User Reviews

This crude comedy series is centred on Richie Richard and Edward Hitler; a couple of unemployed losers living in Hammersmith. Over the course of eighteen episodes they get into a number of situations where things inevitably turn out for the worse or their feeble plans fail miserably. Their frequent arguments inevitably end up with violence.

If you object to puerile humour you won't like this but if crudity and slapstick violence amuse you then you should find this hilarious... more than once I laughed till I cried I found it so funny. Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson are great as Rich and Eddie; in many episodes the only characters to feature. The violence is so over the top, in the manner of a 'Tom and Jerry' cartoon, that it is no longer disturbing. Characters recover from serious injuries, including having legs removed with a chainsaw, by the next episode. Overall I'd definitely recommend this to fans of lowbrow humour.

Richard Richard and Edward Hitler while away the hours with drinking, fighting, letching and the odd money-making scheme.

Bottom is the most British of comedies with its toilet humour, sexual innuendo and the pleasure it takes from seeing its main stars hurt themselves in numerous painful ways. Richie and Eddie are like a filthy and violent Laurel and Hardy as they insult and frequently batter each senseless.

Richie, played by the late comic genius Rik Mayall is a both child and adolescent trapped within a thirty-something man's body. He's almost (Harold) Steptoe-like in his desire to be a bit more refined than he appears, but deep down he is as much of an animal as his mate Eddie. One of Richie's greatest ambitions in life is to finally lose his virginity, but when you get to know the character you see why he is in the position he is in. Mayall's performances as this character contains mesmerising levels of energy, skill and comic timing.

Adrian Edmondson's Eddie is perfect foil for Richie's madness. He is usually either drunk or drinking and takes an enormous amount of pleasure seeing Richie either hurt or humiliated. Much of the harm that comes to Richie is directly from Eddie via a fisticuffs, household weapons or simply Eddie's blunt manner getting them into trouble.

These are a pair of early 1990s, post-Thatcher, recession era British dole scroungers with no interests except drinking, watching TV, attempting to have sex and filling their lives with delinquency to pass the time.

Some episodes introduce supporting characters like Spudgun, Dave Hedgehog, Dick Head, Mr Harrison and Lady Natasha. All these serve the show well to give more variety to the proceedings.

My favourite episodes are 'Gas' (Series1), Holy (Series 2) and Hole (Series 3). Series 2 is the most consistent in my opinion as it has no weak episodes. Series 3 is mostly strong with a couple of slightly weaker ones. Series 1 for me loses its way a bit in the middle, but picks up again towards the end.

A word of warning - the show contains lots of crude and misogynistic behaviour from the main characters. Take heart though, the audience is meant to be laughing at them and not with them. Ridiculing their outrageous behaviour is the point of it all.

'Bottom' was I think (?) the third outing for the Mayall - Edmondson Richie - Eddie double act respectively. The previous vehicles being the Young ones and Filthy, Rich and Catflap (both also great!). I grew up on alternative 80's comedy and by the time the duo got to 'Bottom' (i.e. in the 90's) they both knew what the audience wanted. Principally, lots of smutty innuendo and slapstick humour to accompany the pairs attempts to raise themselves from the grime and poverty of their bare existence.

Don't let that put you off, the crude, obvious 'nob' gags and slapstick violence make this evolved, archetypical 80 / 90's humour light relief from all the 'PC' stuff that abounds today.

Bottom is one of my favorite tv-series. It is a really funny show with over-the-top-violence and starring two men who just refuse to accept what they really are: losers. There is plenty of needless violence, weird-situations and laughable special-effects which makes Bottom a real cult-series. This series rocks and everyone who`d enjoy a different comedy-series should buy the series on video or catch the re-runs on tv. Magnificent!

What else more could you want? Ric and Ade from the young ones together again as the lovable characters Richard Richard and Eddie Hitler.

Bottom takes some of the slapstick violent humor from the young ones and the Dangerous brothers and integrates it with some mental instability,poor hygiene habits,alcohol and more violence and fighting.

Both character are lovable in there own way and there is always a laugh around the corner, some episodes feature former young one Christopher Ryan (mike the cool person) as Dave hedgehog and the famous 'spudd gun'

I have all the DVD collection of bottom. I cannot say anything else but buy or rent them Thats if you one for funny crazy British humor

This is one of the funniest shows ever made in my opinion, you may disagree but to me it is a masterpiece. It's low brow and stupid but it's a prime example of how to do sex and toilet humour correctly. Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson are one of my favourite double acts and this is an example of them mastering there trade. The characters of Richie and Eddie are brilliant as two flatmates in a s***y flat looking for birds and alcohol (and beating the c**p out of each other). This formula has been done before in sitcom such as Steptoe and Son, Porridge and Red Dwarf but this is by far the best (although Red Dwarf comes very close). These are characters we enjoy watching and detesting but let's face it, on the inside we all have a little Richie or a Eddie but we won't let them out for moral, ethical and legal reasons. This comedy show is about as deep as a puddle in terms of it's themes and targets for satire unlike other brilliant comedies such as The Young Ones, The New Statesman and South Park, but it's not intended to be deep, it's suppose to be something to watch (preferably after a long drinking binge and some curries) and get a good laugh out of. Every episode had me laughing out loud and they all have great writing and rewatch value (I can watch it 100s of times and never get board of it), even plots that seem dull on paper like being stuck up a ferris wheel or trying to kill time without the telly, in execution they are as funny as hell (I will still keep quoting it until the day I die). Overall a brilliant comedy that's not for everyone but if you have a demented sense of humour like me than, yeah give it a go.

This show is one of my favorite comedies. When I was a kid, I saw a few episodes from each season on TV, but I never had a chance to see the whole series.

In the light of Mr. Mayall's passing, I've decided to watch a few shows in which he starred, to honor his life and work. Up until today I've seen "Bottom", "The New Statesman", "The Young Ones" and "Filthy Rich & Catflap".

Last week, I watched "Bottom" from start to finish and I absolutely loved it, that was such a treat. Although some people on IMDb's message board complain that the third series was cartoonish, I don't mind that, to me it's equally good as the first two seasons. My favorite episodes are "Apocalypse", "Holy" and "Finger". But the other episodes are not far behind those three. A lot of times the sequence of events was so silly and surreal that it made me think: 'Oh no, they're not gonna go that far' and they always did. The violent slapstick is marvelously executed and so are the duologue's between Eddie and Richard. Supporting characters, especially Dave Hedgehog and Spud Gun are also charming. I was glad to see Helen Lederer as a guest star, whenever I see her on screen I remember Catriona from Ab Fab. All in all, this is a great show.

I give it a 10/10

By far my favourite of all time. Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson are unbeatable in timing and pure hilarity. Eddie and Richie will forever be two of the nastiest but funniest characters.

First of all, it should be said that you have to enjoy the unique and dark satire of British comedy in order to appreciate "Bottom". I do, and I found the "Bottom" series to be quite hilarious.

Every time Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson gets together in a comedy, the end result is a sure win. And "Bottom" is no different. The characters and scenarios they come up with are just wonderfully bizarre and outrageous.

Each episode is a tour de force in its own and can be watched individually without getting out of step with the flow of the entire series. And that is good, because each episode is a story of its own, but still together in the bigger picture in the entire series.

There is a lot of slapstick comedy and it works quite well. And the two characters - Eddie (played by Adrian Edmondson) and Richie (played by Rik Mayall) - are a great opposition to one another, combining chaos with even more chaos.

If you enjoy the comedy of Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson, then you should most definitely sit down and watch "Bottom".

First of all, I'm very bias when it comes to this show, I grew up watching it as a kid so I have a lot of fond, nostalgic memories whilst viewing it, and fortunately for me, it still packs the comedy punch. This show is a unique blend of comedy and ultra slapstick violence! There really isn't anything quite like this show. If you're a fan of Rik and Ade or either or, then you should at least give this show a try.

"Bottom" is another entry in the series of Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson projects that involve these grown men behaving like children and hitting one another. What's wrong with juvenile slapstick violence? Absolutely nothing. With these guys you have a good idea what you're going to get, and they give it to you (Ooo-er!)

As usual, Mayall plays the more pathetic one of the team, while Edmondson's "Eddie" is the unscrupulous drunk. Neither of them have much success when it comes to the opposite sex, due to Richie's poor hygiene and Eddie's crass chat-up lines (although Eddie has managed to move in for the kill once or twice when things have gone wrong yet again for Richie... ) It's hilarious to laugh at the misfortunes of others, and we get plenty of chance to do that as we follow these two sad cases and their doomed attempts to climb the social ladder.

"Eddie" is my favourite character because he has a dry sense of humour, knows he's uncultured and just doesn't care. He uses his native cunning to always ensure Richie gets a raw deal, so although a loser at the game of life, he's usually a winner in his own house at least. There's lots of innuendo and things never get too intellectual, so every viewer can feel better about themselves when they watch this pair of misfits.

If asked I'd say I preferred the TV series to the numerous live shows that have been done featuring the same two characters. They have to work harder to be funny because in a sitcom format there are limits to how offensive things can get. Virtually anything goes on stage, though, so the gags are sometimes more obvious and a bit lazier - although still funny.

By a process of elimination I've just discovered that my favourite episode must be "(Bottom) 'S Out", where the duo are stranded in the wilderness as conversation turns to philosophy and the 'adult' escapades of the Wombles... This is in Series 2, which has the funniest collection of episodes in my opinion; every one a winner.

Overall, I wouldn't say it's as good as "The Young Ones", but there are genuine moments of hilarity in certain episodes. If you already know you're a fan of Rik and Ade then you can't really afford to miss it, so I say 'Dig deep into your "Bottom", by all means!'

I've been trying to like this forever and I just can't. I don't understand how 2 of the funniest people who ever lived can not be funny but it happened on this series.

'Bottom' is one of those programmes whereby you know what it will be like before you watch it. If you like crude, dirty, juvenile slapstick then watch and enjoy. If you don't, then don't.

Edmundson and Mayall have been long famous for this type of comedy, so to watch it then complain about, it is rather like buying the Beano then moaning about it being childish.

Both are clever men and capable of doing more cerebral stuff than this. They just don't want to.

Long may this continue.

This show had me laughing until it hurt it's full of funny gags that you laugh at every time you watch it I would 100% recommend just British comedy at its finest

Bottom is like The Young Ones a show I did enjoy a lot when I was young. Bottom is slightly better though. It's still silly provocative humor with Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson. Maybe not the sort of humor everybody will enjoy but if you like overexaggerated humor with some sexist passages you can't go wrong with Bottom. Rik Mayall is the absolute star in this comedy. His facial expressions, his body language, it's just hilarious. Adrian Edmondson is not bad at all but Rik Mayall is just stealing the show. It's one of those shows I can watch over and over again, the kind you know by heart at one point.

The late great Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson in this surreal , adult rated slapstick comedy. Its a 2019 review but this was a staple of my last few years of school life and where i was maybe a little young when The Young Ones hit BBC i was a great age for this . However 30 years later its still funny because of the visuals. Yes some of the verbal loses context thats time but its just that one of a type comedy never been done since.

Sometimes i still have to look away especially at " Gas "

Brilliant and anarchic humour and can be watched time and time again - real cartoon style sitcom with a touch of the outrageous. While it may not be to everyone's taste, but if you like this sort of humour, well then this is of the highest quality with all the madness that the two lads always bring to their roles. Great series, and their spin off film likewise was completely madcap in every way with laughs all the way through. The Tom and Jerry style cartoon violence to each other is so well done when they get going hitting each other and all done in terms of a stage setting so some credit to the the sets. Two lads are were a great comedy partnership and one well missed......

While I don't think the writing is quite as sharp as certain other classic British comedies, Bottom allows a particular indulgence into stomach-wrenching vulgarity thanks to the almost cartoonesque brilliance of Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson.

If only there had been an episode that had Richie and Eddie staying at Fawlty Towers at the same time as Eddie, Saffy and Patsy... watching these two is the equivalent of a few semesters of improv master classes. You could turn the sound off and still laugh aloud until you cry. R. I. P. Rik Mayall, taken WAY too soon.

Funny and disgusting. Classic comedy. There should of been more episodes.

Some moments in the show are brilliant. The character of Eddie is easily the best of the show while Richie has his moments can tend to be very irritating and often has the weaker jokes. The show however is let down by its constant use of potty humour which is very lowbrow and painfully unfunny, yet it isn't used as much so it doesn't detail the show as much