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" Comedian Rik Mayall passed away all too early at the age of 56 today, leaving behind a legacy of anarchic slapstick comedy that rivaled some of the best. American audiences may be most familiar with his role as the titular character of Fred in the 1991 cult classic Drop Dead Fred. Critically and commercially panned, that movie was supposed to boost Mayall&amp;#039;s career stateside. He was already a huge star in England, but in his 56 years on the planet, he spent a lot of it being as anarchic and as vehemently anti-mainstream as he wanted to be.      Rik was a part of a sea change in British comedy that can still be felt today. Comics as esoteric as Russell Brand, Eddie Izzard, and Simon Amstell owe him a debt for setting the bar high in terms of keeping things weird. He was one of the greats.  Early in his career, Rik was one of a handful of alternative comedians who changed the British comedy landscape into something entirely weird and unique. His first big role was as Rik in the BBC&amp;#039;s completely gonzo sitcom The Young Ones, wherein Mayall played a socialist anarchist poet with a persecution complex only rivaled by his own thinly-veiled narcissism. Where a lesser comedian may have turned the character inward and played the poet as more introspective and subdued, Rik instead played the character as if the whole world was owed to him. He would wonder aloud why then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher wouldn&amp;#039;t personally pay him a visit. He would walk into a room and quiz his roommates: &amp;quot;Hands up \u2014 who likes me?&amp;quot;      The Young Ones was an ensemble comedy that cast him alongside Ade Edmondson, someone that he&amp;#039;d continue to work with throughout his professional career. The duo developed a similarly off-the-wall slapstick sitcom named Bottom in 1991, which itself became a huge success in England. Rik also played a few roles in the long-running British historical comedy Blackadder, most notably as Lord Flashheart, a kind of send-up of the war hero stereotype. Again, most actors would have turned in a character with a kind heart and some swagger. Mayall instead turned in a version of a war hero that swings his hips, shouting &amp;quot;WOOF!&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;LET&amp;#039;S DOOOO IT!&amp;quot; at the mere mention of sex. Any time he&amp;#039;s on screen, the energy level in the scene skyrockets. Rik never made it &amp;quot;big&amp;quot; in America, not nearly as big as he was in England, but his brashness and big heart and willingness to turn things up to 11 always resounded as inherently American. In a country where dry wit and tall poppy syndrome are still very much alive and well, Rik was never afraid to be as loud and proud and brash as he wanted to be. He spent his career swimming against the current and truly being himself.  Rik gave the rest of us weirdos who grew up on his comedy something to behold \u2014 the feeling that if he can do it, so can we. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a29021/rik-mayall-rip/>