom, so that the continuity announcers would say: “Next on television, My Bottom.” And then at their tea-break the next morning, people would say: “Did you see My Bottom on television last night?” Alan Yentob [then controller of BBC Two] kicked up a fuss, so we just called it Bottom. Apparently he still didn’t like it, but we managed to convince him it was about people being at the bottom of the pile.
I think Bottom is full of joy. Even though it’s hyperactive and full of hysteria, it’s actually quite relaxed and fun. It’s definitely the best thing I’ve ever made in comedy. When I’m channel-surfing and come across it, I’ll end up watching it to the end thinking it’s consistently funny. Whereas when I watch an episode of The Young Ones, I think: “Oh Christ, that could have been better. And what the hell is that bit?” But Bottom always strikes me as surprisingly funny.
Ed Bye, producer and director
I’d worked with Rik and Ade as production manager on The Young Ones, then as director on a sitcom called Girls on Top, with Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders and Ruby Wax – my wife – and then moved to direct Red Dwarf. Rik and Ade approached me to produce and direct this new show. As a producer, you’re supposed to be watching the money, and as a director you try to spend it as quickly as possible. During Bottom, I found myself giving myself a bollocking for overspending quite a few times.
A lot of programmes are made while they’re being written, but Rik and Ade had written the whole first series ahead. Everything was really tightly scripted, so we rehearsed each show for slightly less than a week, so we could film it as quickly as possible in front of a live audience. The only bits that really needed work were the action. They’d write: “There’s a fight.” So I’d have to sit down and go: “OK, what fight? Let’s choreograph it.”
One fight involved pulling bathroom cabinets off the wall, smashing through a door and crashing into a banister. You can’t just take any old cabinet and smash somebody over the head: it has to be breakable. Another fight involved pliers up the nose: the pliers had to be made so they didn’t actually hurt.
Ade and Rik worked by knowing what you could get away with – and then pushing the boundaries. I did have some problems with BBC executives at the end of the whole process, and had to cut a scene where Rik pre-ejaculates. Well, I didn’t cut it out, I just chose different shots so that you could see less of Rik.
I was great friends with Rik and still am with Ade. We were just simpatico: we all had real enthusiasm for this kind of comedy. Bottom is still one of the most enjoyable, rewarding shows I’ve ever done. And I’ve done a lot because I’m very old.
• Bottom: Exposed is available for catchup on Sky, Virgin and Now
