« Previous Post | Main | Next Post »

Bad Dialogue of the Week

Filed under: Imported

(Steve Coogan as the world's worst chat show host, Alan Partridge)

This week's dialogue is deliberately bad and it's from one of the best radio comedy series ever, Knowing Me, Knowing You, starring one of the greatest unlikable characters of all time, the insufferable Alan Partridge. Alan is the creation of comedian and actor Steve Coogan, and while neither Coogan or his dim-witted alter ego are known at all in the U.S., both are considered national treasures in Great Britain. From a bit character on a couple of satirical news series, Coogan developed Alan into a multi-faceted one-of-a-kind protagonist, first as the star of his own faux talk show and then as the title character of one of the finest comedic portraits television has ever seen, I'm Alan Partridge, which chronicles what happens after Alan loses his BBC show and returns home to Norwich (apparently the Des Moines of England).

Knowing Me, Knowing You had two incarnations, one on BBC radio in 1992 and then a television version in 1995. Alan was already fully formed in the first radio episode, where he proceded to insult every guest on the program in every way imaginable. Here's a clip from his interview with a serious British novelist named Lawrence Camley, where he attempts to correct the writer on the authorship of a famous British detective. (Note: File size is 600K.)

P.S. If any of this whets your appetite for more, while there's still no American source for Alan on either TV or video, the BBC has some great pages devoted to his different series. Here's the one for the radio version of KMKY, with links to sound clips for every installment. Also you might want to check out the video on the linked pages for both series of I'm Alan Partridge for some extra laughs.

Posted by Steve Monaco at October 24, 2003 10:11 PM

« Has-Beens Are Calling (dot com) | Main | Hey, MPAA-- up yours! »