In conversation with... the creators of The Young Ones | BFI Comedy Genius 

Plastic surgery? One in a million genetics? Pact with devil?

She's alive and yet dead... like Leonard Cohen!

Figuratively, not literally: "Lise Mayer never ages!". Literally, she does age, as she's a mammal.

@@StonefieldJim4 I bet you're a great laugh on a night out.

@@StewartyMac Hahahahah!! He would have me rolling on the floor with stomach cramps I would laugh that much. ;)

Dominic Angadi wow never thought of it like that thanks

Dominic Angadi interesting observation

@@That_Random_Bloke Totally agreed, great observation. -Having said that, according to the Young Ones book 'Bachelor Boys', Mike is painted as a fan of Santana, which puts him more in the 70s. Whatever way, Rick is the only personification of early-80s mores..

@Fur Q There were loads of political poets in the clubs in the 80s.

Anybody 'can' represent almost anything, I've heard the 'family' theory as well, Mike the dad, Neil the mom, and the two kids. But its true, they each seem to represent that pretty well. Mike and the fifties is the hardest to categorize, but finding buddy holly and his authoritarian father figure kind of fits into that. But I'm not sure just how far that representation can be stretched, maybe they weren't 'representatives' of anything. But if somebody were going to do a research study on it, that would be a good one to follow up.

I remember it airing. First time around. Ryk and Ade are my comedy Gods forever.

I have a copy of the script written by David Mirkin. It’s not very good as he says. I’d love to see it though.

Only 19 pounds 95p!

They all speak very highly of Christopher Ryan. Lise Mayer says they were in awe of him as he is a “real actor”. Nigel and Alexei agreed he was the solid guy that the rest could be silly. Adrian says he’s a brilliant performer. Ironically it’s Ryan himself that underestimated how good he was.

dfarmbrough, she's always looked great.

She'd look great for 39

Have you seen the documentaries (RU-vid)How The Young Ones Changed Comedy, and/or The Making Of The Young Ones?- if not, strongly recommended.❤

You legend.

Superb 🙏🏻 just so you know, Withnail (in real life, he did exist) was called Vyvyan

Yeah, except it was funny.

But they're far away from Oxbridge!❤

Nah, keep it weird

I liked the weirdness of it too... SPG, the bands, flash frames etc

That set it apart and showed a surreal world within the show no one else notices. I loved it all at the time.

I don't know if you've read / listened to Ade's autobiography "Berserker!" but he explains he hates talking about The Young Ones because it was only 12 weeks of his life, it doesn't mean anything to him, and the fans quote lines at him and he can't remember saying any of them. He has much fonder memories of The Comic Strip.

​@@Lazy_Sundaeactually it is with commercial networks but not so much with subscription services. I've watched countless documentaries about sitcoms and the amount of times they get notes from the network where they want to change a character trait to be more likeable or even recast to appeal to a different demographic that would please some of their sponsors as that's how they make their money. With subscription companies like HBO they tend to give creators freedom

Hi Ben!

They actually mention Ben’s writing credits. Have you actually watched it, Ben?

Why watch something you're not into? Love the Young Ones.

You need an enema old chap

They are comic actors, not standups. I think alternative comedy means they make you laugh at things that are the alternative of what you normally see as comedy.

As a child I never saw the Young Ones as "alternative comedy" - it was anarchic and funny. I was a school kid not a student but the characters still made me laugh. The inept hippie, the violent punk, the self-righteous anarchist/activist... it worked.

Yeah? And scrubs is gay