Bigger than Hitler – Better than Christ
£9.60£10.40 (-8%)
In this electrifying autobiography, Rik stands naked in front of his vast legions of fans and disciples and invites them to take communion with the blood he has spilled for them during his thirty year war on show business.
He invented alternative comedy with The Young Ones, he brought down the Thatcher administration with The New Statesman and he changed the face of global culture with his masterpiece Bottom. Not only was his number one single ‘Living Doll’ the saviour of rock ‘n’ roll but he also rescued the British film industry with the vast revenues created by his legendary movie Drop Dead Fred. In 1998, he survived an assassination attempt and spent five days in a coma before he literally came back from the dead. Having completed countless phenomenal feature films, TV series, live extravaganzas and radio voice-overs since then, Rik Mayall is now poised on the brink of a whole new epoch-shattering revolution.
For the first time ever, Rik reveals in print the deep inner truth behind his gargantuan ascent to the pinnacle of international light entertainment – the mental hospitals he has broken out of, the television executives he has assaulted, the drugs he has definitely not taken, the charities he has bankrupted, the countless pregnancies he has engendered, and so much more.
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Additional information
| Publisher | HarperCollins Entertainment, Illustrated edition (3 April 2006) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Paperback | 352 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 000720728X |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0007207282 |
| Dimensions | 12.9 x 2.4 x 19.8 cm |
by Sean
A rip roaring read of a monsters of comedies life. You can
hear Rik reading this as your read it. It simultaneously made me piss my pants laughing and reminded me that a world without Rik in it is a dark place indeed.
Thanks Richy!
by Debbie P.
I think this book is hilarious from start to finish. I’m sure all Rik Mayall fans would absolutely love it. I’ve loved him since I was 14 and I first saw The Young Ones. He has written a mixture of truth and fiction and you can spot when he’s being his true self. It didn’t matter to me that there’s not much ‘real’ stuff, the laughs are a saviour to anyone’s mental health and I highly recommend it to his fans. Non fans or newcomers may not quite get it. They need to familiarise themselves with Rik first before reading this. For fans, I think it’s a laugh a minute.
by Jake Cole
I first read this book a few years back, and decided it was time to buy it again. Basically, this book is Rik’s autobiography, although it’s unlike any autobiography ever written before. The book is written in the same vein as Rik’s TV characters, it’s obnoxious, self loving, and it’s by far the most entertaining thing I have ever read. I suppose it should be classed as more of a comedy title than an autobiography.
He writes about his early life (including fictional letters written by a young Rik, to his old teachers) , meeting Adrian Edmondson, performing at The Comic Strip, appearing in shows such as The Young Ones and Bottom, his part in Drop Dead Fred, his quadbike accident, and even a guest chapter by one of my favourite characters, Kevin Turvey. All of which he writes in the unique way only Rik Mayall could.
If you’re a fan of Rik’s work (he’s a fan of yours too, even if you just sit around farting and shouting at the telly) then you’ll absolutely enjoy reading this. Just don’t go into it expecting a 100% true account of his life. He often rambles about his agent Heimi Mad Dog Finkelstein (Mad Dog isn’t a nickname), or the drugs that he definitely never ever took. Ever. Overall, fans won’t be disappointed. Newcomers would however most likely not understand the humour.
by Nod
Having thoroughly enjoyed Rik’s TV and film work, I was hoping to enjoy this book. Unfortunately, it seems to have been written by the Young Ones’ Rik which was sort of funny for the first couple of pages but then got tiresome IMO. Hopefully there’s a good biography of Rik – this isn’t it!
by Sye Tuttle
Bought this for a read on holiday. Big fan of Rik Mayall, so what could possibly go wrong? It starts off really funny with some proper laugh out loud moments and with the way he wrote it you can really hear him reading it out to you. This wears off after a while as he applies the same style of intro to each chapter where he waffles on how good he is, losing track of the subject in hand. I found myself not wanting to finish the book.
The highlight for me was the brilliantly written lengthly chapter about his near death experience on his quad bike accident. The other plus is that I found out what other works he has done, which I never knew about.
by Dawn Thomson
I giggled my way through this on holiday. Written exactly as you’d expect..all over the place but so funny ????????????
by Rowan
It was very funny in parts ( particularly the riot at a Woking theatre) but the whole The Rik Mayall schtick tended toward repetition. It is obvious from the start that this is not a biography more a parody of one. There are a great many* footnotes that after a while I tended to ignore. An amusing read best read in bitesize nibbles.
*Far too many
by Mick
I had just finished’Bezerkers’ by Ade Edmondson when I read this which was an honest account of him as an actor and a person and very enjoyable. This however reads like Rick out of the Young Ones was writing it. It is unfunny and a bit desperate. I have always liked Rik and followed his career so I was very disappointed and gave up trying to read it. It’s a shame he couldn’t slip out of character to write it