Rik Mayall

Rik Mayall was an actor and writer who was a major force in British comedy for more than 30 years. He is perhaps best known for the television series The Young Ones, the farcical misadventures of four university students sharing a dilapidated house.

The son of two drama teachers, he was born in Essex, England, and attended Manchester Univesity, where he met his future collaborator Adrian Edmondson. They began performing as a comedy duo in London clubs in the late 1970s.

He and Edmondson first drew attention as a member of the Comic Strip, a group of young comics who had a sketch series on Channel 4 in Britain from 1982 to 1988. Other members included Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders, who went on to create the comedy hit Absolutely Fabulous.

Mayall and Edmondson rose to fame as two of the leads in The Young Ones, which Mayall also co-wrote, along with Ben Elton and Lise Mayer. The program aired on the BBC from 1988 to 1984 and was later shown in the U.S. on MTV, PBS, Comedy Central and BBC America.

Mayall, who was widely revered among both fans and practitioners of British comedy, also appeared in such series as The Black Adder, Filthy Rich & Catflap, The New Statesman, Bottom, Believe Nothing, All About George, Damo and Ivor and Mad Down.

In 1997 he won a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for the animated program The Willows in Winter.

Mayall died June 9, 2014, in London. He was 56.