Rick Spleen

HOME

TheInfoList

Click Here for Items Related To - Rick Spleen

OR:

Rick Spleen on: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Amazon]

Rick Spleen (born Richard Shaw) is a character in the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

situation comedy ''

Lead Balloon ''Lead Balloon'' is a British television series produced by Open Mike Productions for BBC Four. The series was created and is co-written by comedian Jack Dee and Pete Sinclair. It stars Dee as Rick Spleen, a cynical and misanthropic comedian ...

'', played by comedian

Jack Dee James Andrew Innes Dee (born 24 September 1961), known professionally as Jack Dee, is an English stand-up comedian, actor, presenter and writer known for his sarcasm, irony and deadpan humour. He wrote and starred in the sitcom ''Lead Balloon'' ...

. Spleen is a world-weary comedian who is forced to make ends meet by hosting corporate events.

Character profile

Rick is a short-tempered, impatient comedian who struggles to find worthwhile gigs or appearances. He spends a lot of his time writing jokes for corporate events with his friend and writer, Marty who always does far more work than Rick. He lives in a typical

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

suburb house with partner Mel and daughter Sam. He is a stubborn, incompetent liar, who often attempts to avoid paying professionals by performing a task himself. He also passes off many of Marty's jokes as his own, and always aims to take credit for other people's work. In episode 2 of Season 3, "Panda", it is revealed that Spleen's real name is Richard Shaw, which caused him much grief at school due to it being shortened to 'rickshaw,' after the Chinese/Japanese transport

Rickshaw A rickshaw originally denoted a two- or three-wheeled passenger cart, now known as a pulled rickshaw, which is generally pulled by one person carrying one passenger. The first known use of the term was in 1879. Over time, cycle rickshaws (also ...

. Dee and Sinclair have said that they based the character of Spleen on "comedians who hated being comedians" with whom Dee performed as he was starting his career as a

stand-up comic Stand-up comedy is a comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up. Stand-up comedy consists of one-liners, stories, ...

Relationships with other characters

Marty

Spleen often makes fun and insults his American writer Marty, and Marty returns the gesture. However, it is made clear that the two are great friends, despite their on-going bickering. How much the pair need each other is made especially obvious in the final episode of Season 2, "Lucky", where, after Spleen accuses him of lacking ambition, Marty receives a call from America asking him to write in Hollywood. Spleen is upset but tries not to let his feelings show. However, Marty returns and decides to continue writing with Spleen. Marty often acts as 'the good guy' when Rick sets off on his usual activity of insulting people. For example, when Spleen has an argument with Michael, the

café A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non ...

owner, or with Magda, his Eastern-European cleaner, Marty defends them rather than backing Spleen, which appears to wind him up even more.

Mel

Mel, who works as an agent for TV performers, and Rick are partners and have a teenage daughter, Sam. However, Rick still lies to Mel to make himself look better, for example in "£5,000", after Rick is detained by

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and th ...

for aggravating an officer, he claims that he was "being too funny". It appears that Mel is the only character who understands Rick, and accepts his ways, often agreeing with him or humouring him.

Magda

Rick barely tolerates the family's Eastern-European cleaner Magda. He often piles a lot of work on her and then takes the credit, for example in the season one episode "Fatty", Rick tells Magda to return a lost cat and then keeps the reward. Rick regularly gets into arguments with Magda and blames her often. He also treats her as slightly less human than everyone else, as she is from a less developed ex-Communist country, and constantly corrects her accented pronunciation of everyday words such as "sale" in which she says "sell" and "unhappy" when she says "unhippy." In the first two episodes of Series 3, Magda has to stay in Rick's house, much to Rick's dismay. He constantly complains of her making noise, filling the fridge with her food and the fact that she has placed a fridgemagnet on the fridge amongst other things. In the series 3 episode "Karma", Rick is kind to Magda, which unnerves her. However, at the end of the episode he falls back into his ways of arguing with her.

Michael

Michael, owner of the local cafe, annoys Rick often. Michael sees Rick as a friend, however Rick does not return the sentiment. Rick often calls Michael mad, especially after he starts therapy. Rick accidentally injures Michael in the episode "£5,000", when he drives into him in his car. This results in Michael not being able to take part in the sponsored skip. In series 3, after Mel drunkenly reveals Michael's father is gay, Rick and Marty go to Michael's home to check up on him, a gesture Michael appreciates.

Ben and Sam

Sam, Rick's daughter, and Ben, her boyfriend, often irritate Rick by asking for money from him and then wasting it. Ben annoys Rick the most, for example when he breaks Rick's

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

player after taking the back cover off and thereby breaking the security seal thus invalidating the warranty. In series 3, Ben stays at Rick's home for an episode. Rick is annoyed by the constant loud music coming from Sam's room, as they practice for their band, 'Ben and Sam.' However, when it is revealed that an advertising agency wants to use the duo's song "Tragic", which was put up on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

, Rick changes his mind and starts enjoying the music. Ben and Sam temporarily broke up in the fourth episode of series 3, which also ended their band's run.

Production notes

, who plays Spleen, is the co-creator and one of the

executive producers Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...

of ''

'', therefore he writes his own part with the help of co-writer Pete Sinclair.

References

External links

Lead Balloon on imdb

BBC programme list
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spleen, Rick Fictional comedians Fictional people from London Sitcom characters