20th Century Coyote
Encyclopedia
20th Century Coyote was a comedy group famous for first uniting Rik Mayall
and Ade Edmondson
. Mayall started the group at Manchester University with friend Lloyd Peters and some others and attempted to gain a lunchtime residency at the Band on the Wall
club. Their first performance was an improvised affair called "Dead Funny".
Members soon began to drop, so Mayall asked Edmondson if he would be interested in joining. Mayall recalls "he had a bit of a reputation in our year as the actor". Edmondson's reply was "well, I'll have to have a contract, luv". Mayall wrote out a contract during the seminar saying "I promise it will be horrible and nothing will ever go right. La de da. Rik Mayall".
Though at this point the group was a five-piece, by the time "20th Century Coyote" began appearing at The Comedy Store
in London, it had become a double act
with just Mayall and Edmondson (though they would sometimes perform separately). This double act became something of a blueprint for their later careers, with slapstick violence, crude humour and eccentric characters. As The Comedy Store and "20th Century Coyote" grew in popularity, Edmondson and Mayall broke away, along with Alexei Sayle
, "The Outer Limits", French and Saunders
and Arnold Brown
to set up their own comedy club, The Comic Strip
. Here, working as "20th Century Coyote", Mayall and Edmondson gained the attention of television producers and went on to work on The Comic Strip Presents... and The Young Ones
.
Though Mayall and Edmondson did not really use the title "20th Century Coyote" for their partnership again, its style was reflected heavily in The Young Ones and Bottom
. In the mid-80s they appeared in Saturday Live with a similar act under the title "The Dangerous Brothers
".
Rik Mayall
Richard Michael "Rik" Mayall is an English comedian, writer, and actor. He is known for his comedy partnership with Ade Edmondson, his over-the-top, energetic portrayal of characters, and as a pioneer of alternative comedy in the early 1980s...
and Ade Edmondson
Adrian Edmondson
Adrian Charles "Ade" Edmondson is an English comedian. He is probably best known for his comedic roles in the television series The Young Ones and Bottom , for which he also wrote together with his long-time collaboration partner Rik Mayall.-Early life:Edmondson, the second of four children, was...
. Mayall started the group at Manchester University with friend Lloyd Peters and some others and attempted to gain a lunchtime residency at the Band on the Wall
Band on the Wall
Band on the Wall is a live music venue at 25 Swan Street in the Northern Quarter area of Manchester city centre.-Early history:The building dates back to around 1862 when a local brewery, the McKenna Brothers, built it as the flagship pub of their operation. It was called the George and Dragon; the...
club. Their first performance was an improvised affair called "Dead Funny".
Members soon began to drop, so Mayall asked Edmondson if he would be interested in joining. Mayall recalls "he had a bit of a reputation in our year as the actor". Edmondson's reply was "well, I'll have to have a contract, luv". Mayall wrote out a contract during the seminar saying "I promise it will be horrible and nothing will ever go right. La de da. Rik Mayall".
Though at this point the group was a five-piece, by the time "20th Century Coyote" began appearing at The Comedy Store
The Comedy Store, London
The Comedy Store is a comedy club located in Soho, London, England, opened in 1979 by Don Ward and Peter Rosengard.It was named after The Comedy Store club in the United States, which Rosengard had visited the previous year...
in London, it had become a double act
Double act
A double act, also known as a comedy duo, is a comic pairing in which humor is derived from the uneven relationship between two partners, usually of the same gender, age, ethnic origin and profession, but drastically different personalities or behavior...
with just Mayall and Edmondson (though they would sometimes perform separately). This double act became something of a blueprint for their later careers, with slapstick violence, crude humour and eccentric characters. As The Comedy Store and "20th Century Coyote" grew in popularity, Edmondson and Mayall broke away, along with Alexei Sayle
Alexei Sayle
Alexei David Sayle is a British stand-up comedian, actor and author. He was a central part of the alternative comedy circuit in the early 1980s. He was voted the 18th greatest stand-up comic on Channel 4's 100 Greatest Stand-ups in 2007...
, "The Outer Limits", French and Saunders
French and Saunders
French and Saunders is a British sketch comedy television show written by and starring comic duo Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. It is also the name by which the performers are known on the occasions when they appear elsewhere as a double act....
and Arnold Brown
Arnold Brown (comedian)
Arnold Brown is a Scottish comedian, one of the main figures in the alternative comedy scene of the early 1980s. Originally an accountant, Brown worked hard at live standup, until he found a knack of presenting observational comedy in a slow, meandering but entertaining style...
to set up their own comedy club, The Comic Strip
The Comic Strip
The Comic Strip is a group of British comedians, known for their television series The Comic Strip Presents.... The core members are Adrian Edmondson, Dawn French, Rik Mayall, Nigel Planer, Peter Richardson and Jennifer Saunders, with frequent appearances by Keith Allen, Robbie Coltrane and...
. Here, working as "20th Century Coyote", Mayall and Edmondson gained the attention of television producers and went on to work on The Comic Strip Presents... and The Young Ones
The Young Ones (TV series)
The Young Ones is a British sitcom, first broadcast in 1982, which ran for two series on BBC2. Its anarchic, offbeat humour helped bring alternative comedy to television in the 1980s and made household names of its writers and performers...
.
Though Mayall and Edmondson did not really use the title "20th Century Coyote" for their partnership again, its style was reflected heavily in The Young Ones and Bottom
Bottom (TV series)
Bottom was a British sitcom television series that originally aired on BBC2 between 1991 and 1995. It was written by comic duo Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson who star as Richie and Eddie, two flatmates living on the dole in Hammersmith, London...
. In the mid-80s they appeared in Saturday Live with a similar act under the title "The Dangerous Brothers
The Dangerous Brothers
The Dangerous Brothers was a stage and TV act by anarchic comedy duo Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson, performing respectively as "Richard Dangerous" and "Sir Adrian Dangerous". Although originating before the show, they appeared in a number of brief sketches in the 1980s TV programme Saturday Live...
".