LOST ONE:
Rick Mayall is gone & that’s weird. How does a thing like
that happen so early in a life? We were born & raised
just a few miles & a year apart, the first comedian on
tv who spoke like me & the people I grew up with. He made
an accent I used to distain so cool that I ‘came out’,
turned it back on, & could raise a laugh at will
(what a great free gift for a west midlands boy, thank you Rick).
Remember Freur ‘Live in London’ Marquee Club, 1983?
That ‘easy banter’ was straight that had the audience chuckling? –
straight out’ve Kevin Turvey.
Rick was part of an important & influential set of comedians
who established a counter balance to what were bitter times if you
happened to live closer to the bread line than you’d dreamed.
They enabled us to laugh through a decade of failed careers,
milk money scavenged from old coats, alienating politics,
miserable times.
There had been belly laughs before, comedians from our parents
generation who had sent ripples through the nation, but Rick &
his peers helped establish a new comedy tribe that belonged to us
& said things publicly that we wished could be said & they did it,
VERY LOUD, on national TV.
In the winter of ’82, freshly signed to CBS records, we took our
first ever aeroplane flight to work with the legendary producer
Conny Plank. We arrived, dressed in rainbow plastic, pearls &
lip gloss, ready for anything, clutching all important VHS tapes
of the Young Ones to make us feel close to home.
Much to the bemusement of his studio crew Conny would end every
working day rolling with laughter as we gathered round the TV to
watch & re-watch every episode. Last year, whilst performing
Edgelands’ with my band in Berlin, I was re-united with Konny’s son,
Stephan, whom I’d last seen as a seven year old boy. Now a giant of
a man full of joy. We were both shocked & delighted to discover that
those tapes of Rick Mayall & his companions, which Conny had
persuaded us to give him had played a significant roll in his
English Language education – ha ha ha – it should be on every
syllabus.
(K)
Karl Hyde 
Hey Karl,
I’m part of this Mystical School, and through it I’ve learned some things that we can do when people die to assist their transition through the Bardo and support the highest possible evolution of their souls on into a new life. I made something for us to honor and support your friend, Rik Mayall, who’s passed away. Thanks for sharing your memories. Love, Cari
Love Letterman´s expression.
How many languages do you speak guys, by the way?
I was raised with almost two and later on I got one more and then I learned some English.
Hungarian, Russian and Swedish – only world languages, right? 🙂
Sometimes it is a curse but sometimes it is still a merit to speak more than one language at least.
My Granny were from Ukraine, but I hardly remember any Russian anymore. I tried and also managed to repress my memories, how they forced us to sing the Russian national anthem many, many times during my school years, dressed in blue uniform, deprived from every artistic thinking or individualism.
It was only two out of forty students who dared to to say no to the mandatory communist meetings after school. One of them was a classmate whose parents were some kind of Jehovah’s witnesses and the other one was me who did not even heard about the Old and New Testament until I came to Sweden.
My life has changed a lot since then but what fascinates me the most is how different lives we are living, although it feels like you are another part of me.
Oh yes, you do ❤
Hi Karl, It is a sad day. I do remember those ’83 Freur days at the Marquee so that’s where the banter came from.
Love to you guys.
Martin ex Milford Haven now Jakarta.
Any chance of a gig or two in Jakarta – massive following.