Monkey Tennis and the Great Smell of Brut (Im Alan Partridge !)

Member Name: thehud

Product:	Im Alan Partridge !
Date:	25/11/02 (328 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Really funny

Disadvantages: Embarrassing

The re-runs have been doing the rounds on UK Gold for some little time now, reminding us of the cringe-making moments of life with Alan Partridge. The character that he first made (un)popular with Knowing Me Knowing You had fallen upon hard times and been forced to make his way back to the mediocre via the sleazy trappings of the Lynton Travel Tavern, and we all shared in the pain and sadness he felt (we don't think). Repeated viewings of the show did not see the magic fade, just become even more resonant with age, and now we have what Steve Coogan himself promises to be the last of the very poor man's Terry Wogan (except with significantly less charm).

Partridge is back, enjoying his place in the third best slot on Radio Norwich, building himself a splendid new house and enjoying carnal relations with a thirty something Eastern European. Nudge nudge wink wink goes Mr Partridge to the builders who are manufacturing his little dream home, he's rediscovered the pleasure of female company and has even started 'venturing south', enjoying a 'real breath of fresh air', if you know what I mean, for the first time in his life - he's like a new man.

But Big Al has only recently discovered himself after a nervous breakdown and had really let himself go, blowing up to tubbyesque proportions for his driving hell videos from the company which brought you the pleasures of wet T shirt videos and soft core porn. He's now back to his slimline, desirable self though the years of pressure have left lines of experience on his weary old face. He's also exchanged the abysmal conditions of the hotel room for the doubtful pleasures of a caravan and a petrol station shop, where the crazed Geordie ex-soldier Michael has re-emerged as Partridge's low life chum cum minder cum assassin. His motherly PA Lynn is still drifting around, trying to bring order to Partridge's sad little life, though why she carries on now that she
's come into an inheritance from her mother is anybody's guess. It's a dirty job, but then I guess someone's gotta do it, and sooner Lynn than me...

And so, the trappings may be slightly different, but the fortunes of Partridge are really no brighter, and he's still the same unpleasant little self centred ogre we've come to know and despise. The wit and wisdom of the man (Coogan not Partridge, I hasten to had) are as wise and sharp as ever, with splendidly observed recreations of ineptitude and crass unpleasantness. Partridge is as flawed and despicable as the very worst comedy creations of all time, TV monsters like Meldrew, Fawlty and Garnett, loathsome brutes with no redeeming features WHATSOEVER.

I'm Alan Partridge is a fitting show to replace the equally embarrassing world of David Brent and The Office, and there's clearly no let up in the witty barbs on BBC2 each and every Monday night.

PS In case the reference in the title doesn't mean a great deal to you, Monkey Tennis was an idea of Partridge's when he was trying to worm his way back in to the safe environs of BBC mainstream programming - yes, I know the very thought of it is bizarreness personified, but then that's the byeword when you're considering the doings of the grate man....

PPS For everything you ever wanted to know about Mr Partridge but were too scared to ask, visit http://www.alan-partridge.co.uk/index2.htm and have fun...

PPPS Here's an excerpt from the scripts from the first series for your enjoyment -
Episode 6 ? Towering Alan

[Radio Norwich.]

Alan: That was Japan, the effeminate futurists from the eighties, with ?Life Can Be Cruel In Tokyo?. It?s certainly congested! I?d love to go. In the meantime it?s seven o?clock. Ooh, gov?ner, he?s got me banged to rights, it?s Chief Constable Dave Clifton of Scotland Yard?s very own plain-clothed pop force.

[In the o
ther studio, we see Dave Clifton, entirely unamused.]

Dave: Yes, good morning, Alan, yes ?

Alan: [Interrupting] Whoa, whoa, let me finish??ello ?ello ?ello.

Dave: Yeah, I think you?re splitting hairs a little bit there, Alan ?

Alan: Sorry, ?splidding??

Dave: Yeah, splitting, you know.

Alan: Sorry, it?s difficult to understand you when you say ?splidding?, because I know in real life you say ?splitting?. It?s interesting, the way you substitute a ?d? for a ?t? when you?re broadcasting. If you ask me, it?s the behaviour of a ?dosser?.

Dave: A ?dosser??

Alan: Yes. A ?dosser? and a ?dwad?.

Dave: [Chuckles slightly] Alan Partridge, there ?

Alan: [Interrupting] There?s others, aren?t there? There?s ?didhead?, ?dalendless shid?, and if the rumours are to be believed, you?re back on the ?boddle?.

Dave: Er, this is ?Einstein a Go-Go?.

Alan: ?Gid?. That?s ?git?.

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