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why has Rik Mayalls death hit people so hard?
kelly_barnard
Posts: 556 Forum Member
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only asking because i still feel very sad about it 
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kelly_barnard
Posts: 556 kelly_barnard
Posts: 556 kelly_barnard
Posts: 556
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And also, because he was an incredibly nice guy who made time for his many fans.
God bless you, Rik.
Same, I wasnt around as he hit fame but its still quite a shock.
2 of the James bonds are over 80 - where does the time go..
This is it. For those of us who had grown up on "safe" fare like Morecambe & Wise or Mike Yarwood (good though they were), Mayall and his colleagues felt like something very new and daring. The Young Ones was like nothing we'd seen before, and it was quite a shock to the system for those who were teenagers at the time. It felt like "our" comedy rather than our parents'.
Because alot of us were totally unexpected by it! It just came out of the blue.
Plenty of us grew up watching Rik in the 80s through the 90s & it was a total shocker we wont see anymore great sitcoms he was in.
He was an important figure to his generation. He & his pals had a massive influence on the multi- million pound comedy industry we see today. The death was totally out of the blue.
People had a lot of affection for him, many grew up with him. He was in several iconic shows. Finally- he was Good! a good actor & comedian & a good man if anectdotes are to believed.
I believe he was part of this generation consider the comedy shows he has been in.
I think that's it in a nutshell Ellef. I grew up with my parents watching It Ain't Half Hot Mum, Hi-de-hi, Terry and June and so on - shows that were amusing but old fashioned, ploddy and a bit smug. With the Comic Strip and the Young Ones, it felt as though this was made for us, not our parents.
Even those who didn't love the Young Ones (weirdos ;-) ) can't deny that those shows (along with Blackadder, Ben Elton, Not the Nine O'Clock News) did change the nature of comedy on TV.
Also - he died shockingly young and shockingly suddenly. This wasn't like a Michael Jackson or an Amy Winehouse (sadly inevitable) death, it was utterly out of the blue.
RIP Rik with a silent P.
He was barely a year older than me and I think this is why it strikes home so hard. It makes you aware of your own mortality. And as people have said - he was a genuine comic one-off who influenced so many after him .... and by all accounts it seems he was a genuinely nice man.
I'm finding myself singing (to myself) Billy Joel's 'Only The Good Die Young' a lot lately too!
Thanks for saying it better than I could! That's it, really. I was only about 11 when I came across Kevin Turvey, but thought he was great so obviously found Rik intrisically funny from the off.. Then came The Young Ones which I guess was my generation's Monty Python which I ADORED. Bad News, New Statesman, Blackadder, Bottom....what a hit rate. So, yeah...felt like I grew up with him.
When I heard the news....really felt like someone had whacked me in the stomach. Might sound silly, but I guess not the only one looking at the general response.
Also....bottom line. There's a lot of sh*t and nastiness out there. Obviously. People who make us smile/laugh/feel better.....they are precious and they are few. Rik was one of those people. That's special. So was he.
Peaches Geldof's death seemed to garner much of a similar reaction - perhaps people weren't eulogising her quite so much - but the fact that she was a 25 year old Mother of 2 was pretty shocking to most.
& yeah, I am very much of the generation that grew up with Mayall's comedy. & it was fabulous. As was he.
It's a damn shame.
Talentled (can up you think of one really bad thing he did.)
Funny
Nice (no scandals, or hint of a shady past.)
I still havent worked out why she posted a pic on twitter of her & her mother together moments before she died.
Maybe you had really cool parents?! My mum used to get her knickers in a right old twist about it, that they were 'revolting and violent'. Mind you, we weren't allowed to watch Grange Hill either, in case those dreadful children influenced us to start dropping our aitches
My parents weren't cool at all ( or at east I didn't think they were!).
Really, the Young Ones featured lots of slapstick, not much swearing, no nudity and it really wasn't nasty.
exactly this!
I grew up watching him on tv, first as Kevin Turvey then in the Young Ones, Bottom and Drop Dead Fred!
Rik WAS comedy, imo, end of!
"Don't you dare call me overweight young man!" ...
RIP Rik. A legend.