Talking Bottom

What do you do when you've ended your show after two series, leaving people in no doubt it's finished by killing off the characters, but the public is hungry for more and you've got a ton of brilliant unused gags? Release a book, of course! But fear not, this isn't a crap spin-off cash-in, it's authored by the writers of the show and is incredibly funny. It's Bachelor Boys: The Young Ones Book! Ma...

There's no business like show business and there's no shortage of TV execs trying to capture lightning in a bottle. In 1989, U.S. TV network Fox decided to take one of the most uniquely British sitcoms of the decade, put it in a blender and shotgun the remains into an American sitcom format. The results were... not good. Paul, Mat and Ange dive headlong into the disastrous pilot, trying to glean t...

You asked and we delivered! Talking Bottom: A Guide to the Cult Sitcom is now available as an audiobook, read by none other than Bottom's friendly pub landlord Dick Head himself - actor Lee Cornes! You can literally have Dick coming in your ears! It's out NOW via your usual audiobook platforms. You can listen while driving, on the commute, doing heavy housework or simply having a wangle. Get your...

What a ruddy treat! The long-awaited Rik Mayall documentary "Rik Mayall: Magnificent B'Stard is out now on Sky Documentaries, PLUS Sky Arts is screening the brand-new "Rik Mayall's Sketches: Rare and Unseen." It's a day of new Rik stuff! Ange, Paul and Mat dive into the doc, looking at what new nuggets about Rik and his work have been shared. They chat about Rik's life, the impact of his quad bike...

Once in every lifetime comes a guest like this - someone who created and wrote one of the most influential, revolutionary and most-loved sitcoms ever, alongside her co-creators and co-writers Rik Mayall and Ben Elton. It's Lise Mayer! Lise chats with Paul, Ange and Mat about the genesis of The Young Ones and the challenges faced to get a show full of unlikeable characters, a grotesque student sett...

All good things must come to an end and school' out not just for summer but for ever as it's the start of the summer holidays for the lads at Scumbag College AND the final episode of the show, ever, with the creators determined to end it all with a literal bang. Ange, Mat and Paul wang on about celebrity death rumours, shooting film on buses, the boredom of summer, horrible families, 80's cheesy c...

The boys are surrounded by soggy tissues, and for once it's not for the reason you'd think - they've got the dreaded lurgy. Their efforts at recuperation escalate to violence in the streets while Neil's parents visit the fetid house. If only they were in a nice sitcom like The Good Life! Mat, Paul and Ange splutter over competitive illness, breaking the 180 rule, Hyacinth Bucket, being polite to y...

After a Dallas-style opening, the boys wake hungover to discover they have travelled back in time. And even more unbelievable; Rik seems to have "done it" with a girl! Paul, Mat and Ange chat about Dallas, time travel, Rick graduating towards Richard Richard, French and Saunders, Hale and Pace and all manner of subjects before diving head-first into a fiendish quiz! We're back at this year's Rik M...

Filmed in Horror-vision! It's a terrifying tale this week as the boys have a body to bury, with a flashback to bath night revealing Rick's penchant for Cosmopolitan magazine, Neil's fetid bath, the arrival of a South African Vampire and the fact they've got a video. YES, WE'VE GOT A VIDEO. Ange, Mat and Paul discuss video nasties, Hammer Horror, future Bottom references, celebs laughing at themsel...

It's freezing in the student house and all the furniture has already been burned. Someone needs to get a job and that some is Neil, who joins the filth while Rick, Mike and Vyvyan enjoy some remarkable good fortune until an explosive conclusion.  Mat, Ange and Paul chat about filming angles, burning things, austerity (oh no, not politics even though The Young Ones literally rips into Thatcher!), s...

The boys are back and they smell - it's so long since they did any laundry that one of Vyvyan's socks has come to life. But a fruitless trip to the laundrette is soon overshadowed by their starter for ten; can they get to Manchester by tonight to represent scumbag College on University Challenge? Paul, Ange and Mat return and discuss how The Young Ones found its confidence, quality guest stars, st...

This week's guests are a pair of legendary comedians and actors who broke through on the alternative comedy circuit as a double act, going on to star in their own series and many other shows, including seven guest appearances on The Young Ones. One gave the order for Captain Blackadder to be shot in Blackadder Goes Forth while the other had his eye shot out by Eddie in Bottom. It's Mark Arden and...

Biblical references abound as a huge flood engulfs London, trapping the students in the house. Everyone will be fine as long as no one drinks Vyvyan's potion - a cure for not being an axe-wielding homicidal maniac. Ange, Mat and Paul chat about Monty Python, hated chocolates, the hell of living with flatmates, biblical links, C.S. Lewis, Chekov's Coca Cola can and the brilliant Frost and Arden. Pl...

It's party time in the student house, an opportunity to impress the other students and trendy lecturer, play with a toy mouse and telescope and to kill the Hippy. It's The Young Ones episode "Interesting."  Mat, Paul and Ange talk parties, bringing a bottle, sexy press-ups, cool lecturers, studio injuries, tampons and "women's periods". Plus, contemporary reviews AND the fiendish Talking Bottom on...

"Well I'm going to tell Thatcher that we've got a bomb!" Cold War fears manifest when a large (undetonated, obviously) nuclear bomb lands right in the middle of the house. To make matters worse, the TV detector man is at the door and the boys don't have a TV license! Paul, Ange and Mat chat about nuclear paranoia, house shares, rancid bathrooms and more, plus a great quiz! Apologies for some issue...

Guys! Guys! Look at us! Squabbling, bickering, like children! What's happening to us? We never used to be like this! This week's episode is all about one of The Young Ones most exciting episodes; "Boring." Ange, Paul and Mat chat about exciting things, making scripts come to life, censoring difficult language when it's being used for satire, Madness, fakes hands and playing monopoly. Plus, a quiz!...

"Neil! Your bedroom's on fire!" Rick, Vyvyan, Neil and Mile move into their new house and the apparent discovery of oil in the basement soon brings out everyone's true colours. Mat, Ange and Paul discuss the show getting to full series, fighting over bedrooms, little white dots, oppressed workers and more as Talking Bottom takes on The Young Ones. Plus, a very numerical quiz! We're back at this ye...

What a line up! (And we don't mean an identity parade alongside Maureen Hedgehog). We are returning to The Rik Mayall Comedy Festival with three Talking Bottom events... ruddy hell!  Saturday May 30th 3pm sees Talking Bottom Live back on stage at the Norbury Theatre, Droitwich, interviewing the Godfather of alternative comedy, the man Rik Mayall publicly thanked for his career, the producer/direct...

Once in every lifetime comes... a sitcom that redefines the genre, smashes away the old guard and puts a rocket up the establishment. Their house is dirty, their hair greasy, their clothes smelly... and they have no plan on going to lectures! It's Rick, Vyvyan, Neil and Mike... The Young Ones! Talking Bottom returns to discuss the seminal, groundbreaking sitcom that starred Rik Mayall, Ade Edmonds...

Bloody hell, that was a bit of a year, wasn't it?! Join us while we pour a festive glass of gravy, scrub our sprouts and wrap presents*. We reminisce on the year that saw the book nearly have a rubbish cover, get cancelled, resurrected, moved to a new publisher, sell out as that publisher went into liquidation, have a third of its backers wait for their book, get republished and finally reprinted...

This week's guest is a man whose professional career has often tighly interwoven with Rik Mayall's. He's a prolific writer of screenplays, novels, video games, plays - and was the ghost writer of Rik's spoof autobiography Bigger than Hitler, Better than Christ. He's currently researching and writing the only official biography of Rik Mayall, due for publication in 2028. It's Max Kinnings! Max chat...

This weeks guest is a prolific comedy writer, stand-up comedian, novelist, Perrier award nominee, founder member of the Comedy Store Players and the man who coined the phrase “Comedy is the new rock n’roll.” For over 35 years he’s written for some of the most successful shows on TV, including Spitting Image, The Rory Bremner Show, The Eleven O’Clock Show, My Family and Not Going Out, and on radio...

Talking Bottom chats with Colin Gilbert, the director and co-writer with Rik Mayall of The Man Behind the Green Door and Kevin Turvey Investigates. Colin also directed Rab C Nesbitt and worked on Not the Nine O'Clock News, A Kick up the Eighties, I Lovett and Naked Video. He is the co-founder of prolific independent production company The Comedy Unit. Colin shares memories of his career, the genes...

This week it's the Talking Bottom podcast you've all been waiting for as we come to you LIVE from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe! We were honoured to be joined by a very special guest - a comedian and writer who was at the cutting edge of alternative comedy in the 1980s. He performed on the very first night of The Comic Strip and his comedy CV includes The Young Ones, The Comic Strip presents…, Fil...

"Phew, that was close!" Following a catastrophic near-end more fraught than Richie and Eddie getting gunned down by the SAS, with the book Talking Bottom: A Guide to The Cult Sitcom SELLING OUT on its week of release and then the publisher liquidising its assets (literally), we're excited to announce that the book is back!  We discuss the seat-of-the-skidded-pants journey we've been on that's fina...