Rik Mayall

“I had a very happy childhood, happy teenage years and I was famous by the time I was 22. A charmed life.”

“You perform for a different audience each night. People who don't understand just think that you go out there every night and do the same thing, but you don't - you have to find out who they...”

“I ought to be groovy and be able to say the enemy is this and the enemy is that... but I've never been very good at... I don't want to have to answer questions I don't know the answer to pro...”

“Insanity is a very high art form. If everyone was insane, I wouldn't be here!”

“When I was young, I saw some of my heroes doing it on the telly. We're talking about Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers, Arthur Lowe, Ian McKellan, Kenneth Williams. These were all guys telling s...”

“Other people get moody in their forties and fifties - men get the male menopause. I missed the whole thing. I was just really happy.”

“With 1,000-seater venues, rather than 5,000-seaters, there are richer opportunities for sucking the audience in.”