8/10
''We've got a plot this year, have we?''
6 October 2015
Warning: Spoilers
'Bottom' ended its final series on BBC2 in February 1995. Two and a half years later, Rik and Ade returned as Richie and Eddie for their third stage outing - 'Bottom Live 3: Hooligan's Island' - filmed at The Brisol Hippodrome. It took the two from their normal setting in their grotty flat to a remote desert island somewhere in the pacific. In my opinion, 'Hooligan's Island' was the weakest of all the 'Bottom' stage shows. Though it was funny, something was lacking. I cannot quite put my finger on it.

'Hooligan's Island' sees Richie and Eddie struggling to survive against ordeals such as food poisoning and encounters with cannibals. Amidst all this chaos, Richie and Eddie manage to keep themselves amused with a heavy dose of violence, boozing, swearing, vomiting and farting.

The second half of the show sees Richie and Eddie accidentally triggering off a gigantic nuclear bomb that has been dumped on their island by a Frenchman ( was this inspired by the 'Bomb' episode of 'The Young Ones', do you think? ), which then takes both their lives at the end of the show when it blows up ( Richie and Eddie really should have made The Guinness World Records. After all, how many people can say they have been blown up three times and then miraculously come back to life? ).

'Hooligan's Island', whilst not bad, is not as good as the first two shows. Whilst the idea of marooning Richie and Eddie on an island was certainly a neat one, I think the main problem is really that there is not enough consistently funny gags to sufficiently fill the show. Someone out there must have liked it though as in 1999, Rik and Ade then moved Richie and Eddie to the cinema screen for their hilarious feature film 'Guest House Paradiso', in which Richie and Eddie ran a disgusting hotel of the same name. A VHS tape was released the same year entitled 'Big Bottom Live' which was a mockumentary featuring clips of the three live shows made thus far interspersed with interviews with Richie and Eddie's neighbours and friends ( which included the local off-licence proprietor, the local sex-shop owner and their cleaning lady among others ). It would not be until 2001 that a fourth live show was made which in this case was 'Bottom Live 2001: An Arse Oddity'.

A good enough romp for fans of Rik and Ade but it still could have been better. In 2013, Rik and Ade planned to use the 'Hooligan's Island' setting for a revival of 'Bottom' but alas it did not happen.

Funniest bit - the look and sound of dread from Eddie as the passing 'albatross' shits right on his head.

Second funniest bit - Richie burping and farting copiously on account of the fish he has just consumed being so toxic. He even farts right in Eddie's face!
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