Talking Bottom

We jump back to the Rik Mayall Comedy Festival for a special bonus episode - the Q&A session with Paul Jackson after our screening of Rik's episode of Happy Families.

Mat, Paul and Ange joined Paul Jackson at the St Andrews Hotel, Droitwich, for this special screening of the Ben Elton-written sitcom that Paul J produced after The Young Ones and featured a wealth of cameos from the stars of alternative comedy. 

Check out our socials and our linktree for the audiobook, previous episodes, the book "Talking Bottom: A Guide to The Cult Sitcom," our fantastic Bottom themed tea towels and now Talking Bottom t-shirts! https://linktr.ee/talkingbottom

Talking Bottom gets back on stage at the Norbury Theatre, Droitwich - joined by legendary producer and director Paul Jackson at The Rik Mayall Comedy Festival 2026 for a brilliant interview and selection of his favourite clips. FULL VIDEO VERSION HERE: https://youtu.be/anxCoVg07WE 

Paul, Ange and Mat chat for over an hour with the Godfather of alternative comedy, the man who got The Young Ones, Bottom and Red Dwarf made and on TV, the man who gave Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson their big TV break and who Rik publicly thanked "for my life" when they both accepted honorary doctorates.

Paul Jackson shares stories of his career, working with Rik and Ade, getting The Young Ones on TV and discusses clips from a variety of shows. He also reacts to archive BBC letters and memos about The Young Ones and to extracts from the infamous essay that Lise Mayer, Rik and Ben Elton wrote for the BBC to "explain" the sitcom - all read for us by Lise Mayer!

Check out our socials and our linktree for the audiobook, previous episodes, the book "Talking Bottom: A Guide to The Cult Sitcom," our fantastic Bottom themed tea towels and now Talking Bottom t-shirts! https://linktr.ee/talkingbottom

What a festival! In advance of our EPIC on-stage interview with legendary Young Ones, Red Dwarf and Bottom producer/director Paul Jackson at the Rik Mayall Comedy Festival dropping next week, including the video (yes, we've got a video!) version too, we run through what we got up to at the fest, where Talking Bottom hosted not one, not two, not four but three events!

Ange, Mat and Paul chat about their interview with Paul on stage in front of a sell-out crowd at the Norbury Theatre in Rik's home town of Droitwich, where they played out many of Paul's favourite clips, read excerpts from letters from Young Ones fans and BBC colleagues, plus shared videos of Young Ones writer Lise Mayer reading out parts of the infamous essay she had to write to keep the show on the air!

They also spill details of the Happy Families screening, complete with technical scares, and the Talking Bottom pub quiz at The Old Cock Inn (oooh errrrr.)

Check out our socials and our linktree for the audiobook, previous episodes, the book "Talking Bottom: A Guide to The Cult Sitcom," our fantastic Bottom themed tea towels and now Talking Bottom t-shirts! https://linktr.ee/talkingbottom

Hey, kids. It's doesn't matter what you are - Punks, Skins, Rastas, Mods, Rockers, Keith Chegwin even. Everybody everywhere; stop snogging and listen to me... this week it's all about the best charity single ever - the teaming up of The Young Ones and Rick's idol Cliff Richard to release their version of Living Doll and their performance of it on stage at Utterly Utterly Live!

Ange, Paul and Mat chat the history of Comic Relief, charity singles, Cliff being a good sport, discovering the single for the first time and the very end of The Young Ones.

Check out our socials and our linktree for the audiobook, previous episodes, the book "Talking Bottom: A Guide to The Cult Sitcom," our fantastic Bottom themed tea towels and now Talking Bottom t-shirts! https://linktr.ee/talkingbottom

What do you do when you've ended your show after two series, leaving people in no doubt it's finished by killing off the characters, but the public is hungry for more and you've got a ton of brilliant unused gags? Release a book, of course! But fear not, this isn't a crap spin-off cash-in, it's authored by the writers of the show and is incredibly funny. It's Bachelor Boys: The Young Ones Book!

Mat, Ange and Paul discuss TV spin-off books, the success of the show and the book, the public appetite for more Young Ones, lager and curry diets, interviewing David Bowie in Wembley Stadium, the brilliant photos, reading the book as a child in the 80's and generally how great the entire book is while trying not to just spend the episode reading out the best bits - of which there are many.

Check out our socials and our linktree for the audiobook, previous episodes, the book "Talking Bottom: A Guide to The Cult Sitcom," our fantastic Bottom themed tea towels and now Talking Bottom t-shirts! https://linktr.ee/talkingbottom