RIK Mayall, one of a generation of performers that injected post-punk energy into British comedy, has died. He was 56.
Mayall's management firm Brunskill Management said the comedian died at his London home.
In the 1980s Mayall was part of the Comic Strip, a hugely influential group of alternative young comics that included Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders and Mayall's writing and performing partner, Adrian Edmondson.
He was best known for co-writing and performing in The Young Ones, a sitcom about slovenly students that was much loved by those it satirised.
On television he memorably played Conservative politician Alan B'stard in the sitcom The New Statesman and lecherous Lord Flashheart in comedy classic Blackadder.
He and Edmondson also created and starred in Bottom, a surreally violent slapstick series about two unemployed slobs.
Film appearances included the title role in 1991 fantasy Drop Dead Fred — which gained him a US cult following — and 1999 British comedy Guest House Paradiso.
