Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson’s Bottom exploded onto British television in the early nineties. The anarchic sitcom was violent, rude, disgusting and so uproariously funny that it became an instant hit with viewers at home (but less so with certain snobbish critics). It was littered with double-entendres and fight scenes that left you howling with laughter or wincing – either way, your eyes watered.

When the antics of Richard Richard and Edward Elizabeth Hitler debuted on BBC Two in 1991, alternative comedy legends Mayall and Edmondson were already sitcom heroes, having revolutionised TV comedy starring in cultural phenomenon The Young Ones, which Mayall co-wrote with Ben Elton and Lise Mayer.

Whereas that show personified the idiocy and vitality of youth, Bottom saw Rik and Ade’s TV personas evolve into stagnating adulthood, trapped in hilarious arrested development. 

Written and performed by Mayall and Edmondson, Bottom was a perfect mixture of rude wordplay and outrageously pathetic plots combined with lashings of the trademark cartoon violence they perfected with their aptly named ‘Dangerous Brothers’ live double act on stage, where Rik routinely beat Ade, even setting him on fire, in front of crowds dazzled by their unique in-your-face comedic style that seemed impossible to contain – and thrilled audiences with the feeling anything could happen. 

Originally titled ‘Your Bottom’, with the silly intent that viewers discussing the show next morning would say ‘”I saw your bottom on TV last night”, a compromise with BBC Two Controller Alan Yentob resulted in it becoming simply ‘Bottom’, signposting not only the fart gags and toilet humour with which it became synonymous, but also a clever pun reflecting the status of their characters in the gutter of life. 

Richie Richard and Eddie Hitler were two squalid losers on the fringes of society, enduring miserable existences on a pittance, both seeking solace wherever they could get their kicks; birds, booze and each other’s b*****ks.

So why, nearly 35 years later, does a show about a pair of perverted, decidedly un-PC, gluttonous misfits who savagely attack each other with frying pans, conclude that women who don’t want to sleep with them are lesbians, and try to spy on their neighbours having sex, enjoy such longevity that fans old and new are still clambering for more? 

Against all expectations, our podcast Talking Bottom that we began in 2018, proved popular with fellow fans. So much so that the companion book we penned – Talking Bottom: A Guide to The Cult Sitcom – has just enjoyed a second print run after selling out this summer. It’s not because of us nobodies, it’s because affection for Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson’s masterpiece deserves lasting popularity – much like Steptoe and Son, Fawlty Towers or Only Fools and Horses – it’s a perfect British sitcom.

Described by Rik Mayall, who sadly died aged just 56 in June 2014, as “an all-out attack on existence itself”, Bottom depicted life in a dank Hammersmith where human organs could be bought on the black market, roadkill found its way onto kebab shop menus and where the community unites for an annual riot. 

In sitcom-land, Richie and Eddie are the ultimate ‘odd couple’ with a love-hate-hate-hate relationship. They share a will to survive despite the pointlessness of their existence. Bottom’s ‘message’? Laugh. It’s all humans have left. And the telly.

Without context, Richie and Eddie’s escapades may well induce revulsion – they repeatedly prove themselves to be the lowest of the low with their dastardly antics. They beat an unsuspecting gas man to within an inch of his life, they plot to poison a burglar who breaks into their flat so they can swipe his swag, and attempt to blackmail the then Prime Minister with a sex tape they unwittingly loot from a BBC camera during the annual Hammersmith ‘carnival’ i.e riot.

The storylines are simultaneously outrageous and relatable as they’re grounded in the grim reality of the grot, crime and scandal that runs as an undercurrent to the false veneer of polite society. Audiences rooted for the hapless pair of reprobates that are wasting their lives frittering away time by drinking, chasing women who would never look twice at them, or playing stupid games such as “put a bit of Sellotape on the fridge” or seeing who can hold the most custard in their underpants. 

Tackling boredom is Richie and Eddie’s biggest pastime – distracting themselves from the truth of their pathetic, lonely lives. Samuel Beckett’s Waiting For Godot is another huge influence on Rik and Ade’s writing – the pair both discovered as young men studying Drama at Manchester University in 1975 that they each held it in their affections as the funniest play ever written.

Bottom merged razor-sharp, nihilistic scripts with the best and most extreme physical comedy live action TV has ever seen. Rik and Ade channelled Wile E. Coyote and The Road Runner, performing their own stunts as Richie and Eddie crashed through ceilings, mercilessly beat each other with umbrellas and even chopped off body parts. They redefined boundaries of studio sitcoms as they farted flames, fell from Ferris Wheels, blew up their neighbour’s kitchen and frequently got electrocuted. 

Of course the likes of the legendary Laurel and Hardy were a huge influence on Rik and Ade but, to this day, no other British double act and, least of all, sitcom has pushed slapstick to such a level as Mayall and Edmondson.

But while eager viewers couldn’t wait for the next episode, critics were less than impressed. “Bottom is the kind of thing that gives lavatorial humour a bad name,” sniffed The Observer. The Mail on Sunday deemed it “Witless tosh,” while even compliments were partnered with snide damnation. “The jokes were putrid and puerile… Bottom has no socially redeeming features. And I laughed like a drain for the full half hour,” quipped the Sunday Express.

Its uniqueness is precisely why Bottom’s popularity has endured. From three series sprang five nationwide sell-out live tours and even a movie, Guest House Paradiso, all keeping Bottom in the nation’s hearts and minds. The memorable cartoon-style violence and sharp writing means the show still finds new devoted fans today as younger viewers discover sad lonely virgin Richie, desperate to finally get his end away and violent alcoholic Eddie, eager to get to the sale on at the chemists; “Old Spice; 25p a bottle!” 

In these modern times of understanding, sensitivity and comedy being shared in ‘safe spaces’, the depraved pair’s disgusting universe is a welcome outrageous contrast to the white-toothed actors portraying shiny settings that now flood streaming sites, such as The Big Bang Theory or Ted Lasso. Bottom’s influences are the grim, poverty-stricken reality of Steptoe and Son and Hancock’s Half Hour. 

British sitcoms love a clueless underdog who aspires for more: Basil Fawlty, Derek Trotter, Alan Partridge and David Brent, to name but a few. When Richie and Eddie enter our lives in the very first episode, Smells, we sympathise with their hopelessness, they truly believe the possibility that sex could be just around the corner – all they needed was a leg up to get a leg over, in the form of pheromone sex spray. Their desperation is simultaneously laughable and endearing. Thanks to Rik and Ade’s masterful performances, against our better judgement, we are entirely won over by the reprehensible pair.

Rik Mayall exuded a manic energy as Richie, smashing through doors, careering down stairs or even just compiling his own lonely-hearts ad (“Foxy Stoat seeks PIG!”). Ade Edmondson was fearless as Eddie, falling from rooftops, crashing through conservatories and, inevitably, being set on fire.

Their performances were grotesque, entirely without personal ego, as they played the roles as sad, foul and perverted as possible. Richie and Eddie’s constant motivation was not just to satiate their base needs but to gorge themselves silly on them. However, in classic sitcom style these efforts were always thwarted.

Bottom only ran for 18 episodes across three series, the last of which aired in 1995. 

But you don’t have to search the TV schedule hard to find re-runs and timeless clips online. It has entered comic culture and stands out as an exceptional highlight of British comedy – the nearest thing the world has to a live action cartoon. On the one hand it’s a classic sitcom about two co-dependent people trapped together that can’t stand each other. 

On the other hand, it’s the apex of 20th Century physical comedy – Rik and Ade not just taking the baton from Laurel and Hardy but yanking it from their hands, setting it on fire and wielding it aloft while challenging The Three Stooges to a fight. It pulls back a dank curtain, giving us a stark glimpse of the human condition at its darkest moments, then invites us to fill our pants with custard, join in the riot and laugh in its face. 

• Talking Bottom: A Guide to the Cult Sitcom, by Paul Tanter, Angela Pearson and Mat Brooks (Wilton Square, £12.99) is out now. For more information, visit wiltonsquarebooks.com