(dramatic music) (dramatic music continues) (dramatic music ends) (audience laughter) (audience laughter continues) - I was asked in my first term at Oxford to do a sketch in this one night show at the Oxford Playhouse, and I'd never written anything and I'm not really naturally a writer.

So I just had to invent a sort of five minutes of something at 48 hours notice.

I just stood in front of the mirror and started to mess about with my face basically.

And this strange, surreal non-speaking character evolved.

(audience laughter) (soft music) (soft music continues) - Name.

- Bean.

- Mr. Bean is the name given to the skin that Rowan can put on to be funny.

(bright music) (audience laughter) - You've got a character who is quite intelligent and subversive, but you've also got a character who looks odd and behaves in an odd way and has odd solutions to problems.

(audience laughter) (audience laughter continues) - Mr. Bean is an anarchist, unintentionally I guess though.

He's not trying to create chaos and he's just trying to make his own life work.

- You like a try the house wine, sir?

- Yes please.

Mm.

(audience laughter) No no no no no no no no, I'm driving.

(audience laughter) - He can be pretty mean and actually do some truly unpleasant things.

(Bean imitating bus noises) - He's just able to make something out of nothing and his physical humor, what he does with that face.

(audience laughter) (audience laughter) (soft music) - [Narrator] The story of Bean is inextricably linked with the story of Rowan Atkinson.

Although Mr. Bean was only christened in 1989, Rowan has been developing the character for most of his life.

- Whenever we try to think of Mr. Bean and how he will react or would react in certain situations that we're thinking of putting him in, I always imagine him as a nine year old boy, that's how I always see him.

They're sort of anarchists at heart, really.

And I think that's what Mr. Bean is.

He's an anarchist.

He'll obey the rules as long as they suit him.

- Three, four.

(soft music) - [Narrator] Roman Atkinson was educated at Durham Cathedral Choir School.

He still remembered by his old headmaster, Canon Grove.

- I had a member of staff named Sorel Watson who produced plays, and one year he chose St. Joan.

And it was honestly a spark of genius on his part to see that Rowan was the perfect person for the Dauphin.

- It was quite camp, I think I remember the first and possibly last time I've ever played someone truly camp.

- Shaw's own description was that the Dauphin was a pathetic little creature, yet irreplaceable with a cheeky sense of humor and always allowable to get his own way in the end.

And that could be a sort of scenario for Mr. Bean.

(audience laughter) - What the hell do you think you're doing?

Pinching my bottom in a hospital queue.

- The first impression he gave was that he was an extremely shy little boy.

Though he did say that he had begun his sort of career by being taken by the boys down into the change room, asked to make funny faces for them.

- [Rowan] I seem to remember standing up in the changing rooms when I was 10 or 11 or something and putting on a performance.

(applause) - All right, quiet.

(audience laughter) (audience laughter) Ainsley Babcock.

Bland.

Cartforth.

Dint.

Ellsworth Beastmajor.

- I think they very liked the funny faces, myself and my colleagues.

- Jones M, orifice, sediment, and undermanager.

See me afterwards.

Most of you of course didn't write nearly enough.

Dint, your answer was unreadable.

Put it away, Plectrum.

(audience laughter) If I see it once more this period Plectrum, I shall have to tweak you.

Don't sulk boy for God's sake.

Has matron seen those boils?

(audience laughter) Horrid little twerp.

- I seem to remember making people laugh, but because that was pre-adolescence and I think once adolescence set in that I never really performed offstage or offscreen ever again.

It was only before the self-consciousness set in.

I think I was quite sort of self-contained, not I hope a loner, but sort of not really requiring the constant company of my friends in order to enjoy myself.

(Mr. Bean grunting) (audience laughter) (applause) (bright jazz music) My interest in visual comedy was based on discovering a film by Jacques Tati called "Monsieur Hulot's Holiday", which I discovered when I was in the sixth form school, because I was the projectionist.

And myself and a friend were in charge of that operation.

And it enabled us to sort of leaf through film catalogs and order whatever films that came into our mind.

(woman singing in foreign language) It just struck a chord with me.

I so admired it.

It was kind of an uncompromising comic attitude and setting that I really admired.

And so that, but that was only a film experience, which influenced me kind of subliminally.

(men speaking in French) (bright jazzy music) (bright jazzy music continues) (bright jazzy music continues) It was something that I forgot about really for the three years I was at Newcastle University, from where I went to Oxford University, and it was there really that it sort of returned.

My background and my natural inclinations were fairly Northern.

And suddenly I was in this very sort of cultured, more sort of Southern environment.

And you know, and I was working with, you know, all my friends if you like were reading classics and English and French literature.

I was the only one reading engineering science.

- When I first met him, he was nervous and he was odd.

I mean, there was a lot of sort of nervousness about being around women generally, which of course is fantastically endearing.

(audience laughter) - Ah, Lorraine.

- Morning Robert.

- What, uh... What do you do at nights?

- I beg your pardon?

- Do you eat at night or, or what?

- Well as a rule, yes.

- Ah-ha!

Ah, yes.

Yes.

Well, yes.

Well I do actually.

I, I, I quite often go to a pub on my way home, but tonight I thought I'd really splash out on something a lot better go somewhere really nice.

- Would you like me to join you?

- No!

No no no no no no no.

Don't trouble yourself.

No, it'll be...

Yes, yes, yes, if that would be okay.

- [Narrator] In his very first term at Oxford, Rowan had a fortuitous meeting with a student comedy writer.

- I saw this little advert in the university newspaper saying we're thinking of getting a comedy review together, you know, meetings at university college at a certain time.

So I thought I'd beetle along as I felt as though I had an interest.

And Richard was there.

- Yes, Rowan and I met at a tiny script writer's conference in a Don's room.

- In the summer of 1976.

And I remember he was very bright, very talkative, which I wasn't.

- Because he was very quiet.

He didn't say anything for the entire two hour meeting.

- But he's kind of made up for whatever contribution I was lacking from me.

- And then finally one day, we were asked whether we had anything we wanted to put into the review that we were going to do.

And Rowan stood up in the room and performed these two sketches that he'd worked out, which were replete with such flagrant genius, unfortunately it was the first time we heard him speak.

They were completely wonderful.

- [Narrator] The Oxford Playhouse provided a showcase where Rowan performed a much of his early material with Richard as the straight man.

- At the center of the Elizabethan world sits the king.

(bright music) (audience laughter) Upon the character of the king depends the plot.

And so there are many different kinds of king.

The benign king.

(bright music) The benign king with a physical defect.

(audience laughter) The benign king with two physical defects.

The mad king.

- [Narrator] Somebody who saw one of these early shows was BBC producer John Lloyd.

- Was not like any review that I had ever seen partly because of Richard Curtis's genius.

The lateral jumps it made in terms of subject matter.

It would always just start, you know, and often very surreal and rather European, like sort of strange, used to describe him as Czechoslovakian cartoons where this little man would come on and be chased around the stage by a spotlight with the music of a clarinet playing.

It didn't obey any of the rules of student sketch writing.

It didn't appear to be like anything else.

It wasn't like what we were all doing at the time as Monty Python sketches.

And very beguiling and odd.

And then suddenly this fantastically rude vicar talking about (muted) - And a young, attractive bride to be came up to me after a service and asked me just that question.

"Ffather, what is the church's attitude to fellatio?"

And I replied, "well you know, Joanne, I'd like to tell you, but unfortunately I don't know what fellatio is".

(audience laughter) And so she showed me.

And ever since, whenever anyone has asked me the question, "father, what is the church's attitude to fellatio?"

I always reply, "well you know, I'd like to tell you, but unfortunately I don't know what fellatio is."

- The shows usually took the form of something very visual, sort of mime thing, famous mime with it, where he mimed to a sort of Beethoven piano Sonata.

(bright music) (bright music continues) (bright music continues) - [Narrator] Another of Rowan's long term collaborators is composer Howard Goodall.

- He is very musical and we've always done a lot of musical sketches on the stage show, which is probably why I've been more involved.

The musical directors normally are in a comedy show.

He did one where he was a concert pianist playing Beethoven.

He did one as a conductor.

He did a AC/DC guitar mime, and he did a thing called drumming, which we worked on together.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (audience laughter) - Well I was friendly with Richard Curtis and he was in those days Rowan's straight man.

In fact, he was, as I later became the other person in Rowan's one man show.

- Good evening and welcome to the Boston University-- - There were a number of different sketches, different characters, all of which had elements of what later became Mr. Bean.

I can remember one sketch about someone on his first date.

- The first crucial step is having arranged to pick up your date, not to look like a complete idiot when she opens the door.

(audience laughter) Best to look as though your attention has been momentarily distracted.

(audience laughter) But when you do notice her, it is vital to say how pretty she is looking straight away, but don't overdo it.

(audience laughter) - He's very, very careful that everything he does, he works out everything in advance.

And it'll be the same performance every night, but it was much more like preparing a play.

And I think in that regard, he is more like an actor than a comedian that he'll work out, he'll spend, you know, a long time working out the dynamics of a particular scene.

- Once in the car, there are various ways of driving.

If you drive like this.

(audience laughter) You, you might lose her respect.

If you drive like this.

(audience laughter) - And there was a TV show called "Canned Laughter", which he did very shortly after leaving Oxford.

And there, if you look at the character, you can see how it's gradually forming.

- Hi, Lorraine.

(audience laughter) - Oh my God.

Look at the time.

(Rowan grunting) (audience laughter) (applause) - Richard Curtis and I were writing a full stage review for Rowan and with lots of different sketches.

And we wrote a couple of silent ones for him.

One of which was called "Cheating", which I was particularly involved in and well, you know, we carried out the whole show and that later became a Mr. Bean sketch.

It didn't change really at all.

It's just that we didn't actually call it Mr. Bean at the time.

- I think what he did is to take elements of those different characters and package them together.

And that's, I think probably how Mr. Bean was born.

(no audio) (audience laughter) (audience laughter) (audience laughter) (audience laughter) (audience laughter) (audience continues laughing) (audience laughter) (dramatic music) (dramatic music continues) - You're all about 22.

You're touring with one of the great comic geniuses of the century.

And you're still 22 and you are three friends.

So how do you handle that?

Because obviously the minute Rowan walks on stage, he has 5,000 people or 3,000 people in the palm of his hand.

And it's an extraordinary gift and we don't really discuss it very much, but that's what's happening.

- Ah, hello.

It's nice to see you all here.

Now as the more perceptive of you have probably realized by now, this is Hell and I am the devil.

Good evening, but you can call me Toby if you like.

We try to keep things informal here, as well as infernal.

That's just a little joke of mine.

I tell it every time.

Now murderers, murderers over here, please.

Thank you.

Looters and pillagers over here.

Thieves, if you could join them.

And lawyers, you are in that block.

(applause) - Villains are always more fun to play than good guys.

That's a well known fact and I enjoy characters who have a vindictiveness in them.

I always have done it, in the end it's just more fun.

- There was a very funny moment when I first sent him the script of "The Tall Guy" and the character that he eventually played was at that point called Rowan Atkinson just as a joke.

He rang me up and asked me which part I wanted him to play.

- Was somewhat based on his real life, I guess, experiences with Richard Curtis who wrote "The Tall Guy", brilliant man that he is and a funny script that it is.

And because he played something of the same part in Rowan's one man show.

(applause) - I think the rest of us found it quite difficult to adjust to the fact that he was becoming very famous very quickly.

And we were still who we were.

And this was way before Richard had become a well known writer in his own right.

So I think there was quite a lot of adjustment to be done in terms of that.

And I think, especially for Rowan, difficult for him to adjust to his friends were always wondering whether he was gonna buy the meal or not.

- The only thing in which Rowe was naughty during the stage show is he did have a lot of trouble describing it as anything but a one man show.

- I remember saying to him once, you know, pointing at the poster, which said "Rowan Atkinson in his one man show" and saying, "you didn't think that poster is slightly strange?"

And he said, "oh yes, yes.

That typeface should be green and not yellow."

So I thought, well, I won't push it.

(bright music) (bright music continues) (applause) - John Lloyd asked if I wanted to join this team of the people he was getting together to do a new topical satirical comedy sketch show.

- The BBC, who in those days were much more paternal than they are now said to Rowan, "it would be much better if you had some other people in the show, because then if you are good, you'll shine.

And if you're not good, they'll support you."

And it'll mean you only have to do a quarter of the work.

- So I was at this crossroads really and I had to choose between doing a show on my own or doing a show with three others.

And there was no doubt in my mind which way to go.

(soft music) - (speaking in foreign language) may his drive increase.

- Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace.

- And saw within the moonlight in his room.

(Rowan mumbling) (audience laughter) - And to the presence in his room, he said.

- What right has thou?

The vision raised its head.

- And with a look made of all sweet accord answered.

(Rowan mumbling) (audience laughter) - It was only rarely in "Not The Nine O'Clock News" that my special interest in visual comedy was ever allowed to burst through.

- The rest of you will watch your mime called.

And if there's any sniggering, there'll be trouble.

Alternative cart park.

I said.

(audience laughter) (audience laughter continues) (audience laughter continues) What do you think you are doing?

What?

- I'm the mine.

- Well, why don't you say so?

Right.

Get on with the mime.

- I am a mime.

My body is my tool.

(audience laughter) - The ideas we had for visual characters were, you know, rather unfocused let's say, but the man who bumped into the tree was one of those rare occasions when it sort of got through.

- I can remember Richard Curtis and Rowan coming in very early "Not The Nine O'Clock News" and saying, "we've got this great script, it's the best script we've written".

And it consisted of it says, "Rowan is walking down the street and he sees the camera and then bumps into a lamp post".

And I turned over the page expecting the great delivery of the line.

I said, "what's this?

What's the joke?"

They said, "well, it's really funny."

I said, "this isn't funny at all.

It's hopeless, doesn't work at all."

And they said, "well, can we do it, please, please, please?

Can we have a couple of hours with the camera?"

And I said sure, they went off and shot it with the director.

It came back.

It was absolutely brilliant.

(upbeat music) Is that shock that you've been working comedy for five, six, seven years.

And somebody comes along and says "there's another way of doing this".

(upbeat music) He has not had to compromise.

He's done pretty much exactly what he wants to.

The compromises he's made have generally been so as not to upset his mother, not to say too many rude words because she might not like it.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) - It started off as being something completely different about bicycle thieves in North London.

And over time it developed into a medieval sitcom.

So Howard went down that road.

I don't know.

- I seek information about a wise woman.

- The wise woman?

The wise woman?

- Yes.

The wise woman.

- Two things, my Lord, must ye know of the wise woman.

- Yes.

- First she is a woman.

(audience laughter) And second, she is.

- Wise?

- You do know her then.

- No, just a wild stab in the dark, which is instantly what you'll be getting if you don't start being a bit more helpful.

- I delighted in "Blackadder" and those very long ornate things, Baldric, that's the most disgusting thing I've seen.

- Since Cardinal Woolsey got his knob out in Hampton Court (audience laughter) and stood at the end of the passage, pretending to be a door.

(audience laughter) Oh, shut up Baldric.

You'd laugh at (muted) be a comedy.

- The Blackadders were very complicated by the end it has to be said because there were six or seven people working in a room, all of whom were capable on their own of developing entire projects, attempting to squeeze all their creative energy into a two dimensional situation comedy.

- Permission to sing boisterously, sir.

- If you must.

♪ Row row row your boat gently down the stream ♪ ♪ Belts off, trousers out, isn't life a scream?

♪ (audience laughter and applause) - Fabulous.

University education, you can't beat it.

Now what have we here?

Name?

Baldric, sir.

- Tally-ho, yibbity-dap, and zing-zangs-billit.

Looking forward to bullying off for the final chucker?

- Answer the general, Baldric.

- I can't answer him, sir.

I dunno what he is talking about.

- Are you looking forward to the big bush?

- No, sir.

I'm absolutely terrified.

- The healthy humor of the honest Tommy.

Ha-ha.

Don't worry my boy, if you should falter, remember that captain Darling and I are behind you.

- About 35 miles behind.

- There are two Rowan characters principally.

There's the absolute bastard who's the school master character or Blackadder.

And there's the funny wibbly little man.

(audience laughter) (audience laughter continues) (audience laughter continues) He's actually an utter bastard as well.

They're both bastards.

(audience laughter) (upbeat music) - In 1989, after the consideration of a long list of vegetables, the funny little wibbly man was given the name of Mr. Bean.

Quite unexpectedly, this unfashionably silent comedy was an immediate hit.

(audience laughter) One of the secrets of the Bean visual humor is the careful and highly detailed preparation that goes into filming.

- I'm not at all sure that I enjoy acting because I just find it so worrying and difficult.

I enjoy planning things.

I enjoy thinking about things and contributing to the creation of things.

- (indistinct) the window down or head emergings, if you wanted a nice entrance for yourself, trying to get out of the train.

- Almost without seeing the window come down, just a sense of the grappling hand or the hand coming out, you know, where's the norm?

- [Narrator] Each and every Bean moment is meticulously choreographed.

- I don't know.

I suppose I'd seen that he arrives in this shot already sort of faltering.

You know what I mean?

Though we just get the sense or at least not necessarily that he's acknowledged his loss of ticket in the opening shot, but he could be looking for it and be still fairly confident.

And then when we pick him up profile that he's sort of starting to falter and there's a little bit more of the (indistinct) - If this angle works best, that's lovely.

The change of direction, if you see what I mean.

(bright music) - I'm always aware that of any 10 suggestions I might come up with three or four or five, maybe along the same lines that he's thinking, but I'm always unnerved by the fact that on almost all the other occasions, he's so far ahead that I then have to choose between open mouth admiration or a very quick recovery where I say "yes, I felt something similar would probably do very well" and then scuttle off and try and get to the cameraman before he does.

(audience laughter) - This bag could do with being six inches, six inches longer.

- [Crew] Six inches longer?

- Yeah, I think so.

- How fast can you go?

(audience laughter) - One corner of the bag would go through and get stuck in and then he'd come back and then think, well, there's only one way out.

And that is to go over the top.

(audience laughter) - [Narrator] The co-writer Robin Driscoll collaborates with Rowan on the improvisation of Bean.

- Might be nice tea bag.

You know, a bit of (indistinct) and you get up and you think, well, freedom's inside.

(crew laughing) (audience laughter and applause) - One of the reasons why Mr. Bean has gone on is because actually the process of creating him is quite a lot of fun.

You think of a basic situation just as you're walking around, you're in a barber shop, you think, yes, this is a place where people don't talk to each other.

I could do a Mr. Bean thing here.

(audience laughter) - Suzie!

- And then you sit down at the computer and you think through, as you would with a normal piece of writing, five things that might happen.

(audience laughter) (audience laughter) - Sorry, look.

Can I just leave Jamie here with you for a moment?

I've left my purse in the shop back there, but just give him a good haircut, will you?

Be good, Jamie.

- Sorry to stop.

But I have a feeling that if this happened, that Bean would... You know, normal people would say, "hang on a minute, he'll be back in a second and I'm first", you know what I mean?

Because in the end, the rhubarb is only 10 yards that way.

So I'm not sure he would immediately presume to take on the role of the barber unless he had an extra kick, and I mean maybe actually Jamie sets him off like "come on".

- Would Jamie take his own cap off and look at Bean so that we see you?

Yeah, like that expectant thing.

And there's a kind of moment between the two of you.

- [Rowan] Yes, yes.

That might be perfect.

(audience laughter) - Yes, yes, that's quite good, yes, exactly.

That might be all I need.

(razor running) (audience laughter) (dramatic music) (audience laughter) (audience member screams) - I like Mr. Bean, mainly because he's got a bit of a rubber face.

(dramatic music) (dramatic music continues) (audience laughter) - [Bingo Announcer] Blue three two, 32.

And blue three and five, 35.

Blue three and seven, 37.

(audience laughter) Yellow two five, 25.

White five and four, 54.

Yellow two and three, 23.

Green, anywhere around, 69.

- Bingo.

- He puts peas, mushy peas up the turkey's bum.

And then he puts it with, and he's got his watch on.

And when he comes out, you realize he's not wearing his watch.

(audience laughter) (audience laughter) (audience laughter) (audience laughter continues) the Turkey on his head.

And when his girlfriend comes, they find out.

(audience laughter) - Are you all right in there?

- I'm fine, thank you.

- I reckon he's a bit gormless.

(audience laughter) - Good evening.

Call it Bean-o-Mania.

- (indistinct) here's Mr. Bean.

(newscasters speaking foreign languages) - Good evening ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Mr. Bean.

(applause) - [Narrator] Uninhibited by a language barrier, Mr. Bean has become a truly global success and is now watched in over 100 countries around the world.

The character was always meant to be international.

The inspiration came to Rowan while on holiday in Italy.

- I just remember starting through Venice and seeing all these souvenir stores selling posters of George Michael and Phil Collins and Duran Duran, I think at the time, and thinking, well, there you go.

You know, English Manor, but hoards of Norwegians are very keen to buy posters of them.

Why does comedy not have an international dimension?

- [Narrator] And with Mr. Bean, Rowan has undoubtedly discovered that international dimension.

- I've never been to Canada before.

And it's absolutely splendid.

- [Narrator] Bean is not quite into sex, drugs, and rock and roll, but the Bean videos have sold in record breaking quantities.

And Rowan is now as well paid as a major rock star.

All this on the back of only 14 Mr. Bean half hour episodes.

- I certainly never wanted pop star recognition and accoutrements.

In fact, we did experience it once in Amsterdam.

And I went as Mr. Bean to sign some videos and there was this kind of near riot.

And I had to be smuggled out of the back of the store.

The most peculiar thing when you get a sense of that, you know, what it must be like to be Madonna, but I have to say it was an experience that I didn't enjoy at all.

- [Narrator] But despite this extraordinary success, Rowan was keen for a new challenge.

"Bean The Movie" offered a whole new set of possibilities.

And in 1996, it went into production.

- Reset.

- The Grierson Gallery of California needs a representative of our (indistinct) They're looking for a scholar of a very high standing.

I have therefore decided to recommend for the post, and the three months sabbatical that goes with it, that splendid employee, Mr. Bean.

(hopeful music) - All those in favor?

- [Workers] Yes!

- Excellent.

Carry on.

Our loss is America's gain.

- [Narrator] Ludicrously nominated by the National Gallery as their representative, the funny little wibbly man finally arrives in America.

(dramatic music) (airport operator speaking in foreign language) - He gets a bit of a warm reception at Los Angeles Airport, and immediately gets on the wrong side of the police.

(dramatic music) - Move, move, move.

- Police!

Everyone on the floor now!

- Not you, sweetie.

- The structure and narrative of a film if you're aiming to make it any kind of success has gotta be so different to that of a half hour television program, it is a huge leap to make.

And if we were going to go through all the effort and torment of making that leap and try to make it work, then it seemed logical that we should try to be doing something different with the character, which goes back again to this idea of trying to explore more facets of the character than we had been able to do on television.

- Just because it's a film, we mustn't allow ourselves not to put in straight funny visual sequences.

And so we've had about eight days of rehearsal where we go into a rehearsal room and the three of us just fool around with basic ideas, Mr. Bean on the plane, Mr. Bean with a pair of wet trousers, Mr. Bean in bed, you know, and stuff like that.

And a lot of the funniest things indeed in the final movie, I suspect come from those genuinely amusing occasions, rather than sitting alone in one's room typing speeches for people.

- Well, there you go, that's fantastic.

Lean away from him.

(child vomiting) (bag ruffling) (crew laughing) - [Narrator] Rowan has always been more comfortable working within a close circle of collaborators.

And Mel Smith, director of "The Tall Guy" and co-star of "Not The Nine O'Clock News" was an obvious choice to direct the Bean movie.

- In the TV programs, there are no real consequences to what he does.

I mean, there are consequences in the short term, within the 10 minute sketch or whatever it may be to the people who are in the vicinity.

The interesting thing about doing a film is that there are real consequences in our story and what he does actually impacts on other people.

- Are you feeling lucky, punk?

- Here, in our house for two months?

Oh David, what?

Suddenly there's no hotels in Los Angeles?

- No need to get excited, dear.

I just thought, you know, this is the Royal National Gallery of England's top man.

I thought he'd be very exciting to have a round to learn from and talk to.

- So do we know anything about our new best friend?

- No, although I think they might have mentioned it if he was a notorious serial killer.

- He's a genius, huh?

- That's what they tell me.

Well, he looks like a fruitcake to me.

(no audio) (no audio) - The comedy is so simple, it is so accessible, it's so manifest really to anybody.

Some people who prefer a bit more intellectual content are probably disappointed by most Mr. Bean sketches and may therefore be disappointed by the film.

But that doesn't worry me so much.

I enjoy the simplicity of him and his comedy and the sort of universal identification I think that people throughout the world seem to feel for the character.

(Mr. Bean making monster noises) - Wake up, wake up.

- I don't know what to say about Bean.

He's clearly a force 10 disaster area, but God help me, I like him.

(defibrillator charging) (Mr. Bean screaming) - I mean, quite a lot of Bean is very extreme, but quite a lot of the stuff that I like the most is when he is just sitting in a chair in a dentist waiting room with sort of nothing much going on and just watching him and how he bides his time, always amuses me greatly.

(audience laughter) (audience laughter) (audience laughter continues) (audience laughter continues) - I think Mr. Bean is Rowan Atkinson.

I mean, I've sort of seen him be that person in his own life.

So I think they're not that far apart.

- If you're going to present a situation visually, I think the character or the personality that you create in order to present visual comedy comes from very deep within you.

It's very identifiable as a part of you, which leads to my theory that actually that you have only one truly good and convincing visual comedy character within you.

Nobody has more than one.

(audience laughter) (Mr. Bean gasping) - Oh well.

(Mr. Bean grunting) (audience laughter) (Mr. Bean grunting) No no no no no!

(Mr. Bean continues grunting) (audience laughter) (Mr. Bean continues grunting) (audience laughter) Oh!

(audience laughter and applause) (bright music) (bright music continues) (bright music continues) (bright music continues) I sometimes speculate about where I'd be now if I hadn't decided to take that plunge and write to those agents and take it seriously and whether I'd be in some small research laboratory in near Swindon doing amateur dramatics every three months.

And I'm sure I would be enjoying it greatly.

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