1. Quotes
  2. Authors
  3. Rik Mayall

Rik Mayall Quotes

Richard Michael "Rik" Mayall was an English comedian, actor and writer. Mayall formed a close partnership with Ade Edmondson while they were students at Manchester University, and became a pioneer of alternative comedy in the 1980s. Mayall starred in numerous cult classic sitcoms throughout his career, including The Young Ones, The Comic Strip Presents..., Blackadder, Filthy Rich & Catflap, The New Statesman, and Bottom. Mayall also starred in the comedy films Drop Dead Fred and Guest House Paradiso, and won a Primetime Emmy Award for his voice-over work in The Willows in Winter. His comedic style was described as energetic "post-punk".

In later life, Mayall struggled with depression and insecurities. In 1998, he suffered a serious head injury in a quad bike accident near his Devon home, and was later in a coma for several days until his recovery. Mayall died from an acute cardiac event in 2014. BBC Television director Danny Cohen described Mayall in his legacy as a "truly brilliant" comedian with a unique stage presence, whose "fireball creativity" and approach to sitcom had inspired a generation of comedy stars.

✵ 7. March 1958 – 9. June 2014
Rik Mayall photo
Rik Mayall: 6   quotes 0   likes

Famous Rik Mayall Quotes

“I was brought up to be a good boy and proud of myself so I suppress all the things about me that are bad.”

Rik Mayall

TV Times, January 19 - 25, 1991 http://rikmayall.info/quotes1.htm.

“On stage you can group 200 people together and scare them or embarrass them or whatever. You can't do that on TV. You have to use the conventions, that's why Kevin [Turvey] works so well.”

Rik Mayall

New Musical Express, November 7, 1981 http://rikmayall.info/quotes1.htm.

“I once walked to school in my underpants and a soggy shoe because my shoe flew off into the river when I tried kicking a ball. My brother retrieved it, but then demanded my trousers, because his were soaked.”

Rik Mayall

News of the World, November 1999 https://rikmayallinterviews.wordpress.com/category/1999/

“Insanity is a very high art form. If everyone was insane, I wouldn’t be here!”

Rik Mayall

The Stage, January 2007 https://www.thestage.co.uk/opinion/2014/remembering-rik-mayall-one-oddest-fun-interviews-ive-ever-done/

“I feel proud to have turned that down. I wish I could remember what it was. Let’s say Hamlet. Yeah, I turned down Hamlet.”

Rik Mayall

Well who fucking wouldn’t? I mean how many gags are there in that?

The Stage, January 17, 2007 https://www.thestage.co.uk/features/2007/bad-politics-rik-mayall-in-the-new-statesman/

“I can be gloriously stupid, but if it helps to divert peoples attentions from the grimness of life, I’m happy.”

Rik Mayall

Daily Mail, September 2003 https://rikmayallinterviews.wordpress.com/2012/07/17/deadlier-than-the-mayall/

Similar authors

Woody Allen photo
Woody Allen 229
American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, author, p…
George Carlin photo
George Carlin 270
American stand-up comedian
Henny Youngman photo
Henny Youngman 18
American comedian
Charlie Chaplin photo
Charlie Chaplin 75
British comic actor and filmmaker
Groucho Marx photo
Groucho Marx 117
American comedian
Peter Ustinov photo
Peter Ustinov 59
English actor, writer, and dramatist
Ben Stein photo
Ben Stein 30
actor, writer, commentator, lawyer, teacher, humorist
Anthony Hopkins photo
Anthony Hopkins 3
Welsh stage and television actor
Al Pacino photo
Al Pacino 2
American film and stage actor and director
Orson Welles photo
Orson Welles 53
American actor, director, writer and producer