Alan Partridge Live: Stratagem

I love Steve Coogan and genuinely think Alan Partridge is the funniest comedy creation of all time. Really!

This is absolutely dreadful. Like it was written in a hurry. Wasn't working out but contractually they all had to go ahead with it.

Even Steve Coogan looks extremely uncomfortable throughout. He is not enjoying himself at all.

There are times when it seems like an amateur drama group playing a farce.

His timing is way off. Continuously looking at the prompter to read his lines.

Some day I'm sure he'll write a book about this and I'd trust him to be very honest about what happened. I'm looking forward to that.

It's not peak Partridge. It feels slightly slapdash and not as slick or as well prepared as I would expect. The points where Steve Coogan is reading the dialogue could have been passed off as 'character' but it's clear it isn't. The whole show feels less than thought through with no structure and no real comedy. Just a shameless cash I. Even on the recording a vast proportion of the audience look bored to tears and the ensemble work hard with minimal material.

It's a shame as Alan Partridge is one of the great comic creations but this just felt tired, repetitive and low energy from the get go.

The gigantic Stratagem arena tour rolled around the arenas of the UK in the summer of 2022 and this filmed show in London is the only chance of someone without a billion pounds to spend on a ticket to see it. Stratagem is a fairly loose concept - Partridge doing a sort of motivational speaking/life coaching schtick after breaking up with a girlfriend - which feels like a sort of flabbier rendition of the Partridge segment from Coogan's "Less Successful Characters" tour. It does go on for ages, and Emma Sidi is great, but it rarely feels vital and occasionally he drifts out of character. Not at all anywhere near essential Partridge, and he's far sharper in the Gibbons era as a podcast host/author.

I'm sure Steve has made a lot of money from this tour, however I along with many other people have never watched so much drivel in all ours lives. The character Alan Partridge is absolutely superb and one of the finest comedy series of all time, however this effort falls short of being remotely amusing. As someone sat watching this live I cringed along with other audience members when no one was laughing. I know it's the character, however it's supposed to still be funny. It's a perfect example of leaving a classic memory behind and not trying to rekindle it for more money. Don't waste your time, don't watch it.

There's no question that Alan Partridge is one of the greatest comedy creations in British TV history. The subtlety and sharpness of Mid Morning Matters or The Oasthouse podcast is about as good as comedic writing gets.

Stratagem, however, is complete trash. This format simply doesn't work well for this character and I think Coogan knows this. Every joke seems forced and the overall performance is far more slapstick than parody.

The reaction of the crowd tells you everything. They are quiet and look visibly bored. In fact, many people look quite agitated as if their intelligence is being insulted by this shoddy effort.

Really terrible stuff from Coogan. Not my words, the words of Shakin' Stevens.