RIP Rik Mayall

About a million years ago, when I was at university, I had a trial day as a kitchen porter at a fancy vegetarian restaurant in Brighton. It was as close to hell as I ever wish to come. I washed things in scalding water in a windowless and airless room for eight hours with only a fifteen minute break and lots of people shouting at me. I went home and stood in the shower crying. All I wanted to do was curl up in bed and sleep, but my brother and future sister-in-law had come down from London to take me to see Bottom Live and so I had to pull myself together.

We got to the theatre, sat in our seats and I pretty much planned to just zone out until home time, but I couldn't because it was brilliant. Within minutes I was laughing my bum off and by the end everything from earlier had been forgotten and I was in a fantastic mood. I was lucky enough to see two other Bottom Lives (or should that be Bottoms Live?) and they were both brilliant, but that day will always hold a special place in my memory.

So, I was very sad to hear that Rik Mayall died yesterday, but pleased that I got to see him live because he was hilarious, and whenever I feel down I can just look at this picture and remember the time when Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson saved an otherwise disastrous day...