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" An icon of boorish, narcissistic inappropriateness in his native England, Alan Partridge \u2014 the small-time radio and TV talk show host played by Steve Coogan for the better part of two decades \u2014 makes his proper domestic debut today in the movie Alan Partridge. It&amp;#039;s a sturdy introduction to the notoriously noxious character, who&amp;#039;s become synonymous with rude retorts, clumsy metaphors, and a professional ambition that&amp;#039;s made all the more ridiculous by his unparalleled ability to wedge his foot into his mouth. Partridge is something like a cross between The Office&amp;#039;s David Brent and The Simpsons&amp;#039; Homer Simpson \u2014 in other words, a little man striving in vain to be somebody important, as well as a buffoon who can&amp;#039;t help but think of himself (and his urges) first. Yet he&amp;#039;s also a comic creation who&amp;#039;s transformed over the years from a figure of nasty ridicule to one who&amp;#039;s more pitiful than repugnant. In honor of his maiden voyage into American theaters, here&amp;#039;s a primer on Partridge&amp;#039;s long, cringe-worthy career. On the Hour Partridge was first created by Coogan, Armando Iannucci (The Thick of It, Veep), and other writers for BBC 4&amp;#039;s early-&amp;#039;90s satiric radio show On the Hour. Working as a sportscaster, Partridge was a standout boob, going on long-winded rants that routinely spoke to his own egotistical view of himself, as well as the lofty careerist path he saw for himself. His segments also featured what would become a trademark intolerance for everyone and anyone not like himself \u2014 a bigotry that was delivered with a mixture of cluelessness, clumsy verbiage, and gleeful (and wholly misplaced) pride in his own faux-cleverness, as in this report from the opening ceremonies of the 1992 Olympics.       Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge After On the Hour was adapted for TV as The Day Today \u2014 thus giving Partridge his first on-camera exposure \u2014 the character received his own small-screen vehicle with 1994&amp;#039;s Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge, which provided the character with a more straightforward chat-show format. In six episodes as well as a Christmas special, Partridge reveled in his own unearned self-regard, which meant grinning like an idiot, preening for his enthusiastic audience, making horrid puns, and dropping random allusions. As in his holiday special \u2014 titled, cornily, Knowing Me, Knowing Yule \u2014 Partridge does all that and more, while also insulting the devout, threatening anyone who might dare break into his home, and confessing to being a &amp;quot;Jew-liker.&amp;quot;       I&amp;#039;m Alan Partridge After the Knowing Me mini-series, Partridge received his own 1997 sitcom. Titled simply I&amp;#039;m Alan Partridge, it initiated something of a transitional phase for the character, as the show spent time on not just his TV hosting career, but also on both the behind-the-scenes machinations at the program, as well as his personal life. That shift in focus made Partridge begin to seem like less of a one-note unrepentant jerk and more like a clown whose prejudiced arrogance was a fa\u00E7ade masking dawning anxiety over his inability to elevate himself from a small- to big-time celebrity. Having nabbed a job as a radio host, Partridge turns out to be the same offensive lout as before, but one who \u2014 thanks to a failed marriage, and the fact that he suffers one humiliating indignity after another \u2014 is slightly more empathetic than before.      Mid-Morning Matters with Alan Partridge After a considerable hiatus, Coogan brought Partridge back in 2010 via a mockumentary web series (hosted on the Foster&amp;#039;s Funny website) called Mid-Morning Matters with Alan Partridge. Spanning two seasons, this series \u2014 primarily filmed via a webcam that makes it seem like a found-footage project \u2014 put the focus squarely on Partridge&amp;#039;s unparalleled ability to riff while interviewing random callers and bantering with &amp;quot;Sidekick Simon&amp;quot; (Tim Kelly), whom Partridge routinely rips to shreds. Having been reduced to working as a DJ at &amp;quot;North Norfolk Digital,&amp;quot; Partridge retains his usual better-than-you attitude toward everyone he deals with, but that arrogance is now so fully layered with a loser&amp;#039;s sorrow that he&amp;#039;s most amusing when pathetically lashing out \u2014 especially after having his own big-shot pretenses exposed:       (Note: all episodes can be found on YouTube here.) Alan Partridge Now, on the heels of a 2011 autobiography (I, Partridge: We Need to Talk About Alan) and two TV specials, Partridge finally gets a giant theatrical format fit for his ego with Alan Partridge, in which the character must confront a changing media landscape after tiny North Norfolk Digital is acquired by an enormous corporation \u2014 a purchase that compels Partridge&amp;#039;s laid-off coworker (Colm Meaney) to take the entire station hostage. As in this absurd window-related gag, the result is more peerless Partridge comedy of a cringe-inducing sort.      "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a28101/alan-partridge-primer/>