Bigger Than Hitler, Better Than Christ

`Bigger than Hitler, Better than Christ' is Rik Mayall's provocatively titled autobiography. In it Rik takes us from his childhood of blackmailing teachers, to his student years, through inventing alternative comedy with Kevin Turvey and the Dangerous Brothers, to revolutionising television with `The Young Ones', to revolutionising film as part of `The Comic Strip', bringing down the Tory Government with his satire the `New Statesman' before his legendary portrayal as the voice of the Andrex puppy and the Toilet Duck. Rik lets us in to his life of debauchery and infidelity before telling us of his Quad bike accident which left his in a coma for five days and reveals that God spoke to him during this time and told him of his plan for Rik to be the new messiah.

And so we see that although Rik's life is very much the framework for this book it is, of course, somewhat fictionalised to give us the full gambit of his TV persona which he has carefully honed over the years, possibly on the main the voice of Richy Rich the light entertainment genius of `Filthy, Rich and Catflap' Mayall's comedy walks the high wire between laugh out load and cringe with embarrassment. On the main the book is a success although as an autobiography it leaves you more curious than before with all the facts obscured by a massive, although fictional, ego.

Not bigger than Hitler; certainly not better than Christ; more entertaining than an actor's biography; as illuminating as a spent candle.

It's like watching him live (0/0 people found this helpful)

He writes the way he acts and it's glorious. A mixture of truth and complete bollocks, don't expect to find out too much about his personal life. Most of it utter egotistical drivel but it wouldn't be The Rik Mayall any other way. Even the publisher page is funny. And the footnotes... well you could make a whole other book of them.

If you don't like the comedy of Rik Mayall then logic dictates you will hate it, but if you do, just don't read it on the train.

Could the Real Rik Mayall please write a book! (0/1 people found this helpful)

I'm a big fan of Rik Mayall, from the Young Ones, to guest appearances in Blackadder, and on to The New Statesman and Bottom.

But this is utter tripe.

It tries to be "zany" and "out-there", but instead just forces me to believe that Mayall was convinced that this would be a good idea, and when he actually came to do it realised that he wasn't a writer at all.

To be honest, it feels like it's actually written by his "Ritchie" character, in the whole "look at me - I'm brilliant" anarchic sense.

I hope that Mayall writes a proper autobiography, rather than this sad attempt.

Worse than Mao (8/12 people found this helpful)

I adore Rik Mayalls and Ade Edmondson's sitcoms. The Young Ones, Filthy Rich & Catflap, Bottom, in my opinion they're all masterpieces. So I was really looking forward to reading this auto-biography.

Ouch. Ouch, ouch, ouch. For some reason Mayall decided to write the whole thing in a style similar to that of his Richie Rich character (from Filthy, Rich & Catflap). So it's an endless stream of mega-macho ego trips about how wonderful he is, how huge his d*ck is, how many 'birds' he sh*gged, and how everybody loves him.

On TV, with other actors around, this works brilliantly. But in the book there are no other voices to balance the act and after a dozen paragraphs the joke wears pretty thin. And then you still have 200 pages to go.

There are also (fake) letters "from the archives" which are supposed to be funny, dozens of pointless footnotes¹) and let's not forget²) the 'amusing' typos which have been left in the book "on purpose". Yeah right. Yawn. It is all very, very weak.

The only readable (and more or less serious) part deals with the quad accident Mayall had a few years ago, a crash that nearly cost him his life. Apart from that the book is an exercise in telling the same 3 jokes over and over and over again. And again. It's very boring and very not funny. And if you think there's some interesting background info hidden between the tired jokes, forget it. There isn't. There's only a comedian on auto-pilot, repeating himself and pumping out weaker versions of the same old stuff. Man, it almost made me mad.

¹) Like this one.
²) Or perhaps we should.

Hmm. (1/1 people found this helpful)

I love Rik and I love The Young Ones, Bottom, even Filthy, Rich and Catflap. I was kind of hoping that this was a funny autobiography. I am not really sure what it is. Obviously the letters are fake, but it is impossible to tell how much of what he actually writes is true. The footnotes are amusing, the spelling mistakes a bit tiresome but make me smile. I like it and it IS funny but it is really hard to read because of the style he writes in. The 'going-off-on-a-tangent' thing wears thin after a while.

I would really like it if Rik wrote his autobiography honestly and it would naturally be funny because that is Rik! I would like to read about his life, the people he worked with, etc etc. So to be honest I feel a bit dazed. If you're a Rik fan, you will enjoy it but you might find it hard going and a little disappointing.

Anyway Rik if you're reading these reviews - I still love you and think you're grate :)

Bigger Than Hitler, Better Than Christ

Rik Mayall

Reader Reviews:

Shorter Than War and Peace: More Words Than Spot's First Christmas (0/0 people found this helpful)

It's like watching him live (0/0 people found this helpful)

Could the Real Rik Mayall please write a book! (0/1 people found this helpful)

Worse than Mao (8/12 people found this helpful)

Hmm. (1/1 people found this helpful)

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