Mayall found his fame as one of a new group of young British comedians who turned up in the 80s as the BBC was starting to worry all of their comedy was living off of the coattails of Monty Python; Mayall becoming one of the main cast members of The Young Ones (worth checking out).
Although to me, Mayall will always be Richie from Bottom. As a kid, every Saturday night - when my dad was at the pub - me and my mum would sit and watch either Bottom or Red Dwarf, both becoming endearingly important to me for that reason. If you really think that only true comedy lies in subtlety then look at Mayall's Bottom performance, any clip will do. He played loveable crazy like no-one else.
Mayall since became one of those British comedians who just shows up everywhere, now and again. Last year he showed up in Greg Davies vehicle Man Down, his performance as Davies' bonkers dad being a highlight. And the year before that he made a surprise appearance during Ade Edmondson (his long time partner in crime)'s performance of The Dying Swan for Lets Dance for Comic Relief - Mayall's appearance feeling almost obligatory to the sketches success.
His death at the too-young age of 56 comes as a shock, especially for a man still making frequent appearances. My first thoughts went to Edmondson - the two had even hinted at reunions for years - and it made me realize just how much these two have branded my psyche, my sense of humour, at least parts of it, are completely down to these two. They were fantastically, and unapologetically British, and deserve to be remembered up with comedy greats like the Pythons they were once called in to follow up.
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