(Entertainment-NewsWire.com, July 21, 2014 ) Detroit, Michigan – Long before the conventional media had any inkling of what was happening in contemporary youth culture some giants silently moved in. Alternative radio didn’t even have an official name in 1986 and yet some pop culture icons were silently slipping through the mainstream media via MTV and the BBC. Rik Mayall was one of those magical people and the show was, “The Young Ones”. This was a program that focused on the lives of four reckless college roommates growing up in the 80’s in London, England. The comedy was described as the, “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” meets, “Monty Python” and the description was fairly accurate. Despite what might be heard in traditional media today the show was a sleeping cult hit only favored by hip college students.
Back in the 1980’s there was no BBC America. The show came on Sunday nights on MTV after 11pm and was run with an occasional complimentary program called, “The Comic Strip”. Rik Mayall played the unlikeable character named, “Rick” and was joined by a metal head, “Vivyan”, a hippie named “Neil” and a grotesque playboy named, “Mike”. The house was run down with filth, mouthy puppets, unruly guests, frequent explosions and famous musical guests like, The Damned, Madness and Motorhead. The show was played on MTV with kind of a warning. American audiences weren’t really ready for the kind of robust and profane humor of, “The Young Ones”.
Mayall is the focus on, “Hot Metro Finds” and the article has video clips of some of the best scenes from the series. These are manic moments of loud and disruptive comedy. The show was groundbreaking on many levels but mainly because it addressed a growing population of post-punk kids who were into the bombastic. During the shows creation there was really nothing for this type of audience outside of a live show, or street riot. The show was definitely iconic to the times that it came from. As music lost it’s initial shock the media gave way to more outlandish bands like Nirvana, The Pixies, and the Grunge Movement.
The article also talks briefly about Mayall’s involvement with the show, “Bottom” which focused on another roommate named Eddie Hitler played by Adrian Edmonson. This show eventually turned into a live on stage performance via off Broadway.
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