Bottom Live 3: Hooligan's Island

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Bottom Live 3: Hooligan's Island is a live stage show that was recorded at the Bristol Hippodrome, Bristol, in 1997, written by and starring Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson. This is the third instalment of five live shows based on the television show Bottom.

Plot[]

Act one[]

Richard "Richie" Richard (Mayall) and Edward Elizabeth "Eddie" Hitler (Edmondson) have been stuck on the titular uncharted island for three years. The show begins with Richie stuck in the island's latrine and getting himself out. Eddie enters and tells him that he rescued an unconscious "bird" from the beach and placed her in his hammock. Richie eagerly starts to administer the "Shag of Life"...and discovers that the "bird" is actually an albatross. After starting a fight with Eddie (and losing, as usual), Richie prepares breakfast: brambles and a dying fish he found in the latrine. Richie gets food poisoning and involuntarily vomits, burps, and farts. The pair then suddenly hear the sound of drums and spot a group of Welsh cannibals cooking Keith Floyd in a pot nearby. The cannibals notice and hunt them. Richie manages to fend them off by vomiting in their direction (an effect of the food poisoning), but the cannibals land a poison dart on the tip of Richie's penis and the brim of Eddie's hat as they flee. To save Richie's life, Eddie retrieves a Japanese army World War II medical kit from his secret Japanese bunker and injects an antidote directly into his buttocks via a giant medical syringe (in the recording of the show this is done after Eddie manages to work through a blooper he had caused making Richie see the entrance to the bunker BEFORE he was meant to see it in the second act, claiming that the dart has also giving Richie momentary amnesia, for the bunker only). After a male albatross (presumably the mate of the unconscious female albatross) arrives and defecates on Eddie's head, he and Richie recap on how they ended up on Hooligan's Island in the first place.

It all started when Eddie talked Richie into taking Ecstasy for the first time, resulting in them both performing the non-stop "Nightmare 12-Hour Dance," getting chased by the police, and hijacking an ambulance. While on the run, they encountered a seemingly-homosexual theatrical impresario, Sir "Pervy" Leslie McBlowjob, who was willing to give them a job in exchange for sexual favours (i.e. presumably inserting a spade into his rectum). They were then set to perform onstage aboard a cruise liner as "The Great Arsehole (Richie) and Norman (Eddie)," but their performance went horribly wrong. It consisted of a nude Eddie (penis in a vodka bottle as part of his Molotov cocktail impression) shoving a sword down a passenger's throat and throwing rabbits into the audience, Richie sawing the ship's captain in half with an electric chainsaw (which got soaked in blood and malfunctioned mid-way), and Eddie crashing a motorcycle and sidecar into the disco console during the "Curtain of Death" finale. As a result, the entire ship was set on fire. In a desperate attempt to quench the fire, Eddie tore a hole through the ship with an ax, which caused the ship to fill with water and sink. With all available lifeboats full, Richie and Eddie survived the shipwreck by holding onto Eddie's electric organ for six hours until they reached land.

After delivering the full recap, Richie and Eddie look for ways to pass the time while they wait to be rescued and taken back to Hammersmith, London. They end the play's first act by briefly performing a cover of "Born to Be Wild" and rehearsing their specialty act "The Great Arsehole and Norman."

Act two[]

Still waiting to be rescued, Richie and Eddie try discussing interests and watching sharks, until they find a 15 megaton nuclear bomb in the middle of the island. It was left behind by a French frogman (who had a three-month supply of food, booze, and porn magazines) whom Eddie told to 'fuck off outta here' as part of a nuclear testing program. After accidentally activating the bomb, Richie and Eddie try various methods to defuse it (e.g. using tools from Eddie's secret Japanese bunker, banging Richie's head on its surface until it shuts down, etc.) Near the end of the play, a French boat sails nearby and Richie and Eddie desperately try to grab their attention in hope of rescue. Eddie lights and detonates signal flares which accidentally hit the ship and cause it to explode. The play ends with Richie and Eddie running out of time: the nuclear bomb explodes with them both near it.

VHS & DVD Release[]

Shortly after it was filmed, it was released on VHS and in 1999, it was released on DVD.

In late 2006, a DVD box set titled the Big Bottom Box, contains the show, along with the other 4 live shows, the movie and a "Best of Bottom Live" mockumentary titled Big Bottom Live.

Bloopers[]

This show, much like the past two live shows and the next two after it, has plenty of bloopers made by Ade and Rik, however Hooligan's Island is subject to a large blooper midway through the first act that manages to unravel the plot for a brief moment in the show. During one scene, Eddie was supposed to momentarily distract Richie so he could retrieve a medical kit from his secret Japanese bunker, then return and cure Richie after being struck by a poisoned dart. However, when exiting the bunker Ade does not close the door properly (as his hands were full carrying his props he tried to kick the door shut) and when Richie looks around to ask where Eddie got the medical kit from he clearly sees the door to the bunker. Out of character, Rik then bursts into a fit of hysterical giggling and is unable to continue, motioning to an unaware Ade that the door was still open, making him quickly run and close it properly to a roaring applause from the audience. Eddie sarcastically addresses the audience, saying a 'little' mistake had happened and if they spotted it, Ade then improvises (after telling the laughing audience to give the excuse he was thinking of on the spot "a fucking chance" to thunderous applause) that the poisoned dart also gave Richie "momentary amnesia" and a "side effect of excessive giggling" as Rik goes into more hysterical giggling hearing this improvised excuse to save the plot. He will therefore not remember the door until act two when he is supposed to "fucking find out about it", which Rik goes along with, although when questioned by a still amused Richie where Eddie found the medical kit in "this fucking void" Eddie flatly claims "It just washed up on the beach". Ade then suggests "Should we forget this fucking bit" to which Rik agrees as they continue the play.

When they get to how to cure Richie Eddie pulls out the instructions and reveals there are diagrams for those not fluent in Japanese, Ade improvises by adding on that along with there being a picture of 'a bloke being sick' that he was "giggling quite a lot" and goes on to say he actually knows some Japanese and can translate the next bit: "And being very unprofessional" much to the bemused Rik and more applause from the audience.

This massive plot destroying blooper is referenced in the second act when Richie does discover the secret bunker, his reaction to it is that of sarcastic amazement on how he's never seen it before "in my entire fucking life!" before continuing the scene.

Television adaptation[]

On 23 August 2012, the BBC announced that Hooligan's Island was to be adapted into a television series.^[1] The show would be a spin-off sequel to Mayall and Edmondson's BBC Two sitcom, Bottom, and was due to air on BBC Two in 2013.^[2]

On 15 October 2012, Edmondson announced during an interview with BBC Radio Essex that he had pulled out of the new series of Hooligan's Island, stating that he wished to pursue other interests.^[3]

References[]