Rik Mayall caused a stir when he appeared at MK theatre last year - and now the B'Stard is back! Sammy Jones caught up with the star of The New Statesman...
We only have a few
snatched minutes
together, but our
relationship
blossoms with
haste – he calls me a name most
beautiful (though best not
repeated here and now) and I call
him a B'Stard in return.
For this is no ordinary interview
and a
ny journalist who picks up
the phone expecting the comedy
genius that is Rik Mayall to trot
out tiresome tatty theatrical lines
will return to their keypad
disappointed. He is on the phone
doing the not very-necessary
(given that ticket sales are little
short of awesome) but token ring
round of the press in advance of
The New Statesman which takes
its final live turn at MK Theatre
from July 9.
"I'm pleased with the show,"
he begins, putting more emphasis
into those opening five words
than many an actor does his
entire career.
"I'm looking forward to coming
back," he says of his imminent
arrival in our new city. "I'm
looking forward to it – it has been
going really well so far. You know
they call Glasgow the comedians'
graveyard because if the audience
don't like something, they let you
know? Well if they like it they let
you know too, and we ripped the
face off Edinburgh and
disembowled Glasgow!"
The New Statesman, the Blair
B'Stard Project again comes from
the exceptional writing force that
is Marks and Gran (Shine On
Harvey Moon, Birds of a Feather,
Goodnight Sweetheart) pitting the
best writers with the best
performers – after all, you don't
need to colour up Mayall's career
to come up with the goods:
Bottom, Blackadder and The
Young Ones being three particular
peaches.
But we shouldn't only give
Mayall and his on-stage wifey
Lysette Anthony praise. "Helen
Baker plays Flora Herbert and she
is brilliant, her comedy timing is
sublime, put that in...and we've
got the best terrorist in the world,
Kamal Hussein. It was his
birthday yesterday which is why I
feel a bit rough today.
"What I want to say," he
considers at fast pace, returning
to roost at the work, "is that this
is not a tired rehash of an old telly
programme."
'I know as much', I say.
"Oh sorry, you're in charge...I'll
do anything you want," the comic
creator sneers (that infamous,
funny) back. But I'm not reaching
for my whip (that is reserved for
full-time politicans who don't
mind spending a pretty penny)
and get back on track, to the very
essence of his craft: That
wickedly wonderful sense of
humour of his.
"Comedy is the salvation of
misery," speaks the man who
knows. "It's practically sexual,
and I mean that. When you've got
several hundred people that you
are able to move into any..."
'Shape?' I volunteer.
"Yes, if you like. That's the
pleasure. I could also say that I'm
******* good at it, but I'm too
much of a gentleman of course."
So Mayall is taking to the stage
in the role that he made a small
screen success...and this won't be
a staid production – not with the
writers on tap to weave in fresh
political elements as and when
they happen. the Government's
brigade is being watched...
"Last year, the main body of
the show was the West's conflict
with the East, but for example we
did have a lot of very good World
Cup jokes, but that's finished
now..." The World Cup...have we
missed something?
When the curtain goes down
on The New Statesman , that'll be
it, game over so far as Alan
B'Stard goes.
"If people really want to see
the show they have to go to MK
Theatre, because it won't be
coming out again, and there won't
be a DVD, nothing, that's it."
Finish it while it's good then?
"That's always been my
principle."
With the depraved, selfish
politician no longer to wander the
corridors of power, Mayall will
have some free time on his hands
should he choose, though he does
mention a film project as a
possibility.
Wherever Rik turns up, and
doing whatever, you can rest easy
in the knowledge that it'll be fully
plump and fantastic.
"I worked it out the other day,
I've been 31 years in the job now,
I'm quite an old dog."
But still one that'd make a
beeline for the nearest lamp-post
and steal your string of
sausages...
Name: Alan B'Stard.
Address: 9 Downing Street.
Who he is: 'One of the shining stars of the New Labour cabinet.'
What is he? In short, selfish and depraved sums it all up.
Is a peerage in the offing? "I've already bought several for an awful
lot of money!"
And another thing: Why is Condoleeza Rice in and out of Alan's back
door?
The B'Stard is back!
Rik Mayall caused a stir when he appeared at
MK theatre last year - and now the B'Stard is
back! Sammy Jones caught up with the star of
The New Statesman.....
