I found out that Rik was going to perform at Ayr Odeon in 1985, and instantly snapped up a ticket. Ben Elton was his opening act. I think this was before Saturday Live, and the only thing we knew about Ben Elton was that he co-wrote the Young Ones so I was tremendously excited. I had never been to a comedy show before and it was only the bloomin' guys who wrote The Young Ones!
I decided this was something I wanted to keep forever, so with great ingenuity and illegality, I looped a belt through the handle of my Aunt's cassette recorder she had in the kitchen, got a microphone (one of the ones with 2 pins to connect it: one short and one long) and put that down my jacket sleeve and off to the gig I went.
Ben Elton was superb, and this was the first time I heard his "Double Seat" routine. But Rik then came out to huge cheers. "It's lovely to be here in"... he looks at his pen marks on his hand... "Ayyuugh. Ayuugh!? What kind of fucking name is that for a place?" He started performing as The Young Ones' Rick, then came on as Kevin Turvey. I had missed Turvey the first time round, but I think I bought a VHS tape by then so I was familiar with him, and then came on later as himself, explaining that his friend and colleague Adrian Edmonson had written a joke for him. "I'm going to do Ade's joke" he announced. "No not an AIDS joke! That would be awful!", he berated a non-existent heckler.
My friend George and I played that tape over and over and over and over again until we knew Ben and Rik's sets word perfectly. This would have been an ideal day to upload it to Soundcloud, but alas, it has been lost for many years. And now Rik has been lost too.
Anyway, this blog is really just an excuse to post lots of ace clips of Rik. I hope you enjoy them!
Rik and The Young Ones on Comic Relief
The Dangerous Brothers
Rick finds a lady in his bed (The Young Ones)
Filthy, Rich & Catflap
,
Bad News Tour
More Bad News
Kevin Turvey - The Man Behind The Green Door
Bottom - Live
And finally this. Rik receives an honorary doctorate from the University Of Exeter and gives a fantastic rousing speech to the students. A speech that they will remember for the rest of their lives.
