Talking Bottom

2025 Christmas round up

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 just in time for Christmas! Not to mention our first ever live shows at the Rik Mayall Comedy Festival and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe! We also tease what's coming in 2026, including a "Once in every lifetime" new series...

To buy the book "Talking Bottom: A Guide to the Cult Sitcom," our Lamb and Flag & Hammersmith Bugle tea towels or listen to more episodes, click here: https://linktr.ee/talkingbottom 

Oh and one more thing: MERRY BLOODY CHRISTMAS

* The book and the tea towels, of course!

Max Kinnings (writer of the forthcoming official Rik Mayall biography) interview

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 chats with us about working with Rik, first on a screenplay and then on the legendary autobiography that took the nation by storm. We also discuss his BBC Radio 4 documentary about Rik, Panglobal Phenomenon, which was based on over 100 hours of archive recordings of himself and Rik chatting about ideas. He shares his memories of working on Rik and Ade's Waiting For Godot in 1991 and on the first two Bottom Live shows, plus of course how the work on the official Rik biography is going!

To buy the book "Talking Bottom: A Guide to the Cult Sitcom," our Lamb and Flag & Hammersmith Bugle tea towels or listen to more episodes, click here: https://linktr.ee/talkingbottom 

Dave Cohen interview

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 for Dead Ringers, The News Quiz and Sunday Format. He co-created the award-winning 15 Minute Musical and has written over 100 songs for the multi-BAFTA winning BBC hit Horrible Histories.

But ALSO he's one of the very few lucky individuals to witness first-hand Rik and Ade's "Death on the Toilet" at the 1979 Edinburgh Fringe. It's Dave Cohen!

To buy the book "Talking Bottom: A Guide to the Cult Sitcom," our Lamb and Flag & Hammersmith Bugle tea towels or listen to more episodes, click here: https://linktr.ee/talkingbottom 

Colin Gilbert interview

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 genesis of Kevin Turvey, working with Rik and much more in this fascinating interview.

To buy the book, our Lamb and Flag tea towels or listen to more episodes, click here: https://linktr.ee/talkingbottom 

 

Live at the Edinburgh Fringe with special guest Lee Cornes!

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…, Filthy Rich & Catflap, Colin’s Sandwich, Rab.C.Nesbitt, Blackadder and Red Dwarf. Yes, it's a brand new LIVE chat with The Lamb and Flag’s parasitic pub landlord, Dick Head AKA Lee Cornes! 

 

Listen now or head to this link https://youtu.be/caPVWUtYRD8 on youtube to see the interview in full technicolour plus vox pops from fans after the show (spoiler, we all keep our pants on!)

 

To buy the book, our Lamb and Flag tea towels or listen to more episodes, click here: https://linktr.ee/talkingbottom

Book relaunch and Edinburgh Fringe teaser

"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 finally brought us to a brand-spanking new 2nd edition being published and out NOW via the very best bookshops and all your online book marketplaces.

We also chat about our upcoming podcast interview with comedy legend and "Dick Head" himself, Lee Cornes, that we recorded live on stage at this year's Edinburgh Fringe!

To buy the book, our Lamb and Flag tea towels or listen to more episodes, click here: https://linktr.ee/talkingbottom

The Many Faces of Rik Mayall: Talking Bottom on Rik the Narrator

Talking Bottom reaches the final episode of this special series on The Many Faces of Rik Mayall. Everyone knows Rik had the most expressive face but he had a voice to match, too. From The Wind in The Willows Toad to Jackanory. From Grim Tales to The Last Hurrah. Rik threw everything into his times in the audio booth, making each one unique, comedically brilliant and a masterclass in vocal performance.

Talking Bottom digs deep into those vocal performances that made our childhoods so special, plus some hidden gems from Rik's later career that fans may want to seek out. 

The Many Faces of Rik Mayall: Talking Bottom on Richard Davies in Man Down

Described by Man Down creator and star Greg Davies as "a force of nature" and "dream casting," Rik Mayall blessed us all with a final return to the world of sitcom, dropping in each week to steal the episode - and the show - every time.

Richard Davies is the sadistic, prank-loving father of "Dan" (Greg) who loves nothing more than tormenting and publicly humiliating his adult son for his own amusement, yet with a hint of deep fatherly love behind that glint in his eye. This week is all about this role that sadly came to be known as Rik's TV swansong - and what a great one!

The Many Faces of Rik Mayall: Talking Bottom on Drop Dead Fred

"Dog poo, dog poo, lovely lovely dog poo.” Move over, Harvey the rabbit. Get to buggery, Tyler Durden. This week Talking Bottom delves into Rik's foray into Hollywood, playing the world's best imaginary friend. He's violent, sweary, flicks snot into drinks and sinks houseboats. It's Drop Dead Fred!

We chat about Rik as a film star, the psychology of imaginary friends and the film's re-evaluation as a story of female empowerment and mental health (yes we can be serious!). Plus of course we chat about looking up skirts, getting heads trapped in fridges and the parallels with the world of Tim Burton.

We are heading to the Edinburgh Fringe with the second ever Talking Bottom LIVE podcast at Underbelly Bristo Square on Sunday 24th August. We will be joined by veryyyyy special guest Lee Cornes AKA Bottom’s pub landlord Dick Head!!! “Are you calling me a liar??” “No, I’m calling you a tosser!” Tickets are available here: https://underbellyedinburgh.co.uk/event/talking-bottom-live 

The Many Faces of Rik Mayall: Talking Bottom on Richard Dangerous and Dreamytime Escort

“The Comic Strip Presents…Mr Jolly Lives Next Door was the prototype… that was really the pilot for Bottom.” Peter Richardson summed it up perfectly in our chat with him. Our new podcast puts Rik Mayall’s role starring alongside the legendary Peter Cook as Mr Jolly’s neighbouring business owner “Dreamytime Escort” under the microscope, along with a character who shares distant DNA; Richard Dangerous of "The Dangerous Brothers” double act! 

Yes, this week is a double whammy of Rik’s most memorable characters as Talking Bottom examine what makes both disgusting, violent, perverted, heavy-drinking, greasy-haired creations brilliant and squalid in equal measure, and how Ade’s part in these loud, brash and chaotic duos served to elevate Rik’s performances to perfection.

We are heading to the Edinburgh Fringe with the second ever Talking Bottom LIVE podcast at Underbelly Bristo Square on Sunday 24th August. We will be joined by veryyyyy special guest Lee Cornes AKA Bottom’s pub landlord Dick Head!!! “Are you calling me a liar??” “No, I’m calling you a tosser!” Tickets are available here: https://underbellyedinburgh.co.uk/event/talking-bottom-live