ShareThisBy BRUCE DANCIS
Friday, November 17, 2006
("I'm Alan Partridge: Complete Series 1." Graded: 3-1/2 stars. Cast: Steve Coogan, Felicity Montagu, Simon Greenall, Phil Cornwell, Barbara Durkin, Sally Phillips and David Schneider. Distributor: BBC Video. Rated: Not rated.)
Steve Coogan's Alan Partridge often acts as his own worst enemy, and we are the beneficiaries of his bad behavior.
Like other hilariously deluded television characters, from Dabney Coleman's Buffalo Bill and Garry Shandling's Larry Sanders to Ricky Gervais' David Brent and Larry David's, well, Larry David, Alan Partridge usually gets hoisted by his own petard.
One of the reasons we're quoting Shakespeare is that Coogan, too, is an Englishman, but since he hasn't had the benefit of 500 years of fame, he's not well known to Americans. We did get to see him as Phileas Fogg opposite Jackie Chan's Passepartout in a 2004 version of "Around the World in 80 Days." He also starred in the recent "Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story," and he plays Ambassador Mercy in Sofia Coppola's recent "Marie Antoinette."
But in Britain, Coogan _ and the Alan Partridge character he created more than a decade ago _ is viewed as something of a national treasure. A poll in the United Kingdom voted Partridge No. 7 of the 100 greatest TV characters of all time, and Coogan has won two British Comedy Awards for his show and his performances.
Now BBC Video is bringing out on DVD "I'm Alan Partridge: Complete Series 1" (two discs, $29.98, not rated), and American audiences will be able to see that all that British fuss is much ado about something funny. These shows initially aired on the BBC in 1997. When they're combined with Coogan's initial Partridge series, "Knowing Me Knowing You With Alan Partridge," from 1994 (and released on DVD last year by BBC Video), they provide hours of laughter _ and not a little bit of cringing.
Alan Partridge is one of those guys who thinks he's a lot smarter, funnier, more talented and better looking than everyone else. Unfortunately for him, he's usually the only person who has such thoughts. So when his vanity collides with his obtuseness, selfishness, greed and general lack of comprehension, it's a train wreck of comical proportions.
In his first series, the mock TV show "Knowing Me Knowing You With Alan Partridge" (and yes, the title comes from the Abba song), Partridge hosted perhaps the worst variety/talk show in the history of British television. It not only lacked any discernible entertainment value but also reeked of avarice through Partridge's obvious use of product placements for Rover automobiles and Sprunt, a soft drink from Germany. (A bonus treat is the chance to see Minnie Driver in the small role of "love/life adviser" Daniella Forest just before she made it big in the movies "Circle of Friends," "Grosse Pointe Blank" and "Good Will Hunting.")
When we catch up to Partridge again in "I'm Alan Partridge," he's been reduced to doing the 4 to 7 a.m. slot on Radio Norwich, though he still hasn't given up his desire to remain a celebrity. Of course, his comments about the music he plays are almost always inane (he criticizes Joni Mitchell's "Big Yellow Taxi" because "putting up a parking lot" would alleviate the traffic congestion she deplores and calls Wings "the band the Beatles could have been"), as are the interviews he conducts for his "This Morning's Farmer" segment and the "facts" he quotes for allegedly humorous purposes.
Alan is now living at the Linton Travel Tavern, a motel, where a highlight of each episode is his awful bantering with the various staff members, none of whom, of course, ever listens to his radio show. He's been forced to supplement his income through public appearances at events such as the Swaffham Country Fayre, where he has to judge a fruit, flower and vegetable show (and comments that the ends of a bunch of scallions look like an old lady's hair), and by making promotional videos.
Yet Alan hasn't lost his ambition, and he's continually dictating memos to his too-faithful personal assistant Lynn (Felicity Montagu) for new show ideas. He also hasn't lost his propensity for shameless product shilling _ he's now plugging a brand of cheap chocolate oranges and a local boat dealer on the air.
The six episodes of "I'm Alan Partridge" are buttressed by some very funny outtakes and deleted scenes. Even better are two audio commentaries _ one featuring Alan and Lynn in character, the other with series writers Coogan, Armando Ianucci and Peter Baynham.
American audiences can also check out Coogan's latest work in the current BBC-America TV series "Saxondale," in which he plays a former rock 'n' roll roadie with a bad temper who's become the owner of a pest control business. It airs at 8 p.m. (EST/PST) Fridays on the digital cable channel.
(Contact Bruce Dancis at bdancis(at)sacbee.com.)
