With the greatest respect for their considerable body of work together, Bottom remains Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson’s enduring masterpiece, argues superfan Angela Pearson. The lunatic BBC sitcom about two unemployed degenerates living in a waking nightmare of squalid co-dependency continues to delight audiences more than 30 years after Richie Richard and Eddie Hitler first commenced their brainsick reign of endless knob gags and excessive violent reprisals. ‘Of course, Bottom wouldn’t exist without The Young Ones but Bottom is the more perfect mix of strong writing: a nihilistic take on life and existential angst, married with cartoon violence and fantastic pratfalls,’ Pearson maintains. ‘It’s rude and crude. Watching it as a kid, it was the most outrageous stuff; the most exciting, energetic comedy.’

Critics were initially sniffy about the show’s toilet humour. Yet Pearson, who hosts the Talking Bottom podcast with Paul Tanter and Mat Brooks, suggests there is a ‘lot more depth’ to its superficial puerility. The trio’s new book, Talking Bottom: A Guide To The Cult Sitcom, is a loving trawl through every episode of its three series and spin-off stage shows, featuring insights from Mayall and Edmondson’s co-stars and crew, while drawing out the comedy’s connections with Samuel Beckett’s Waiting For Godot (Mayall and Edmondson starred in a 1991 West End production of the play), the sitcoms of Galton and Simpson, and the performance styles of Laurel and Hardy.

Sneery dismissals of Richie and Eddie’s outré stupidity and ultra-violence as ‘just’ slapstick ‘used to really, really annoy me,’ says Pearson. ‘It’s a hugely difficult craft to get right. And Rik and Ade were taking their influences, reshaping them and turning them into this magnificent beast that was their double act. They’re absolutely untouchable. I don’t think there’s been anyone since who’s come close to matching them.’ Published in the wake of Edmondson’s recent autobiography Berserker! and the inaugural Rik Mayall Comedy Festival in the late comic’s hometown of Droitwich Spa in Worcestershire, the Talking Bottom book was fan-funded, proving that affection for the pair shows few signs of waning. Ultimately, Pearson hopes to establish a semi-regular Bottom convention.

But she and her podcast mates have already begun hosting live episodes. Their chat with Bottom producer-director Ed Bye at the Mayall festival is to be followed by an Edinburgh Fringe interview of Lee Cornes, who played Richie and Eddie’s unpleasant pub landlord, Dick Head. ‘Given the success of the Rik Mayall Comedy Festival and all the people I’ve spoken to who have a story about meeting Rik or Ade, there’s clearly an appetite for Bottom events,’ Pearson enthuses. ‘And I’d love to set up something with cast and crew Q&As, maybe over two days rather than one. But for now, we’re looking forward to sharing the book.’

Talking Bottom podcast is available on most platforms; Talking Bottom: A Guide To The Cult Sitcom is published by Boundless on Thursday 3 July; Talking Bottom Live, Underbelly Bristo Square, Edinburgh, Sunday 24 August; main picture: Rhodri Cooper.