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.

There is a parody at the very start of the show of a famous musical that was highly strained, but maybe that's the whole point as this is *Partridge* after all. If you enjoy his new Podcast, 'From the Oasthouse', then you will at least enjoy some of the gags on offer here, but perhaps not all of them. I adore Partridge old and new, but even I was glad I hadn't paid to see this live! It just falls short in so many places, and I think it's a shame really because with a bit more polish it could have been superb. The songs are haphazard and plain odd in their construction and narrative. The 'plot', is really thin and falls flat very quickly. The performances are good, Coogan is quintessentially Alan, and the other cast members are basically okay. But not great. One in particular is just annoying and I was glad that section ended quickly. Old favourits make an appearance, but for what purpose I couldn't quite fathom as this didn't add anything to the show other than a cameo or two. Yet, it is still funnier and more enjoyable than 90% of the competiton, so I don't think it should be royally trounced for being simply unfunny. This seems a bit too unfair to me. The onscreen cutscenes between theatre changes are pretty funny and many of the jokes do raise a smile or two. It is more like his recent content then classic Partridge, but that is no bad thing. I am grateful Coogan and Co still continue to breathe life into this beloved character. This maybe a bit more Monkey Tennis than an episode of Swallow, but if you like a bit of Partridge then that's no bad thing.

Firstly, Mr Coogan, should your read this, I am sorry for this review

I saw this pop up on prime and I was very excited as I had no idea there was a live show of one of my all time favourite comedy characters of all time, I have seen all the series, and some of the podcasts, the film, and love them.

The first 20 minutes of this really made me laugh, then turned into a weird segment (no spoilers but about 20 minutes in) which was just so odd and left me scratching my head, it wasn't funny, and it wasn't Alan Partridge. I stress again, I am a real fan of the character and the series

I struggled on, and an hour in with 20 minutes to go, I really wished I had stopped after 20 minutes, I am currently writing this review while watching the last 20 minutes but its just not funny, it goes from odd segment to odd segment, I feel quite sad honestly, I really thought this was going to be great, I know this review is a little vague because maybe its just me? And I don't want to leave spoilers

In short, I think the character only works with script writers, this feels like Mr Coogan has tried to carry on the character with no help from good script writers, maybe he did have them, maybe I am being unjustly unfair in presuming that Steve Coogan wrote all this alone, but if he did, he shouldn't.

3/10. First 20 minutes or me 8/10 and then awful afterwards.

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.