Talking Bottom

“That was quite a LOCK IN, wasn’t it??” A short while ago our great mate Jeffers @PodcastoCatflappo asked to interview us about the writing process behind ‘Talking Bottom: A Guide to the Cult Sitcom’ and what Bottom fans can expect to uncover when flicking through its weighty folds. Listen to our sickeningly lovely chat with the top bloke that is Jeff - and then give his podcast a listen and follow him on socials @PodcastoCatflappo - his pod has featured loads of faaaaantastic names in alternative comedy including Nigel Planer and Jon Lloyd, as well as deep dives into Catflap and other brilliant Rik and Ade related content.

The Talking Bottom book comes out NEXT WEEK on 3 July! “WE ARE ON E WING!!!” 

To order a copy follow this link: https://linktr.ee/talkingbottom 

And please also check out details for our upcoming Edinburgh Fringe Talking Bottom LIVE podcast at Underbelly Bristo Square on Sunday 24th August with 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 

Talking Bottom is BACK and LIVE - and what better place to do our FIRST EVER live show than at the innagural Rik Mayall Comedy Festival in Rik's old home town of Droitwich? We were joined by legendary Bottom director and Producer Ed Bye at the Norbury Theatre on the very stage upon which Rik first ever performed and where he used to operate the lights. 

To a sold-out crowd, Ed shared memories of directing Bottom, working with Rik and Ade and his very favourite Bottom moments - watching them along with the audience and chatting about why they are so special. 

Ed also joined in with a reading from an exclusive never-before seen or heard scene cut from an early draft of Bottom: Smells. AND of course the Talking Bottom quiz had to return for it's first ever live version, complete with audience participation!

Talking Bottom's next live show with special guest, Bottom's "Dick Head" Lee Cornes (also in Red Dwarf, The Young Ones and Blackadder) is at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Sunday 24th August at 3.10pm at Underbelly Bristo Square. Tickets are available here: https://underbellyedinburgh.co.uk/event/talking-bottom-live 

The book Talking Bottom: A guide to The Cult Sitcom can be found to order at: https://t.co/G677or4Xgw

This ep sees an update on our book, Talking Bottom: A Guide to The Cult Sitcom, snatched (ooh errr) from the jaws of defeat to be published on July 3rd. We wang on about why it took f*cking aaaages and how book backers can get their grubby hands on the book on July 3rd while others wait for their postman to unload his sack.

We also chat about our upcoming live podcast on May 31st, on stage in Rik's home town of Droitwich as part of the Rik Mayall Comedy Festival, where we will be joined by a VERY special guest; Bottom director and producer Ed Bye!

We also chat about our upcoming series based around Rik Mayall's most iconic and best-loved characters.

The book Talking Bottom: A guide to The Cult Sitcom can be found to order at: https://t.co/G677or4Xgw

Talking Bottom returns with a visit to the 2025 Slapstick Festival in Bristol, where Ange and Mat attended "That's Really Heavy, Man: The Comic Incarnations of Nigel Planer" (Nigel Planer in Conversation with Robin Ince) and "Rik! The Anarchic Genius of Rik Mayall" (Ben Elton and Nigel Planer, chaired by Robin Ince).

The pair regale Paul with stories from the talks about Nigel's career before, during and after The Young Ones, the U.S. Young Ones pilot that may finally see the light of day, Ben's early memories of Rik at Uni and as they started working together, and the love and affection the world still has for Rik.

We'll talk about the book in next week's ep! Ooh, speaking of which; The book "Talking Bottom: A guide to the cult sitcom" can be found to order at: https://t.co/G677or4Xgw

Finally, a documentary about Bottom! A look at Bottom: Exposed - a fantastic retrospective of Bottom on UKTV channel Gold. The doc features contributions from load of people who worked on the sitcom, including Ade himself!

We discuss the stories and facts unearthed by the programme, and how we came to pop up on it ourselves!

The book "Talking Bottom: A guide to the cult sitcom" can be found to order at: https://t.co/G677or4Xgw

Our guest for this very special episode is a titan of entertainment and one of the key figures in the rise of alternative comedy in the UK. He's an actor, director, writer and comedian who created The Comic Strip and is the man behind The Comic Strip Presents...  series of shows and films that currently total 5 films and 42 episodes including Bad News, Mr Jolly Lives Next Door, A Fistful of Travellers Cheques, The Bullshitters, Four Men in A Car and The Hunt for Tony Blair. It's Peter Richardson!

Peter will be at the London BFI this month on 19th and 21st May for a series of screenings of The Strike, GLC: The Carnage Continues, Bad News Tour and Churchill: The Hollywood Years, plus Q&A's with some very special guests. In our interview, he chats about his favourite Comic Strip Presents episodes, scripts he still hopes to make, Rik and Ade's performances, meeting Rik, Ade and Nigel Planer, how he started in comedy, balancing acting with directing, guerilla filming, meeting Steve Martin, his favourite directors, his favourite character, TV commissioners and not being Mike in The Young Ones.

The conversation took place over Zoom so please forgive the occasional connection drop out.

"Talking Bottom: A Guide to The Cult Sitcom" can be pre-ordered here: https://t.co/G677or4Xgw

 

This weeks guest is the First Lady of Bottom. She's a comedian, author and actor who was part of the Comedy Store scene and whose credits include The Young Ones, Absolutely Fabulous, Saturday Live, Girls on Top, One Foot in the Grave, Naked Video and Happy Families.

But Bottom fans know her best as Moldovan Princess Lady Natasha Letitia Sarah Jane Wellesley Obstromsky Ponsonsky Smythe Smythe Smythe Smythe Smythe Oblomov Boblomov Dob. It's Helen Lederer!

Helen tells us about her early years getting into acting and standup, working as a social worker, feeling like an outsider on the alternative comedy scene, seeing The Dangerous Brothers, attitudes to comedy material changing, modern comedy, working as a writer, battling sexism, running Comedy Women in Print and her appearances on Bottom both as a harrangued Nurse AND as the Third Viscountess of Moldovia who very nearly takes Richie's cherry.

The book "Talking Bottom: A guide to the cult sitcom" can be found to order at: https://t.co/G677or4Xgw

This weeks guest quite literally wrote the book on Rik Mayall. He's a journalist, writer, film critic and broadcaster who's worked for Heat, Entertainment Focus, New Empress Film Magazine, Screenjabber and BBC Suffolk. He's the author of biography "Rik Mayall: Comedy Genius"... It's Mark Searby!

We discuss stories from Rik's life that Mark discovered while writing the book, how much work went into it, Rik's place in comedy history, unheard Bottom trivia, Rik filming Drop Dead Fred, seeing secret recordings of Rik's early stand up and which Rik roles Al Pacino should try playing.

The conversation took place over Zoom so please forgive the occasional connection drop out.

Mark's book can be ordered here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rik-Mayall-Comedy-Mark-Searby/dp/0995793123

The book "Talking Bottom: A guide to the cult sitcom" can be found to order at: https://t.co/G677or4Xgw

Imagine being able to literally create the world that Richie and Eddie inhabit. This week's guest has done just that, working as a Production Designer on series 3 of Bottom, plus on The League of Gentlemen, French and Saunders, Spiceworld, Episodes, Rev, A Bit of Fry and Laurie, Roland Rat, Fat Slags and The End of the F***ing World. It's Grenville Horner!

Emmy winner Grenville shares how he started in the industry, working on series 3 of Bottom including creating the legendary cattle prod and ferris wheel, recreating Richie and Eddie's flat, photographing Hammersmith, being a pop star, faxing Stephen Fry and creating the look of Royston Vasey, for which he won a Royal Television Society Award.

The conversation took place over Zoom so please forgive the occasional connection drop out.

The book "Talking Bottom: A guide to the cult sitcom" can be found to order at: https://t.co/G677or4Xgw

Many of us grew up watching Rik and Ade's work. For many of us it was George's Marvellous Medicine and Bottom, for others The Dangerous Brothers and The Young Ones. But this week's guest got to grow up - for the duration of filming anyway - whilst working with Rik and Ade on the film Guest House Paradiso aged 9.

She's an actress with a CV including Cider with Rosie, The Gathering, Casualty, Los Dos Bros, Magic Grandad and the role of Charlene Nice, a member of the family that checks into Guest House Paradiso expecting a nice relaxing holiday and instead gets violently vomitingly sick. It's Jessica Mann!

Jessica discusses how she got started acting, auditioning for Guest House Paradiso, working with Rik, Ade and Simon Pegg, the fate of her body cast, drama vs comedy, missing the GHP premiere while in a Mcdonalds and exploding vomit tanks.

The conversation took place over Zoom so please forgive the occasional connection drop out.

The book "Talking Bottom: A guide to the cult sitcom" can be found to order at: https://t.co/G677or4Xgw