Rik Mayall dead: 6 things The Young Ones taught us about university life

Legendary Brit comedian Rik Mayall died yesterday at the age of 56. A pioneer of alternative comedy in the early 80s, possibly his most famous work is The Young Ones — the uni-set sitcom that debuted in 1982, ran for two seasons, and saw wannabe anarchist Rick (Mayall), violent punk Vyvyan, sad hippie Neil and pun-tastic ‘cool person’ Mike thrown together in what is probably the most grim student house that has ever been seen on television.

The Young Ones was seminal in comedy and TV, and still has a lot that it can teach university students in 2014. We hit the archives (well, actually just YouTube) to unearth these gems…

House parties can be disappointing and awkward, and there’s nothing you can do about it.

Washing. It’s just not that important, is it? Especially when you don’t own a washing machine.

Questions over who gets the best room (well, it’s all relative…) could potentially cause housemate friction. Or, you know… fires.

All students are not created equal when it comes to University Challenge.

Indoor sporting activities may also cause fires.

Sometimes, lentils are just fascist.

Originally published at https://www.thenationalstudent.com.