Excerpt from Ade Edmondson Autobiography

[sevendaughters]

Ade's account tallies with the one in Fat Chance by Simon Gray, who is initially irked by Mayall's playing to the gallery and steps in to clamp down on him and finds when he has to think and try something different, he is capable of doing acting other than Rik Mayall's Big Funny Acting (which I love, but I imagine it's maddening to work with). I guess Ade didn't try particularly hard to fight him over it, or to have someone like Ed Bye do it for him, which is kind of sad really.

Hope the book has a bit more detail, didn't quite like flying through the decades with such a great writing partnership.

[Ham Bap]

That emotional moment on Desert Island Discs was heartbreaking.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

As good a place as any to post this again.

[Glebe]

That emotional moment on Desert Island Discs was heartbreaking.

Absolutely, even more so considering the bit in GOLD's Young Ones doco where Rik's passing is discussed, he remains reserved and says something like 'I don't do soppy telly'. He also mentioned stoicism in that I think. I'd read he'd had a difficult relationship with his father and was send to boarding school but didn't know how quite how tough things were for him, with his family being both literally and emotionally distant from him.

Btw I'm grateful to have been able to listen to this, I'm always banging on about iPlayer not being available in Ireland, thankfully BBC Radio is.

[Perplexicon]

Ade Edmondson needs a great big hug I reckon. This was a great read and listen.

I always wondered why Ade wanted to distance himself from his 80s and 90s comedy work. The pair of them together IS something magic, and who else can even come close to matching Rik's energy and charm and sheer enormity of presence? I think the unspoken thing in both Discs and the article is that Rik probably knew this very well and didn't want to lose the only person that could come close to his level. I can empathize with his belligerence to not let go of that!

It's pretty relatable too to that a deep friendship forged in your late teens can drift apart as you both grow older and your needs diverge and change. Rik always seemed quite uncomplicated - his destiny on this earth was to make you laugh, in whatever way he could - but Ade had a desire to do a lot more.

And obviously a lot of love and admiration between the two, expressed in complicated ways. 

[poodlefaker]

did anyone catch the name of the helpful book about stoicism he mentioned?

[markburgle]

did anyone catch the name of the helpful book about stoicism he mentioned?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Philosophy-Life-Other-Dangerous-Situations/dp/B08JM9FHTP/ref=cm_cr_arp_mb_bdcrb_top?ie=UTF8

Got it bookmarked. Reckon it'll become one of my upcoming folorn attempts at real change!

[Ignatius_S]

did anyone catch the name of the helpful book about stoicism he mentioned?

I haven't listened to the Desert Island Discs (assuming that's where he mentioned it!) but in the past he's talked about Philosophy for Life and Other Dangerous Situations by Jules Evens had on him  - there was a piece he did for R3 (I think) where he talked about the impact.

This book presents an overview of ancient philosophies, including stoicism but doesn't focus on it.

*edit* beaten to it!

[Brundle-Fly]

The amount of Ade hate in the Mail comments is ridiculous.

God, you're not wrong. Just the usual trolling but it never ceases to amaze me how curdled people are. Also a few comments are suggesting Mayall's death was suspicious. Not every famous person's death is part of some kind of sinister plot, you paranoid, shit stirring halfwits.

[lauraxsynthesis]

Yesterday I rewatched a Collings and Herrin video podcast from 2010 and Rich said he'd just had a dream in which Rik had been assassinated and Ade wasn't as sad as he would have expected. He said to Andrew, "If you were assassinated, I'd be upset for at least a day."  Two doomed comedy pairings :( 

[MigraineBoy]

He's the Q&A in today's Observer New Review and it says he's a podcast launching in October where he takes people he really likes out to lunch - Bridget Christie and Reece Shearsmith are two of his guests.

[Pink Gregory]

I mean, it's more presumably ad-supported comedians talking to comedians but I'll make an exception for ol' Eddie Monsoon

[Milo]

It's the Out to Lunch podcast he's taking over, previously hosted by Jay Rayner. There's a 1 minute trailer on the feed.

[Glebe]

Waterstones chat:

Interesting to discover that apparently he wrote Richie and Rik wrote Eddie generally!

Also didn't know Ade cameoed in Upstart Crow!:

[Consignia]

I went to see him do his "Audience with..." to promote the book, the other night.

The first half was excellent, a humourous monologue about his influences. The second half was a bit pants, trying to go through his slido of boring questions, trying to tie an anedocte into the most interesting ones. He still played it pretty well. Got a free copy of his autobiography with it as well, which I plan to read during my upcoming travels. Score.

It was clear Rik is very much touchy subject for him. Lot's of complex feelings around, that he tried dancing everytime he got brought up. But also clear a lot of love for him too.

[lauraxsynthesis]

Waterstones chat:

Interesting to discover that apparently he wrote Richie and Rik wrote Eddie generally!

That thing about a big returning series was very specific - I have to assume this is already on the cards and what could it possibly be?!

[markburgle]

That thing about a big returning series was very specific - I have to assume this is already on the cards and what could it possibly be?!

Surely it's just a generic kind of coveted-opportunity among the acting community? Steady gig, good money

[Gurke and Hare]

There's not a vacancy for Death In Paradise is there?

EDIT: actually, he's probably far too old for that now isn't he?

[kalowski]

He's definitely been in it already.

[Thosworth]

...as a ghost?

[EggsLikeABird]

The first half was excellent, a humourous monologue about his influences. The second half was a bit pants

So a fitting tribute to Ade's career.

[Glebe]

BBC Brekky interview:

[lauraxsynthesis]

Ade plays a baddie in series 2 of Back to Life, which I though was excellent. He gets to sing in one episode and has a voice like an angel.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/p0757vxm/back-to-life?seriesId=p09sj1nx

[Better Midlands]

Good turn from Ade in Rain Dogs with Daisy May Cooper, he plays an ill perverted artist.

[Stonefish]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Philosophy-Life-Other-Dangerous-Situations/dp/B08JM9FHTP/ref=cm_cr_arp_mb_bdcrb_top?ie=UTF8

Got it bookmarked. Reckon it'll become one of my upcoming folorn attempts at real change!

I liked the sound of this and the idea of real change, as I went to buy it Amazon helpfully pointed out I'd already bought it a while ago...

[The Culture Bunker]

He was great playing Valery Legasov (later more famously portrayed by Jared Harris in 'Chernobyl') in a BBC series about disasters through history. I only caught it by chance but at the end was thinking "bloody hell, he can act really well". I think his scenes were just him narrating to the camera in-between documentary sections about events.

[neveragain]

As mentioned on another thread, I saw his play with Nigel Planer a few years ago and he was great in that as a two-bit sci-fi actor. The Comic Strips also show off his more serious side.

[Captain Crunch]

I've got a spare ticket for his glittering evening at the Tyne theatre tomorrow if anyone wants it? 

[phantom_power]

I am such a fucking moron it was only when he explained it on Graham Norton that I twigged the Edmondson = Eddie Monsoon thing, and why he was always Eddie in Filthy Rich and Catflap and Bottom. He hates Adrian apparently

[Moj]

I am such a fucking moron it was only when he explained it on Graham Norton that I twigged the Edmondson = Eddie Monsoon thing, and why he was always Eddie in Filthy Rich and Catflap and Bottom. He hates Adrian apparently

That's odd. He's credited as Adrian on Bottom, all the way through. Could he not be credited as Ade? I know there's sometimes arcane rules which mean people need to credited under altheir actual full names, but it's not as if there was a Richard Mayall in the credits...