Rick Spleen
| Rick Spleen | |
|---|---|
| First appearance | "Rubbish" |
| Created by | Jack Dee and Pete Sinclair |
| Portrayed by | Jack Dee |
| Information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation | Comedian |
| Spouse(s) | Melanie "Mel" Davis |
| Children | Sam (daughter) |
Rick Spleen (born Richard Shaw) is a character in the BBC situation comedy Lead Balloon, played by comedian Jack Dee. Spleen is a world-weary comedian who is forced to make ends meet by hosting corporate events.
Rick is a short-tempered, impatient comedian who struggles to find worthwhile gigs or appearances. He spends a lot of his time writing jokes for corporate events with his friend and writer, Marty who always does far more work than Rick.
He lives in a typical London suburb house with partner Mel and daughter Sam. He is a stubborn, incompetent liar, who often attempts to avoid paying professionals by performing a task himself. He also passes off many of Marty's jokes as his own, and always aims to take credit for other people's work. In episode 2 of Season 3, "Panda", it is revealed that Spleen's real name is Richard Shaw, which caused him much grief at school due to it being shortened to 'rickshaw,' after the Chinese/Japanese transport Rickshaw.
Dee and Sinclair have said that they based the character of Spleen on "comedians who hated being comedians" with whom Dee performed as he was starting his career as a stand-up comic.
Spleen often makes fun and insults his American writer Marty, and Marty returns the gesture. However, it is made clear that the two are great friends, despite their on-going bickering. How much the pair need each other is made especially obvious in the final episode of Season 2, "Lucky", where, after Spleen accuses him of lacking ambition, Marty receives a call from America asking him to write in Hollywood. Spleen is upset but tries not to let his feelings show. However, Marty returns and decides to continue writing with Spleen.
Marty often acts as 'the good guy' when Rick sets off on his usual activity of insulting people. For example, when Spleen has an argument with Michael, the café owner, or with Magda, his Eastern-European cleaner, Marty defends them rather than backing Spleen, which appears to wind him up even more.
Mel, who works as an agent for TV performers, and Rick are partners and have a teenage daughter, Sam. However, Rick still lies to Mel to make himself look better, for example in "₤5,000", after Rick is detained by police for aggravating an officer, he claims that he was "being too funny".
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