Mid Morning Matters with Alan Partridge: Season 1, Episode 1 Broth and Muppet

Nathan

'this time' also

Nathan

saw someone mention that you had already done this show and ive only wached 3 episodes and really enjoy it was always a big alan fan so glad you already have these up

Ferris Booyaa

The greatest thing about the character of alan partridge has been the fact that every program/film of his has been in continuity with the characters fictional timeline. You have “the day today” then “knowing me know you” followed by “I’m alan partridge” followed by “mid morning matters” and finishing off with “alpha papa”. I’m sure there was a few other things before the day today but in terms of the mains points of his career it’s all there. Unreal world building from Steve coogan and others.

Gareth Hood

Tried and not for me, enjoy folks 😀

Way! It's still like it now if you can believe that. Josh must be laughing at us all while rubbing his nipples with all his Patreon money. It makes me feel physically sick.

Saul

That was great. I've not seen Mid Morning Matters before aside from clips here and there so this is going to be fun. He's definitely become a more human character by now. Looking back at him in KMKY he was, well, basically an arsehole(weirdly, before that he was just a kind of bland, good-natured idiot, on The Day Today, but I'd say KMKY was where the proper Alan first appeared.). But by now the jokes are much more gentle natured. You still see flashes of his selfishness and callousness but back in the nineties he was someone you genuinely wouldn't want to go anywhere near. Whereas Alan here, and on This Time...he's more of a helpless older man standing in the middle of the traffic in his slippers, with a lost look on his face. There's something sympathetic about him. It's something that happens when characters in fiction have been around a long time...if they started out quite negative and amoral they tend to drift into being more sympathetic. Part of that must be that the writers find it harder and harder to negatively portray a character to whom they've grown attached over such a long period of time and I suppose part of it is just that if a character starts out negative there's only one way they can develop from there, and that's positively. But it happens in a lot of shows, it's like...mission creep, but for making characters more likable. It happens gradually and before you know it the badass vampire character who was all icy stares is bonding with his arch enemy over puppies.

Saul

I don't envy you having to deal with angry patrons upset about the vote josh. It can't be much fun. At least so far no-one's turning up in MAGA hats demanding to see the voting machines, just be thankful for that

Cherzo

seems like he is just ignoring us

Cherzo

haha, no way

I couldn't really enjoy this as the banner hasn't been updated. It still has Porridge on Monday. Hopefully this will be resolved by next week.

Keith Pratt

I can't say what I really love about this particular Alan Partridge show, because I'd consider it to be a bit of a spoiler.

Adam Davies

These mini episodes are criminally underrated

Joe Gardiner

"Like a muppet's mouth" is the best description for someone's neck being slit open. Absolute gold!

Rob Thompson

Agreed!

After Work Reactions

Thanks bud, this show is great so far I enjoyed it 🤣

After Work Reactions

That is awesome bud 👍

After Work Reactions

I am excited to check it out 👍

Daniel

been waiting for this to come on here for so long, its an excellent show.

David Lyons

And Mark's co-worker Jerry from the final series of Peep Show :)

ajl

Yeah in the Sky Atlantic TV versions there are little bits here and there (usually only a few seconds) cut out from the original versions on the Foster's Funny website

mav

Also the SAS guy is Alan's boss the station manager, from Alpha Papa

lemmy

You'll recognize Sidekick Simon from two places: Alpha Papa, and Tim Key was also a contestant in S1 of Taskmaster, cheating by pulling plugs out of baths, lucking out asking one person their age and it being correct in the shopping mall but saying it was for charity and getting in trouble, doing the 'outtake' falling off the ladder and getting stuck in the ground, keeping bribing the taskmaster to get a better position in the rankings etc.

Ben

Interesting, this version seems to be slightly different to the versions I'm familiar with. I don't know if they're longer or shorter, so I'm sure you're fine sticking with these versions, but the end credits are different, and some of the scene transitions are different. I do know that the first season was originally youtube shorts so maybe that's why, when they were compiled into full episodes there may have been two different edits. Having seen both KMKY and I'm Alan Partridge, you see how the different Alan Partridge shows have different formats. I'm not sure what you were expecting with this one, but it's basically just clips of him doing his radio show, presented as though we're watching the webcam. I like it because it strips everything else away and we just get pure awkward Alan! I can't pick a favourite out of all the Alan Partridge shows, because I genuinely love them all. I'm so glad you'll have watched three of the main AP shows, and really hope you eventually get around to watching "This Time". It's lovely stuff.

Jay

Glad you enjoyed the first episodes, Josh. Originally these episodes were aired on Youtube as part of a short low budget comedy series, sponsored by Fosters lager. Released weekly as 10-15 minute episodes, before being re-edited to combine two episodes into one longer episode. Like most Brit comedy it definitely gets better moving forward, as the first couple which you watched are generally considered the least funny. There's also a few jokes that relate to British culture, which will probably go over your head. There's one in this episode about Bill Oddie, who's a 70's comedian turned Ornithologist. He's generally considered a well loved, gentle guy, so it's funny to British audiences when he's portrayed as a bloodythirsty terrorist. The other one mentioned is Anthea Turner, who was a television presenter in the '90's, that had a reputation for being an unlikeable diva with a false persona. She was also a homewrecker after she had an affair with a married man, which became public. It's a general joke with Alan Partridge that he's obsessed with mediocre or unlikeable celebrities.

Alex Edwards

It starts with The Day Today. There's also Anglian Lives and Scissored Isles. And there's the books and, most recently, two series of his podcast: From the Oasthouse. All of it's in-keeping and a sensible progression of what is surely one of the deepest characters in fiction let alone comedy. I highly recommend Nomad (the book) and the 2nd series of From the Oasthouse. Wonderful stuff!

Luke

Why no Porridge movie? Seems inconsistent with the history of the Patreon to not finish a series in full.

Kieran B

Alpha Papa comes after this, it’s set in the same radio station etc The timeline of what you’ve seen so far is Knowing Me Knowing You > I’m Alan Partridge > Mid Morning Matters > Alpha Papa > This Time (which you haven’t seen yet) There’s not many comedy characters you get to see evolve and age in (sort of) real time

Kieran B

Brilliant, always happy to see more Alan. Just in case you’ve not seen this previously Josh, please can you include the two specials - ‘Welcome to the Places of My Life’ and ‘Scissored Isle’ - they follow on from this and you’ll love them