Oft-forgotten gems from the Alan Partridge canon

[iamcoop]

There's a line he says in Nomad describing someone being "like one of those geezers that smells of trumps" that comes out of nowhere and isn't expanded upon in any way. It regularly pops into my head and really makes me laugh.

[McDead]

I heard this too, but I haven't finished the series so as far as I know he might mention the dog again.

Unfortunately,

Spoiler alert

the very next episode concerns itself with how lonely Alan is, and sees him walking around the hills with a stick, but no dog. The episode concludes with him triumphantly deciding to replace Seldom.

[close]

There's a few bits of sloppiness like this in S2. It's really not as good as S1. Maybe Tony Hayers had a point.

[Enzo]

I'm really enjoying real life following Partridge fiction.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/oct/10/rspb-not-ruling-out-direct-action-to-defend-nature-from-government-policy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_xCZHC83qk

"Odie is like a bearded catherine wheel"

[markburgle]

Did Partridge coin the word "Mentalist"? I remember laughing about it at the time as a funny malapropism but it seems to be everywhere these days

[Bad Ambassador]

As a term for a mad person, possibly, but it's been used to refer to hypnotists and the like for decades.

[BeardFaceMan]

Did Partridge coin the word "Mentalist"? I remember laughing about it at the time as a funny malapropism but it seems to be everywhere these days

They talk about it on the IAP1 commentary track, If i recall it came from Peter Baynham, his brother was learning about some movement in school and they were called The Mentalists and he just thought it was a funny word.

[popcorn]

Did Partridge coin the word "Mentalist"? I remember laughing about it at the time as a funny malapropism but it seems to be everywhere these days

I know my mother and I had never heard it used like that, I clearly remember we both found it unbelievably funny.

[The Lurker]

Alright, it's inconsistent. Zombies by their very nature are inconsistent!

[kalowski]

Just realised that Crash! Bang! Wallop! What a video was produced by Phil Gabbitas.

[Sonny_Jim]

I wouldn't say she completes me, nothing like that, but she certainly finishes me off

[kalowski]

I've just noticed that during the Alan on Alan section of Mid Morning Matters he says his favourite TV show is Deal or No Deal ("Why?" "Edmonds") which seems to go totally against his hatred of him as mentioned in Nomad et al.

[Stone Cold Steve Austin]

it makes sense if you consider it analogous (alanogous?) to Tony Blackburn's up and down relationship with Edmonds

[buttgammon]

He has a few wobbles on Edmonds - there's a bit in one of the books where he talks about how exhilarated he was when Noel first explained the format of Deal or No Deal to him, but then in the other book, there's a whole chapter devoted to what a wanker he is.

[Des Wigwam]

Can someone remind me which ep of MMM the sidekick Simon / sieg heil jingle is from? Has been a bit of an earworm the last two days and family have asked what I am smiling at. Can't really say "just the Nazis".

[Maurice Yeatman]

Can someone remind me which ep of MMM the sidekick Simon / sieg heil jingle is from?

It's at the start of ep 9 here:
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6x99nj

I used to think there was a Sieg Heil! in the Bilko opening titles, but it seems unlikely.

4 seconds in

[Cold Meat Platter]

He has a few wobbles on Edmonds - there's a bit in one of the books where he talks about how exhilarated he was when Noel first explained the format of Deal or No Deal to him, but then in the other book, there's a whole chapter devoted to what a wanker he is.

I love that chapter. The safety video anecdote. Just the fact that it's called 'Edmonds'.
I think it would be a coup to get Edmonds in an episode of Partridge. He was surprisingly good in Brian Pern.

[Des Wigwam]

It's at the start of ep 9 here:
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6x99nj

I used to think there was a Sieg Heil! in the Bilko opening titles, but it seems unlikely.

4 seconds in

Thanks for that. The whole opening section up to Nigel Lindsay is full of great throwaways. Also noticed Simon doing a lot less wincing and double taking at Alan's comments and ideas. Haven't seen that first round for years so not noticed the evolution of Simon.

That does sound a like a sieg heil. Surely not though....

[tdurbo]

Not oft-forgotten but:

"...He boings up...down...BangsHisHeadAndIn..."

Still gets me, every time I ever take my lad swimming.

Boings = The exact right word, but also so very wrong at the same time.

I spent the last Olympics praying for this to happen to someone, anyone

[Dave The Triffids]

"Sadly I can't be with you because I'm on a nationwide tour performing in person, each night, to an audience bigger than Piers Morgan gets on the actual telly.  But the good thing about Piers is it doesn't bother him"

[McDead]

"Sadly I can't be with you because I'm on a nationwide tour performing in person, each night, to an audience bigger than Piers Morgan gets on the actual telly.  But the good thing about Piers is it doesn't bother him"

If only the actual show had been this good

[The Late Satoru Iwata]

"Frederick emails to say he has 4 children, he is the proud father of a new baby boy Joshua, and his daughter, 5, has just started school - and he thinks that after death, there... is... NOTHING"

I read this whole thread from the beginning because I wanted to post this and didn't want to repeat anyone. It took 50 pages but here you are.

Another thing I learned in those 50 pages is that I really shouldn't have worried about repeating lines other people had said.

[Ferris]

At the (sort of) suggestion of @The Late Satoru Iwata, I've gone back through and started reading a few older pages of this thread. Some great stuff, this one fulfills the thread brief and also very funny:

He also had a company called Tomahawk Leisure which he closed down because it was "inoperable."

[markburgle]

I read this whole thread from the beginning because I wanted to post this and didn't want to repeat anyone. It took 50 pages but here you are.

Another thing I learned in those 50 pages is that I really shouldn't have worried about repeating lines other people had said.

That at least confirms definitively that I got an "oft-forgotten" one.

The more I think about it the greater that line is, somehow managing to utterly skewer atheism without criticising it. I think it's the Partridge obliviousness that does it

[The Late Satoru Iwata]

A lot of posts in one:

CM: Alan Partridge with today's sport, and I understand over the weekend, Alan, that your wife died.

AP: Er, certainly. Straight like a bolt outta the blue, as they say. Was just working on the extension and, er, got a phone call and that was it. She was gone. Certainly.

CM: There's an inevitable psychological backlash which could last up to ten years.

AP: Yes, er, well, certainly I hope it's gonna be a bit shorter than that. S-seeing a guy for counselling and, erm, trying to sort of keep things in perspective, certainly. Keep things together. That's the important thing.

CM: Still. Nice to have a bit of time to yourself.

AP: Yeah? Er, yeah.

(Next episode)

CM: Before we go, Alan, I gather that your wife rose from the dead this weekend?

AP: I was wondering how long it would take for that one to get 'round. Heh-heh. Yeah, I was doing a spot of decorating and, er, right like a bolt outta the blue, there was my wife, you know, with a couple of other members of the living dead. Er...

CM: Any smell involved?

AP: Quite a bit, I can tell you. Bit of a hoy, there but, er, so I had to- y'know, got out the garden hose. Sort of cleaned her up a bit and, er, certainly I do love her, even though there's a smell.

CM: The onset of putrefaction hasn't destroyed the charm.

AP: Ehh.

==========

Lots of talk in this thread about weird continuity like the various Cresswells and - most popularly - Alan apparently owning a house called Denton Abbey without ever mentioning the fact he works with a sidekick called Simon Denton BUT nobody has mentioned that both Michael and Alan had chemistry teachers called Mr Cragg that they have very bitter memories of.

==========

My favourite runner from the books is Alan very deliberately putting effort into never once referring to Lynn by name.

==========

Behind the scenes detail from TV KMKYWAP that I love: Production designer Dennis De Groot deliberately designed the big staircase the guests have to use so that each stair requires the average person to do one-and-a-half steps to navigate them (instead of one of two) so that the guests are always awkward when using them.

[The Late Satoru Iwata]

Alan Ford takes the stairs pretty well here but even so you can see the weird gait he has to affect to manage it so smoothly.

[Ferris]

It's funny that she's called Sue Cook as she can't cook but will sue.

[Dave The Triffids]

Colin Dover
Nathaniel Grabb
Vera Bishop
Trish Trotter
Dotty Garcia
Craig Hoop
Alvin Sambora
Eddie Sambora
Fliss Scriggs
Tobias Saddleback
Mickey Molone
Ted Bigg
Tony Fathom
Father Gregory Beaston
and
Rabbi Adi Schwartz

There's just something about the names at the beginning of From the Oasthouse Series 2 (and Partridge's delivery of them) that really amuses me.

[kalowski]

Don't forget one of them is made up, and it's not Rabbi Adi Schwarz, he's one of the few Jews who listen to the podcast.

[Huxleys Babkins]

Behind the scenes detail from TV KMKYWAP that I love: Production designer Dennis De Groot deliberately designed the big staircase the guests have to use so that each stair requires the average person to do one-and-a-half steps to navigate them (instead of one of two) so that the guests are always awkward when using them.

The same detail used in This Time where everything was slightly further away than it needed to be.

[badaids]

Alan Ford takes the stairs pretty well here but even so you can see the weird gait he has to affect to manage it so smoothly.

I'd forgotten how stiff Alan Ford is at the beginning of that skit.