Bottom Live – The Stage Show

"Bottom Live – The Stage Show" is a live stage show based on the UK TV series Bottom. It ran in 1993 and was recorded for VHS (and later DVD) release at the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton. It was written and starred Rik Mayall as Richie and Adrian Edmondson as Eddie.

Plot

Following a lock-in in the lavatories of their local pub for the weekend, Richie and Eddie return to their flat. After an unsuccessful attempt to prepare breakfast the mail arrives, containing a letter and parcel for Richie. The letter is from the solicitors, which Eddie is left to dispose of, and the parcel contains a blow-up doll Richie has ordered without the knowledge of his flatmate. He bribes Eddie to leave the flat so he can be alone with his new friend Monica, unaware that Eddie has opened the solicitors letter and discovered that following his uncle’s death, Richie is now owed £15,000, which he wishes to claim for himself.

The second act opens with Richie having trouble with Monica, which culminates in him accidentally attaching himself to the doll with superglue. Eddie returns with the intent of killing him to claim the £15,000. He helps remove the blow-up doll then tries to poison Richie, albeit unsuccessfully. Not long after Richie himself reads the letter from the solicitor and discovers that the £15,000 is actually a debt owed by Richie that his uncle never paid during his lifetime. He resigns himself to suicide, but not before Eddie has tricked him into signing a marriage certificate (assuming that such a bond will entitle him to the money). The play ends with Eddie realising his mistake, and the two friends apparently electrocute themselves to avoid paying the debt, which they both now owe.

Trivia

There is an eight-minute section of the second act that revolves around Edmondson mocking Mayall for forgetting his lines and Mayall’s annoyance at Edmondson for receiving a large round of applause from the audience when he delivers his own lines in an overly dramatic fashion. The line Edmondson recites is similar to one in television episode “Contest”, when he talks about the futility of their conversation: “slime in this ear, slime in that ear”. In both cases Eddie says the line. During this sequence, Eddie claims he was born in Southampton, whereas in real life, Edmondson was born in West Yorkshire.

During a fight, Ade accidentally hits Rik on the nose for real, causing a character break by Ade to say "I actually hit you on the nose just then, didn't I?" to a large applause, and Rik ad-libbing that he will aim for a more 'sensitive' body part.