''Bottom Live 3: Hooligan's Island'' is a live stage show that was recorded at the

Bristol Hippodrome The Bristol Hippodrome () is a theatre located in The Centre, Bristol, England, United Kingdom with seating on three levels giving a capacity of 1,951. It frequently features shows from London's West End when they tour the UK, as well as r ...

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

, in 1997, written by and starring

Rik Mayall Richard Michael Mayall (; 7 March 1958 – 9 June 2014) was an English actor, comedian and writer. He formed a close partnership with Adrian Edmondson while they were students at Manchester University, and was a pioneer of alternative come ...

and

Adrian Edmondson Adrian Charles Edmondson (born 24 January 1957) is an English actor, comedian, musician, writer and television presenter. Part of the alternative comedy boom in the early 1980s, he and his comedy partner Rik Mayall starred in the television sitc ...

. This is the third installment of five live shows based on the television show ''Bottom''.

Plot

Act One

Richard "Richie" Richard (

Mayall Mayall may refer to: People with the surname Mayall: *James Mayall (1856–1916), British cricketer *John Mayall (1933–2024), British blues singer *John Jabez Edwin Mayall (1813–1901), British photographer *Margaret Mayall (1902–1995), Americ ...

) and Edward Elizabeth "Eddie" Hitler ( Edmondson) have been stranded on the titular uncharted island for three years. The show begins with Richie stuck in the island's

latrine A latrine is a toilet or an even simpler facility that is used as a toilet within a sanitation system. For example, it can be a communal trench in the earth in a camp to be used as emergency sanitation, a hole in the ground ( pit latrine), or ...

and struggling to free himself. Eddie enters and tells Richie that he rescued an unconscious "bird" from the beach and placed her in his hammock. Richie eagerly attempts to administer the "Shag of Life," only to discover that the "bird" is actually an

albatross Albatrosses, of the biological family Diomedeidae, are large seabirds related to the procellariids, storm petrels, and diving petrels in the order Procellariiformes (the tubenoses). They range widely in the Southern Ocean and the North Paci ...

. After a fight with Eddie (which Richie loses, as usual), Richie prepares breakfast consisting of

bramble ''Rubus'' is a large and diverse genus of flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae, subfamily Rosoideae, most commonly known as brambles. Fruits of various species are known as raspberries, blackberries, dewberries, and bristleberries. I ...

s and a dying fish he found in the latrine. Richie suffers food poisoning, leading to involuntary vomiting, burping, and flatulence. The pair suddenly hear the sound of drums and spot a group of Welsh

cannibals Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is also well documente ...

cooking Keith Floyd in a pot nearby. The cannibals notice Richie and Eddie and begin hunting them. Richie fends them off by vomiting in their direction (a side effect of the food poisoning), but the cannibals manage to land a poison dart on Richie's

penis A penis (; : penises or penes) is a sex organ through which male and hermaphrodite animals expel semen during copulation (zoology), copulation, and through which male placental mammals and marsupials also Urination, urinate. The term ''pen ...

and Eddie's

hat A hat is a Headgear, head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorpor ...

as they flee. To save Richie, Eddie retrieves a Japanese army

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

medical kit from his secret bunker and administers an antidote via a giant medical

syringe A syringe is a simple reciprocating pump consisting of a plunger (though in modern syringes, it is actually a piston) that fits tightly within a cylindrical tube called a barrel. The plunger can be linearly pulled and pushed along the inside ...

injected into Richie's

buttocks The buttocks (: buttock) are two rounded portions of the exterior anatomy of most mammals, located on the posterior of the pelvic region. In humans, the buttocks are located between the lower back and the perineum. They are composed of a lay ...

. After a male albatross (presumably the mate of the unconscious female albatross) defecates on Eddie's head, the duo recount how they ended up on Hooligan's Island. Their misadventure began when Eddie convinced Richie to try

ecstasy Ecstasy most often refers to: * Ecstasy (emotion), a trance or trance-like state in which a person transcends normal consciousness * Religious ecstasy, a state of consciousness, visions or absolute euphoria * Ecstasy (philosophy), to be or stand o ...

, leading to a chaotic "Nightmare 12-Hour Dance," a police chase, and the hijacking of an

ambulance An ambulance is a medically-equipped vehicle used to transport patients to treatment facilities, such as hospitals. Typically, out-of-hospital medical care is provided to the patient during the transport. Ambulances are used to respond to ...

. They later encountered a theatrical impresario, Sir Leslie McBlowjob, who offered them a job in exchange for questionable favors. Their performance aboard a

cruise liner Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports of call, where passengers may go on Tourism, tours k ...

went disastrously wrong, culminating in a

shipwreck A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. It results from the event of ''shipwrecking'', which may be intentional or unintentional. There were approximately thre ...

that left them stranded on the island.

Act Two

Still awaiting rescue, Richie and Eddie discover a 15 megaton

nuclear bomb A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission or atomic bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear weapon), producing a nuclear exp ...

left behind by a

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

frogman A frogman is someone who is trained in scuba diving or swimming underwater. The term often applies more to professional rather than recreational divers, especially those working in a tactical capacity that includes military, and in some Europea ...

as part of a nuclear testing program. After accidentally activating the bomb, they attempt various methods to defuse it, including using tools from Eddie's bunker and banging Richie's head against its surface. Near the end of the play, a French boat sails nearby, and Richie and Eddie desperately try to signal for help. Eddie's signal flares inadvertently hit the ship, causing it to explode. The play concludes with the bomb detonating as Richie and Eddie run out of time.

VHS & DVD release

Shortly after it was filmed, it was released on

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

, and in 1999, it was released on

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 ki ...

. In late 2006, a DVD box set titled the ''Big Bottom Box'', contains the show, along with the other four live shows,

the movie "The Movie" is the fourteenth episode of the fourth season of the American television sitcom ''Seinfeld'' (and the 54th episode overall). It first aired on NBC in the United States on January 6, 1993. The episode revolves entirely around the ...

and a "Best of Bottom Live" mockumentary titled ''Big Bottom Live''.

Television adaptation

On 23 August 2012, the BBC announced that ''Hooligan's Island'' was to be adapted into a television series. The show would be a spin-off sequel to Mayall and Edmondson's

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

sitcom, ''Bottom'', and was due to air on

in 2013. On 15 October 2012, Edmondson announced during an interview with

BBC Radio Essex BBC Essex is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Essex. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios on New London Road in Chelmsford. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience of 136,000 ...

that he had pulled out of the new series of ''Hooligan's Island'', saying that he wanted to pursue other interests. During an appearance on ''

Desert Island Discs ''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942. Each week a guest, called a " castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight audio recordin ...

'' in 2023, Edmondson revealed that he wrote the initial scripts with Mayall in the hope that they would be declined by the BBC. He explained that Mayall was eager to revive their old characters, but struggled to accept that Edmondson was not interested. While he hoped a rejection by the BBC would put Mayall's aspirations to rest, the idea was ultimately

greenlit In the context of the film and television industries, to greenlight is to give permission to proceed with a project. It specifically refers to formally approving its production finance and committing to this financing, thereby allowing the project ...

. Edmondson went on to say that one of the reasons he pulled out of the project was because Mayall was "not there" during writing sessions, and he had struggled to work with him.

References

{{Bottom (TV series) 1997 plays British plays Comedy plays Bottom (TV series)