Bottom (TV Series) - Stage Shows

Stage Shows

The television series spawned five extremely popular live tours, each accompanied by a live recording released on VHS and DVD. The two performers often corpse and seemingly forget their lines and are forced to ad lib - although some audience members have reported the pair supposedly corpsing at the same set points in repeat performances, therefore making it unclear when genuine corpsing has taken place. During these breaks from the script, the two take part in bouts of one-upmanship, often referencing real-life events (most notably Mayall's well-publicised quad bike accident in 1998) and the area of the venue.

The stage productions were far cruder than the television incarnation, featuring stronger language and new elements such as Richie's latent bisexuality and occasional desire to have sex with Eddie, such is Richie's desperation to have sex with anything. All five live shows were given the 18 certificate in the UK, as opposed to the 15 certificate given to the TV series.

A performance of each live show was recorded and released on VHS and later DVD. These shows have now been shown on Dave. The audio from the same performances were also edited for audiotape release.