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  • I, Partridge: We Need to Talk About Alan

  • By: Alan Partridge
  • Narrated by: Alan Partridge
  • Length: 6 hrs and 56 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (9,548 ratings)
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I, Partridge: We Need to Talk About Alan cover art

I, Partridge: We Need to Talk About Alan

By: Alan Partridge
Narrated by: Alan Partridge
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Editor reviews

Britain’s most loved radio presenter, Alan Gordon Partridge, gives his innumerable fans an honest and revealing memoir, I, Partridge: We Need to Talk About Alan, which he narrates in a complete and unabridged audiobook. Partridge will entertain and engage you as he takes you over the course of his remarkable career and his equally as fascinating private life. Partridge’s life is an inspiring journey through the media industry in Britain. From a steady rise to the top, to a humble return back to his beginnings. Available now from Audible.

Summary

Journalist, presenter, broadcaster, husband, father, vigorous all-rounder – Alan Partridge – a man with a fascinating past and an amazing future. Gregarious and popular, yet Alan’s never happier than when relaxing in his own five-bedroom, south-built house with three acres of land and access to a private stream. But who is this mysterious enigma?

Alan Gordon Partridge is the best – and best-loved – radio presenter in the region. Born into a changing world of rationing, Teddy Boys, apes in space and the launch of ITV, Alan’s broadcasting career began as chief DJ of Radio Smile at St. Luke’s Hospital in Norwich. After replacing Peter Flint as the presenter of Scout About, he entered the top 8 of BBC sports presenters.But Alan’s big break came with his primetime BBC chat show Knowing Me, Knowing You. Sadly, the show battled against poor scheduling, having been put up against News at Ten, then in its heyday. Due to declining ratings, a single catastrophic hitch (the killing of a guest on air) and the dumbing down of network TV, Alan’s show was cancelled. Not to be dissuaded, he embraced this opportunity to wind up his production company, leave London and fulfil a lifelong ambition to return to his roots in local radio.

Now single, Alan is an intensely private man but he opens up, for the second time, in this candid, entertaining, often deeply emotional – and of course compelling – memoir, written entirely in his own words. (Alan quickly dispelled the idea of using a ghost writer. With a grade B English Language O-Level, he knew he was up to the task.)

He speaks touchingly about his tragic Toblerone addiction, and the painful moment when unsold copies of his first autobiography, Bouncing Back, were pulped like ‘word porridge’. He reveals all about his relationship with his ex-Ukrainian girlfriend, Sonja, with whom he had sex at least twice a day, and the truth about the thick people who make key decisions at the BBC.

A literary tour de force, I, Partridge: We Need to Talk About Alan charts the incredible journey of one of our greatest broadcasters.

©2011 Alan Partridge (P)2011 HarperCollins

Critic reviews

"Legendary." ( The Guardian)
"Some of the UK’s finest comedy." ( The Telegraph)
"Coogan’s greatest creation." ( Daily Mail)
“I’m a massive Alan Partridge fan, and this is without a doubt the funniest book I’ve ever read. You’ll be laughing at something on every single page. Its worth downloading the audiobook, though, so you can listen to Alan reading it to you.” (Greg James, Heat Magazine)

What listeners say about I, Partridge: We Need to Talk About Alan

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Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Jurassic Park

Best audiobook I've ever listened to. By a distance.

Huge advantage over the book version is Coogan's narration; the voice is such a key component of the Partridge persona.

Cannot recommend it enough.

Three downsides:

1) a bloke in Holborn shot me daggers yesterday because it looked like I was laughing directly at him, rather than listening to it on my headphones. You'll also look an epic tit lauging loudly to yourself on the tube/train/bus.
2) You'll be genuinely sorry once it's finished.
3) After seven hours of solid Partridge, you'll find yourself talking a bit like him in real life. Which is odd.

All in all, it's awesome.

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114 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

You get what you pay for

I'm a big fan of the great AP and if you are you'll love this audio book. This is the first audio book I've bought and while I was apprehensive about whether I'd like the format for novels and fiction I was confident that I'd appreciate AGPs memoirs read by the man himself. It's great fun and while not laugh-out-loud all the way through there were a number of bit that had me chuckling away on a crowded train.

Some of the material is rehashed (or should I say reworked) from the TV shows but it's done in such a way that it represents Alan's personal view of the situation which is not always quite as accurate as the fly on the wall material we witnessed back in the day so it's funny to hear Alan's versions of chinese whispers when he remembers some of his most shame-faced moments in a way that makes him feel good about himself.

I managed to listen to it over about 4 days on my commute to and from work and like the TV shows I've no doubt it will be something I come back to, AP is such a good creation and while I think Coogan and co sometimes push the boundaries too far silliness-wise (Jed Maxwell episode on TV, I'm looking at you) you can forgive them beacuse the character is written so well. The only real sadness I had was that Lynn never gets a name check (purposefully) but some of the stories about her having to fend for herself are great.

All in all I great book and an even better audiobook that's well worth a listen. It's just a shame that Bouncing Back (Alan's first memoirs) never got to see the audio book treatment.....(still this one would well suit a drive to Dundee in your bare feet...)

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41 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Lovely stuff

Not really sure what to say about this audibook other than this - if you are a Partridge fan then this is a must-listen.

Entertaining, believably in character and most importantly funny, this is one of the best comedy tie-in books I've ever heard. No mere shameless cash-in, this is a well constructed book by people that by now totally get the character, and cleverly weave in the false reality of Partridge's appearances in 'On The Hour,''The Day Today' and 'Mid morning matters' as well as his interpretation of events seen in 'I'm Alan Partridge' to great comic effect. Being read by Steve Coogan in character adds so much more to an already well considered and contructed comedy autobiography and there's enough new material as well as new takes on old favourites for any Partridge fan to enjoy. If you're a fan then get this audiobook. You won't regret it.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Pure Audible Gold

As a Alan Partridge fan i cannot stress enough how funny this book is. I've listened to it numerous times as i've been laughing and missing bits. Pure AP Joy.

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Very very funny

One of the best audiobooks I've book, so glad it's read by Steve Coogan. If you find Alan Partridge funny then don't miss out.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A Rollercoaster of Sports, Scouts and Toblerone.

A literary masterpiece, if it were a novel - which incidentally it isn't, but if it was it probably would be.

Instead it's a brutally honest, behind the camera, candid and often heartbreaking account straight from the pen of the original Norwich based Hell-raiser himself.

Surviving kidnap, confectionery abuse and shooting a man dead - live on national TV. The best presenter BBC Top Gear (Old Top Gear) never had pulls no punches.

I Partridge soars highly amongst the literary giants.

Almost as good as Rob Brydons book.

Don't miss this one.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Mr
  • 11-12-11

Comedy genius

Superb. Lovely stuff. Jacknackernory. This book is made even better as Alan himself reads it. The 'contribution' from his wife is genius.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Audible Sound Quality Is Terrible

Audible have ruined an absolute comedy genius by releasing in pathetic low quality (sounds like an analogue telephone). All I can hear is the muffled sound of Steve Coogan and it stops me being able to relax and enjoy the content. I will also complain to the publisher who did not, I am sure, give Audible permission to ruin this recording.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Disappointing

I'm afraid I have to agree with the other reviewers who felt this book was lacking.

I too love the Alan Partridge character, and in fairness this book has prompted me to invest in some Alan Partridge DVD's (and the salesman in me would say that's what it set out to do).

And that's what I felt was wrong with this book - as you listen you're reminded of all the funny events in the shows without getting the full payoff. And so I'm sure if I hadn't seen the shows I would have found this book a lot more entertaining as I'd have nothing to compare it to. But as it stands, apart from the stuff about his younger years, it feels almost like an 'also available' advert. And if Alan wasn't narrating I don't think I would have made it past the first chapter (I've stopped 4 hours in with no desire to go further).

But that being said it looks like I'm in a minority with this opinion. And in fairness it is humorous in a lot of places. And there are laugh out loud moments, albeit spaced too far apart.

Bottom line is- If you've got a few spare credits in your account and you like Alan Partridge then definitely get this. Just don't expect it to be as funny as the shows it describes.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Fans of Alan Partridge can't afford to miss this

The most wonderfully egotistical autobiography money can buy.

One of the best things about this book is that many of the events in the original Radio and TV shows are subtly revisited and given a fresh perspective in the retelling. Listening to him recount the "I've got Cheese" incident at dinner with Tony Hayers was a particular highlight for me and had me laughing out loud on the train on my morning commute.

I'm glad I listened to this book rather than reading it as Steve Coogan's narrative adds so much to it that I'd have missed if I'd read it to myself.

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6 people found this helpful