20th Century Coyote

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20th Century Coyote was an English comedy group famous for first uniting Adrian Edmondson and Rik Mayall. Edmondon and Mayall started the group at Manchester University with Lloyd Peters and some others and attempted to gain a lunchtime residency at the Band on the Wall club. The duo's first performance was an improvised affair called "Dead Funny". Members soon began to drop, so Mayall asked Edmondson if he would be interested in joining. Mayall recalls: "he had a bit of a reputation in our year as the actor". Edmondson's reply was: "well, I'll have to have a contract, luv". Mayall wrote out a contract during the seminar saying: "I promise it will be horrible and nothing will ever go right. La de da. Rik Mayall".

Though at this point the group was a five-piece, by the time "20th Century Coyote" began appearing at The Comedy Store in London, it had become a double act with just Edmondson and Mayall. This double act became something of a blueprint for their later careers, with slapstick violence, crude humour and eccentric characters. As The Comedy Store and "20th Century Coyote" grew in popularity, Edmondson and Mayall broke away, along with Alexei Sayle, "The Outer Limits", French and Saunders, and Arnold Brown to set up their own comedy club, The Comic Strip. Here, working as "20th Century Coyote", Edmondson and Mayall gained the attention of television producers and went on to work on The Comic Strip Presents... and The Young Ones.

Though Edmondson and Mayall did not really use the title "20th Century Coyote" for their partnership again, its style was reflected heavily in The Young Ones and Bottom. In the mid-1980s, Edmondson and Mayall appeared in Saturday Live with a similar act under the title "The Dangerous Brothers".

External links

v t e The Comic Strip

Comedians	Ade Edmondson Rik Mayall Nigel Planer Peter Richardson Dawn French Jennifer Saunders Alexei Sayle Keith Allen Robbie Coltrane Pete Richens

Select episodes and films	"Five Go Mad in Dorset" "The Bullshitters: Roll Out The Gunbarrel" "The Supergrass" "Eat the Rich" "The Strike" "Mr Jolly Lives Next Door" "The Yob" "Didn't You Kill My Brother?" "GLC: The Carnage Continues..." "Detectives on the Edge of a Nervous Breakdown" "The Hunt for Tony Blair"

Related articles	Bad News Bad News album Bootleg 20th Century Coyote French and Saunders

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