Bigger than Hitler - Better than Christ by Rik Mayall

Author:Rik Mayall [Rik Mayall]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780007375431
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

THE GREAT COVENT GARDEN BLOODBATH

It was a Tuesday afternoon. I remember it so well. I was sitting in my exclusive private members’ club in Soho with a young actress. You know her name and you know her face but let’s call her X for legal reasons. She won’t mind me saying that because you’ll never guess. So there I was in my Soho Club and all was well in my world. It was 1988 and I had just received showers of critical acclaim for the Bad News album, the first New Statesman series, my sold out tour of Australia with Little Ben-Elton, and feature films like Eat The Rich, Strike, More Bad News, Mr Jolly Lives Next Door, and my genre-displacing management training video, Managing Problem People. But the icing on the cake was my appearance in The Common Pursuit at the Phoenix Theatre in the heart of London’s West End, which is like a second home to me. Actually, I’ve already got a second home, better make that my third home. It was a wonderful play by my great friend Simon Gray – who is now Lord Gray. Who is big mates with Harold

Pinter. And anyone who is big mates with Harold Pinter* is all right with me. If you’re reading this Simon your Lordship – big love and respect. My fellow cast members were all great and I was very happy. Johnny Sessions was in it (who I have not had sex with), John “Hello I’m John Gordon Sinclair” Gordon Sinclair (no), Paul Mooney (no), Sarah Berger (yes) and my old friend Stephen Fry (see following page – just read the bit in between first). Another great thing about the play was that I got to smoke. I’ve always enjoyed smoking on stage, that’s why I’ve never done much Shakespeare.

The Common Pursuit is all about some Cambridge intellectual types who write a student magazine called The Common Pursuit. The rest of the cast was good but I ripped the face off the place – probably because I was more intelligent than the others. And it was because I was such a sensitive and brilliant acter that Lord Simon wanted me for another of his great plays.

Fast forward to 1995 and there I am at the Albery Theatre in Cell Mates with Stephen Fry. Unfortunately, when the play opened (which means when we had practised it a bit and then the critics (who I love) were invited to come and drink some free booze and write things about us) Stephen got some bad reviews. Now, I want to say here and now in my book that it’s not Stephen’s fault that he’s not as good at acting as I am and I would never want to rape over old ground but here are some of those reviews: “Stephen Fry is shit; Rik Mayall is a much better acter than him.” Daily Telegraph. “Fucking hell, I wish both parts were played by Rik Mayall because he’s much better than Stephen Fry.

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