BOOK: The Rik Mayall: Bigger Than Hitler Better Than Christ

Title: Bigger Than Hitler Better Than Christ
Author: The Rik Mayall
Genre: Autobiography
Hardcover: 328 pages
Language: English
Rating: 6/10

Summary:This is the greatest book ever written by the greatest man that ever lived. Ehm, okay, maybe not.

I love Rik Mayall and I already knew all about his life, before I read this book. If you have never heard of the man, you will totally miss the intentions -or jokes if you will- of this supposedly honest autobiography. Because the book is almost entirely written in the voice of his public persona. It's exhausting to read even if you are massively in love with the man's work. If it wasn't for the tiny serious bit a couple of pages in, I would not have finished the book. I don't even recommend it to people who want to read it. For those who are interested, I will post the only worthy part at the bottom (heh: bottom!)

I'm glad I own the book for a couple of reasons:

The pictures that are included

His point of view of Stephen Fry's behavior during the play Cell Mates (a perfect follow up to the book by Simon Gray Tanni wrote a review of.

The accounts of his near-fatal accident.

But if it hadn't been for those bits, it would not have made the grade.
I would have liked the book a whole lot more if it had been written by the real person behind the façade. I still love Rik, but it makes me sad he feels the need to hide behind a character.
If you have heard of Rik Mayall and are interested in the book, don't buy it, here is the only part that's worth your time:

All you need to know (copied from the cover)
He invented alternative comedy with The Young Ones, he brought down the Thatcher administration with The New Statesman and he changed the face of global culture with his masterpiece Bottom. Not only was his number one single Living Doll the saviour of rock 'n' roll but he also rescued the Britsh film industry with the vast revenues created by his legendary movie Drop Dead Fred. In 1998, he survived an assassination attempt and spent five days in a coma before he literally came back from the dead. Having completed countless phenomenal feature films, TV series, live extravaganzas and radio voice-overs since then, Rik Mayall is now poised on the brink of a whole new epoch-shattering revolution.

In this electrifying autobiography, Rik stands naked in front of his vast legions of fans and disciples and invites them to take communion with the blood he has spilled for them during his thirty year war on showbusiness. For the first time ever, Rik reveals in print the deep inner truth behind his gargantuan ascent to the pinnacle of international light entertainment - the mental hospitals he has broken out of , the television executives he has assaulted, the drugs he has definitely not taken, the charities he has bankrupted, the countless pregnancies he has engendered, and so much more.

I think the book will not make sense if you don't "get" the summary. If it made you giggle and you do want to read more, you deserve to spend your money. Don't say I didn't warn you.