Welcome to the feature where we sit down with hosts of podcasts and find out more about them!Today we speak to Angela, Paul and Mat of the Talking Bottom podcast. A show that is all about the BBC 90’s sitcom. They are also performing a live episode at Edinburgh Fringe this year on the 24th August and you can grab your tickets here. Today we find out all about the podcast!

Hello, nice to meet you! How did the idea of your podcast come around?

Our podcast is all about the BBC 90s hit sitcom Bottom, written by and starring comedy gods Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson. We are three comedy fans first and foremost and we met through a mutual love of the show – Paul and Mat knew each other already through film work and they came along to a charity Bottom pub quiz Ange hosted back in 2012.

We loved chatting all things Bottom we decided to begin the Talking Bottom podcast in 2018 in order to celebrate our favourite sitcom and, since the world sadly lost Rik Mayall in 2014, it was another way to keep Rik Mayall’s memory alive. He was a true comedic genius and as generations move on we don’t want that fact to end up sidelined. We never dreamed that one day we’d be taking our nerdy conversations to the next level recording in front of a live audience with a star guest at the Edinburgh Fringe. 

The first Rik Mayall Comedy Festival earlier this year invited us to push ourselves to do a live podcast for the first time and we had the fantastic Bottom Director/Producer Ed Bye join us for a brilliant chat about his work on the show with Rik and Ade. For Edinburgh, we’re delighted that we will be joined by Lee Cornes AKA Bottom’s pub landlord Dick Head to answer questions on his work in Bottom as well as many other huge British comedies including Blackadder, Red Dwarf and The Young Ones.

Lee Cornes performed as MC in the very first days of The Comedy Store and we’re very excited to pick his brains and uncover gems from the time British alternative comedy was born – he was instrumental in the new wave of acts that blossomed on the circuit at that time. It’s going to be fantastic fun chatting to him with a crowd and throwing questions out to the audience, along with playing his favourite clips from Bottom and getting his unique perspective on his time working on the show. 

Tell us about the team behind the show!

Paul Tanter is a TV/Film director and film journalist; Angela Pearson is a comedy publicist, journalist and writer; and Mat Brooks is a director and comedian.

There are so many comedy podcasts out there, how do you stand out from the rest?

The Talking Bottom podcast celebrates the world’s greatest sitcom. The love we get for our podcast is just love for Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson’s double act – we’re under no illusion that the podcast’s popularity is anything to do with us. It’s all about Rik and Ade. There are a couple of other podcasts out there focusing on Rik and Ade’s work but we were the first Bottom podcast and, in 2025, we finally had our companion book Talking Bottom: A Guide to the Cult Sitcom published so we’ve gone one step further than audio and put a huge amount of what we’ve learned during interviewing the cast and crew who worked on Bottom / with Rik and Ade down in print.

Who have been some of your favourite guests you have interviewed?

Literally every guest star who worked on Bottom or had a hand in Rik and Ade’s careers has been a dream to interview. Names most comedy fans will recognise are the godfather of alternative comedy director and producer Paul Jackson – he brought not only The Young Ones but also Red Dwarf to the telly! Ed Bye directed and produced series 1 and series 2 of Bottom and is a god among men – he has so many wonderful stories to share of working with Rik and Ade. Then in terms of cast we absolutely loved speaking with Helen Lederer (Lady Natasha), Robert Llewellyn (Falklands Veteran!), Lisa Maxwell (Lily Linneker!), Kevin McNally (Mr Sex!), Roger Sloman (Mr Harrison!), Mark Lambert (Gas Man!) and we loved Lee Cornes (Dick Head!) so much we invited him back onto the show for the live podcast at Edinburgh Fringe. Everyone who generously gave us their time and expertise has been wonderful and it was great to be in a position to document their memories. We’re yet to be able to entice Ade Edmondson on the podcast but we understand he’s a very busy man who doesn’t want to spend his time chatting to us three tossers.

Do you use any specialised equipment to record your show?

Essentially it’s just three mics and a sound recorder. We’ve occasionally had to do interviews via zoom or we’ve hired a podcast studio for our guests – we always try to do in person if possible as the energy is always better.

What are the challenges of running a podcast?

The main issue is making the time to record new episodes around three diaries AND if we have a guest on it’s another logistical challenge. We keep doing it because we love it. We’ve discussed all of Bottom’s episodes and the live shows and the film now so people think we’d run out of content but speaking with cast and crew and our latest series focusing on ‘The Many Faces of Rik Mayall’ has been an excellent chance to do a deep dive into more of Rik’s work and find a whole new appreciation for his entire career.

Bottom’s our favourite but Rik worked on so many other unforgettable characters it was a challenge to narrow down who to talk about but Kevin Turvey, Lord Flashheart (Blackadder), Alan B’Stard (The New Statesman) and of course, Rick The Student (The Young Ones), Drop Dead Fred and many more have kept us enthralled. Rik was a master of comedy and every character he embodied left an indelible mark in fans’ hearts.

What are the highlights?

Without doubt doing the live podcast with Ed Bye at the Rik Mayall Comedy Festival in May 2025 was a real pinch me moment – we walked out at the Norbury Theatre, which was the very first stage ever performed on, and felt like the luckiest fans on earth getting to interview Ed Bye live in front of a crowd of fellow Rik fans. We hope that we’ll get a similarly warm reception at the Ed Fringe but we’re aware the audience there will be a very different beast.

What other shows are you a fan of and why?

Oh the list is near endless – British sitcom may never reach the heights of Bottom again but there are many other contenders in terms of sheer quality. We’ve already mentioned Red Dwarf, Blackadder and The Young Ones but we’ll say them again. Other influential shows are undoubtedly Steptoe and Son, Hancock’s Half Hour, Monty Python’s Flying Circus and then in more ‘modern’ times The Royle Family, Father Ted, Spaced, Black Books, The Office, Peep Show and Alan Partridge in all his iterations are comedy gold.

Three words why people should check out your show!

Rik F***** Mayall.

If you have a podcast and want to promote it then drop us an email at phoenixremixcomedy@gmail.com

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