Bottom Live

Bottom Live – The Stage Show is a live stage show based on the UK TV series Bottom. It ran in 1993 and was recorded for VHS (and later DVD) release at the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton. It was written and starred Rik Mayall as Richie Richard and Adrian Edmondson as Eddie Hitler.

Plot

Following a lock-in in the lavatories of their local pub for the weekend, Richie and Eddie return to their flat. After an unsuccessful attempt to prepare breakfast the mail arrives, containing a letter and parcel for Richie. The letter is from the solicitors, which Eddie is left to dispose of, and the parcel contains a blow-up doll Richie has ordered without the knowledge of his flatmate. He bribes Eddie to leave the flat so he can be alone with his new friend Monica, unaware that Eddie has opened the solicitors letter and discovered that following his uncle’s death, Richie is now owed £15,000, which he wishes to claim for himself.

The second act opens with Richie having trouble with Monica, which culminates in him accidentally attaching himself to the doll with superglue. Eddie returns with the intent of killing him to claim the £15,000. He helps remove the blow-up doll then tries to poison Richie, albeit unsuccessfully. Not long after Richie himself reads the letter from the solicitor and discovers that the £15,000 is actually a debt owed by Richie that his uncle never paid during his lifetime. He resigns himself to suicide, but not before Eddie has tricked him into signing a marriage certificate (assuming that such a bond will entitle him to the money). The play ends with Eddie realising his mistake, and the two friends apparently electrocute themselves to avoid paying the debt, which they both now owe.

Trivia

There is an eight-minute section of the second act that revolves around Ade teasing Rik for corpsing during his lines and also for Rik’s annoyance at Ade for receiving a large round of applause from the audience when he delivers his own lines in an overly dramatic fashion. The line Ade recites is similar to one in television episode "Contest", when he talks about the futility of their conversation: "slime in this ear, slime in that ear". (Ade also remarks after his over-dramatic delivery, "Alan Rickman, eat your heart out!") During this sequence, Eddie claims he was born in Southampton, whereas in real life, Ade was born in West Yorkshire. Rik tries to get the audience to stop laughing by telling them to pretend that they're watching Ben Elton. Near the end of this section, Rik manages to compose himself to deliver his line, to which Ade responds by saying, "Fucking hell! A line from the play!" to great audience applause.

During a fight, Ade accidentally hits Rik on the nose for real, causing a character break by Ade to say "You alright? I actually hit you on the nose then, didn't I?"

There was a part where Monica was put under the sofa cushion when Eddie walked in and Richie sat on top and the leg popped out, this footage is now lost.

After Richie attempted to kick Eddie in the crotch after he insulted him, a metal clanging sound is heard and Richie yells in pain asking, "what have you got up there?" to which Eddie replies, "my testicles". This scene is also from one of the Dangerous Brothers sketches called Crocodile Snogging.

Similarly, in the first act a visual gag wherein the pair spit out their teeth (having bitten into a Special-K brick) mirrors a similar gag in The Dangerous Brothers sketch "Exploding Politicians".

There is a part in the second act where Ade hits Rik in the crotch with a Cricket Bat. Rik responds with "Ha! Ha! Missed both my legs!" This is a reference to The Young Ones episode Oil. The same joke is done again in the Bottom Live: The Big Number Two Tour.

Rik Mayall is always the first cast member to both speak and appear on stage, shortly followed by Ade Edmondson.

References