Bottom is a BBC2 situation comedy which ran during the early 1990s. The brainchild of former The Young Ones stalwarts, Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson¹, it starred... erm... Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson as two terminally sad losers living in their squalid Hammersmith, London flat.

Mayall plays Richie, a jobless, friendless, nasty, greasy, slimy, horrible, unlikeable middle-aged virgin, whose life revolves around waiting for the opportunity to masturbate. Edmondson plays Eddie, a jobless, nasty, greasy, slimy, slightly-more-likeable middle-aged alcoholic, whose life revolves around getting very, very drunk.

The main gist of the show is that the two flat mates would verbally, mentally and physically abuse each other using a wide variety of makeshift weapons, including, but not limited to:

• Cricket bats,chairs and umbrellas.
• Saucepans, frying pans... and other assorted kitchen equipment.
• Pliers, tables, televisions, sofas, pencils and curried sprouts.

There would usually be some sort of plot attached, often taking the form of Richie's futile attempts to get a shag, Eddie's attempts to get drunk, or attempting to blackmail the government by way of a porn video starring cabinet members.

As well as three seasons of the TV show, Bottom has also spawned three live tours, with performances of all three available on video. Mayall and Edmondson have also released the movie Guest House Paradiso, which is basically 'Bottom-The Movie'. Alas, save for a big fight scene and a gag involving a fishing rod and a nipple ring, it's not a patch on its small screen parent.