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Oft-forgotten gems from the Alan Partridge canon

Started by MoonDust, January 21, 2017, 08:57:22 AM

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markburgle

Quote from: greencalx on February 15, 2020, 12:53:54 PM
Is it not just the case that Alan never expected to have to honour the promise he made (probably out of politeness) to Beezley when they were both low-grade entertainers? Same sort of thing as when people make an acquaintance on holiday, they make empty invitations to visit knowing full well that they would be horrified if these people ever actually showed up on their doorstep.

But Alan breaks promises all the time, especially ones relating to not forgetting people from earlier in his career (e.g. pledging to return to do shows at the hospital station and then never doing it).

Admittedly that's backstory that didn't exist at the time. Howe'er, if it was only the case that JB went to pieces in the TV studio, the line "Your act is really poor" would make no sense. Those are the words of someone who has never seen the act before, now has, and thinks it's shit

Ferris

Quote from: markburgle on February 16, 2020, 10:10:04 AM
But Alan breaks promises all the time, especially ones relating to not forgetting people from earlier in his career (e.g. pledging to return to do shows at the hospital station and then never doing it).

Admittedly that's backstory that didn't exist at the time. Howe'er, if it was only the case that JB went to pieces in the TV studio, the line "Your act is really poor" would make no sense. Those are the words of someone who has never seen the act before, now has, and thinks it's shit

...or is finally seeing it, 15 years later, live on his own chat show, for what it actually is (i.e. really poor)

QDRPHNC

What is it with overthinking Partridge? Why would we think he is lying?

The story is that he saw Cheeky Monkey years ago, thought it was great, promised to give him a shot, the guy can't do the show any more, and Alan realizes it's shit.


Ferris

Quote from: QDRPHNC on February 16, 2020, 03:57:56 PM
What is it with overthinking Partridge? Why would we think he is lying?

The story is that he saw Cheeky Monkey years ago, thought it was great, promised to give him a shot, the guy can't do the show any more, and Alan realizes it's shit.

Yes, exactly. This is "best of the Beatles" all over again.

bgmnts

Yeah but Alan is an unreliable narrator throughout a lot of the book.

QDRPHNC

Quote from: bgmnts on February 16, 2020, 04:15:29 PM
Yeah but Alan is an unreliable narrator throughout a lot of the book.

But only when it's signposted as such - only when the writers know we know the real version and exploit the disparity between what we know and what Alan said happened for laughs.

When it comes to a short piece of backstory setting up a gag, I don't see any reason to overanalyze it. And for what it's worth, I'm pretty sure I Partridge backs up the original setup in KMKY.

Ferris

Quote from: QDRPHNC on February 16, 2020, 04:41:51 PM
But only when it's signposted as such - only when the writers know we know the real version and exploit the disparity between what we know and what Alan said happened for laughs.

When it comes to a short piece of backstory setting up a gag, I don't see any reason to overanalyze it. And for what it's worth, I'm pretty sure I Partridge backs up the original setup in KMKY.

It does. Alan happens to think Joe's joke about Swedish Fred Flinstone is a "quite beautiful piece of writing".

robhug

Alan had seen Cheeky Monkey possibly at a Pontins circa 20 years previous to his appearance on KMKY and by announcing his appearance on the show made him look like a great guy by giving Joe his big break. Joe and Cheeky Monkey however were overawed to be appearing on national TV and somewhat floundered.

The joke about a Swedish Fred Flintstone was by any standard, a beautiful piece of writing.

kalowski

Quote from: robhug on February 17, 2020, 09:56:46 AM
Alan had seen Cheeky Monkey possibly at a Pontins circa 20 years previous to his appearance on KMKY and by announcing his appearance on the show made him look like a great guy by giving Joe his big break. Joe and Cheeky Monkey however were overawed to be appearing on national TV and somewhat floundered.

The joke about a Swedish Fred Flintstone was by any standard, a beautiful piece of writing.
Exactly. Beezley was probably a good Hoseasons entertainer, Alan and others would have had a few pints of Directors and it would have been great fun. But Joe crumbled under the bright lights of the BBC.

robhug

Its also possible that Alan confused Joe with Bernard Righton, as there is a physical similarity between Joe and Bernie.

kalowski

Quote from: robhug on February 17, 2020, 10:40:01 AM
Its also possible that Alan confused Joe with Bernard Righton, as there is a physical similarity between Joe and Bernie.
"The best of the Beezleys"

ylem

#1511
[apologies if this has been posted before. EDIT: hah, just noticed the cursor at "regrettable".]



Jerzy Bondov

Quote from: kalowski on February 17, 2020, 10:05:09 AM
Exactly. Beezley was probably a good Hoseasons entertainer, Alan and others would have had a few pints of Directors and it would have been great fun. But Joe crumbled under the bright lights of the BBC.
Yes. By telling Beezley his act is 'really poor' he's just trying to distance himself from his recommendation and put himself on the audience's side. Completely throwing Joe and Cheeky Monkey under the bus.

Ferris

Quote from: Jerzy Bondov on February 21, 2020, 12:17:18 PM
Yes. By telling Beezley his act is 'really poor' he's just trying to distance himself from his recommendation and put himself on the audience's side. Completely throwing Joe and Cheeky Monkey under the bus.

I don't think he's trying to put himself on the audience's side - he explicitly says he'll abuse his power over the audience to get Beezley an ill-deserved round of applause.

I think "your act is really poor" is him realizing (with horror) it must have always been shit.

robhug

Quote from: FerriswheelBueller on February 21, 2020, 01:18:40 PM
I don't think he's trying to put himself on the audience's side - he explicitly says he'll abuse his power over the audience to get Beezley an ill-deserved round of applause.

I think "your act is really poor" is him realizing (with horror) it must have always been shit.

You could argue it wasn't shit, some of it was written quite beautifully. Alan wanted to disassociate himself from Joe and Cheeky Monkey crumbling under the pressure. Alan put his name on it by having them on the show in the first place so feels the shitshow that it turned out to be reflected badly on him. He was just lashing out with the poor act line.

It was Joe who was chucked under the bus by both Alan and Cheeky Monkey if you think about it, as it didn't reflect well on either of them.

Ferris

Quote from: robhug on February 21, 2020, 01:54:30 PM
You could argue it wasn't shit, some of it was written quite beautifully. Alan wanted to disassociate himself from Joe and Cheeky Monkey crumbling under the pressure. Alan put his name on it by having them on the show in the first place so feels the shitshow that it turned out to be reflected badly on him. He was just lashing out with the poor act line.

It was Joe who was chucked under the bus by both Alan and Cheeky Monkey if you think about it, as it didn't reflect well on either of them.

I agree with this, and don't think my point contradicts it.

Ultimately, it was Cheeky Monkey who made Joe forget his lines, and lost his grip on his other hand which removed the physical humour, and ultimately stitched up both Alan and Joe. Hope he never works in showbiz again.

Jerzy Bondov

When Cheeky Monkey just starts nodding like mad and Joe says 'Pack it in you', that's my favourite bit


Ferris

Quote from: Jerzy Bondov on February 21, 2020, 02:54:33 PM
When Cheeky Monkey just starts nodding like mad and Joe says 'Pack it in you', that's my favourite bit

There's a second where Joe sort of realizes how badly it's all going and he just quickly says "...oh god" which absolutely creases me every time.

robhug

Quote from: FerriswheelBueller on February 21, 2020, 03:02:24 PM
There's a second where Joe sort of realizes how badly it's all going and he just quickly says "...oh god" which absolutely creases me every time.

Joe's response to Alan attempting to pat Cheeky Monkey for me really showed that the occasion was really getting to the poor chap.

It couldn't have helped that the 2 presenters of 'Off the Straight and Narrow' were sat very near when it started to unravel.

gilbertharding

Quote from: FerriswheelBueller on February 15, 2020, 01:35:14 PM
I'm with Jobotic on this one. A partridge in his late 20s saw this act and thought it was brilliant.

It's all of that - but also (I thought at the time) a reflection of what was seen as good, funny entertainment back in the dark ages of the early 80s (see the Little and Large/Freddie Starr threads and think about what was on prime time Saturday Night tv then) and contrasting it with the cutting edge modern, stylish, intelligent and sophisticated world of the early/mid 90s.

There were loads of comedy variety shows back then which gave breaks to night club comedy acts who you never saw again. Monkhouse hosted one.

Beazley is Roy Jay with a vent act. It's just his bad luck that Alan took so long to get a tv show.


Utter Shit

From The Oast House is gonna be brilliant I reckon. No constraints, just Partridge sounding off about whatever he feels like. I'd like to think it might have been influenced by Noel Edmonds' radio channel.

Ferris

Quote from: gilbertharding on February 21, 2020, 04:10:15 PM
It's all of that - but also (I thought at the time) a reflection of what was seen as good, funny entertainment back in the dark ages of the early 80s (see the Little and Large/Freddie Starr threads and think about what was on prime time Saturday Night tv then) and contrasting it with the cutting edge modern, stylish, intelligent and sophisticated world of the early/mid 90s.

There were loads of comedy variety shows back then which gave breaks to night club comedy acts who you never saw again. Monkhouse hosted one.

Beazley is Roy Jay with a vent act. It's just his bad luck that Alan took so long to get a tv show.

Yeah actually that's a good point and one I hadn't considered. It's a '70s act on a contemporary '90s show.

SteK

My 25 yo Son, Partridge fan extraordinaire, has a theory that only IAP is proper canonical Partridge. And his reasoning is all the other series etc shows AP as a professional, ie in his job, about his job, whereas both IAP 1 and 2 show him 80% of the time as a person.

I think he raises a good point, or, if he hasn't, I'll just disown him....

magval

Isn't there enough off-air stuff in Mid Morning Matters to satisfy him Stek?

SteK

Quote from: magval on February 22, 2020, 07:38:47 PM
Isn't there enough off-air stuff in Mid Morning Matters to satisfy him Stek?
Well I'd agree, but I suspect he's thinking more AP's proper home life, Travel Tavern, The caravan, it's mostly AP at home and interacting, with the Radio bits too as an afterthought sort of, rather than Radio with the odd home refs as we see in MMM...

I do see his point.

Cuellar

He's talking out of his god damn arse no offence

markburgle

Yeah, as far as imparting a true understanding of the word "canonical" goes, I'm sorry to have to tell you that you've failed as a parent.

To come back on topic - "She still Asks Jeeves"