User reviews

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.

It's not peak Partridge. It feels slightly slapdash and not as slick or as well prepared as I would expect. The points where Steve Coogan is reading the dialogue could have been passed off as 'character' but it's clear it isn't. The whole show feels less than thought through with no structure and no real comedy. Just a shameless cash I. Even on the recording a vast proportion of the audience look bored to tears and the ensemble work hard with minimal material.

It's a shame as Alan Partridge is one of the great comic creations but this just felt tired, repetitive and low energy from the get go.

It has its moments, if by "moments" you mean very light laughter or smiles at some of the jokes and references. In most places though, it's just a cringeworthy performance from one of the greatest comics and finest character actors of our generation (in my opinion).

I wasn't expecting it to be as funny as the Partridge we all know and love, but this is almost like a different character altogether. The sharp wit and awkward charm that made Alan Partridge an iconic figure seem to be missing here. Instead, what we get is a diluted version that leans too heavily on forced gags and an odd attempt to translate the character into a live show - which, if you've seen any of Coogan's live shows in the past you know is certainly possible.

Coogan is quite an underrated musical comic, but the musical numbers here really don't make sense and seem like filler.

The live interaction with the audience, a hallmark of any great comedy special, feels stilted and awkward. There are moments where the cringe is palpable, not because of Partridge's trademark social faux pas, but because the humour falls flat and the attendees seem to be forcing themselves to enjoy what they likely had higher expectations for.

While it's always a pleasure to see Steve Coogan step into the shoes of his characters for live shows again, this special feels more like something to fill the gap in his schedule.

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.

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.

STAR RATING: ***** Brilliant **** Very Good *** Okay ** Poor * Awful

Alan Partridge (Steve Coogan) is back on the road, with his new motivational talk show, Stratagem, hoping to provide a life enhancement skills seminar to help people improve their life with his guidance. He tries to appeal to a younger demographic, doing rap songs, and tries to use his system to make amends with those he's fallen out with in the past, including an Irishman who came on his show last year, but his delusional belief in himself and his system comes hilariously crashing down as always.

No matter how high Steve Coogan's star may fly, Alan Partridge is the one bulwark he'll always come back to, as the recent TV incarnation This Time on the BBC showed, even if the results weren't exactly spellbinding. He'll always reinvent the character for new times and new cultural developments, and the persona has so many gallons in the tank that last year he was able to take him on a nationwide tour (which I went to!) But placed on the small screen, without the atmosphere of a stadium behind it, does it hold up?

Coogan is careful to balance out the talking segments with sporadic, colourful little bursts here and there of musical, song and dance numbers (such as the aforementioned rap number), to keep the audience on their toes and give them a little jolt. He's kept the Partridge character as consistent and true to form as he's been over the years, and there are occasional bursts of hilarity that lift things up a notch, but the truth is all of it doesn't really flow smoothly together, and never really rises anything above average in terms of overall success.

It shows the enduring popularity that the Partridge character generates, and how he'll always manage to find some way of fitting into any moment in time, but with this offering it's best you really don't expect too much. ***

There's no question that Alan Partridge is one of the greatest comedy creations in British TV history. The subtlety and sharpness of Mid Morning Matters or The Oasthouse podcast is about as good as comedic writing gets.

Stratagem, however, is complete trash. This format simply doesn't work well for this character and I think Coogan knows this. Every joke seems forced and the overall performance is far more slapstick than parody.

The reaction of the crowd tells you everything. They are quiet and look visibly bored. In fact, many people look quite agitated as if their intelligence is being insulted by this shoddy effort.

Really terrible stuff from Coogan. Not my words, the words of Shakin' Stevens.

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.

First off I can't believe the reviews people have left on here, I don't know if there's an agenda to get Coogan or something but they claim to be fans and that this was terrible and it just wasn't. One person even said that he needed his writers to help him, it literally says on the first credits scene that Neil Gibbons and Rob Gibbons were also writers, that's who he always works with nowadays.

Now is this 'The man who thinks he's it'? No, but I don't think any character comedy stand up has ever come close to that, it's a master piece. But is this good, yes 100% it is!

Tbh it's just nice to get some new Partridge/Coogan, bit annoyed that it wasn't advertised, the amount of Partridge I've watched on Prime/Britbox and paid for I thought it would have been recommended all over the shop, but it was by complete accident that I found it and I'm so glad that I did.

Ignore the hate on this, it's funny and it's new and it fits in with new era Partridge (This time, Partrimilgrimage etc). It does get a bit silly, but it's a big venue and he's got to play it to the back row as he's not on a big screen.

There's a few genuinely classic moments, I don't want to give away any spoilers, but an old friend comes about and makes Alan look a proper eejit.

There really is some moments that will go down as classic Partridge and some that missed the mark a bit. But it is in no way a bad watch, if you like Alan get it watched straight away!

Edit: One take away thought I had is that I don't think Partridge should be doing a live show for an hour and a half, on all the other live things he's just the main event act, but here he's the whole thing and I don't think any characters should be on stage for that long.

Some new Paul Calf or even bringing Cheeseman back could have helped this out.

Yes I know there were guests, but there could have been more. Just an edit I had to add.

Steve Coogan is one of my all-time favourite comedians but seriously this is awful... I kept watching hoping it'd improve but sadly an hour and a half of my life I won't get back.

So glad I didn't go see it live As I'd have probably ended up walking out.

It just drones on without the usual creativity and ironic humour associated with Partridge. Jokes were tired and the songs were pointless and seemingly just to fill in tine rather than add anything. The audience seemed just to be perplexed and a little embarrassed with some rather forced laughter usually at him swearing. Could have been brilliant but just tired and unoriginal.

I would not class myself as a particular Alan Partridge fan, but I thought that I would give this a go.

For the first 10 minutes it seemed to have promise, but like a ski slope of cringe, it rapidly descended.

I was actually feeling for the live audience, and how they must have felt with the tumbleweed rolling over them.

The uncomfortable silences from them came thick and fast, unlike the laughs, which were noticeably absent.

The only difference between myself and them, being the fact that I did not have to pay £30 for the displeasure.

If you are a hardened Alan Partridge fan, then possibly this might be for you, but if you are looking for some intelligent comedy, this probably should be avoided at all costs.

It is such a shame, because I know that Steve Coogan is capable of much better.

I like Steve Coogan, but this was awful. I have no idea how such a talented man can produce such unadulterated drivel.

Sad really if this is the level he's descended too. I can only hope this is just a one off hiccup in his career and things will look up for his next effort, if there is one.

I don't like writing negative reviews but felt the need to after suffering this for 1 hour 24 minutes. If I can save anyone else from wasting their time with this then it'll be worth the effort.

Sorry Steve but I can see by the other reviews I'm not the only one disappointed with this. Hopefully your next outing will improve on it.

I had high hopes for this and all I can say is I'm glad I didn't make the effort to go and see it live (something I very nearly did)

It's hard to provide a synopsis of the show as it's just so odd and confusing. One thing though is abundantly clear, with this and indeed any other modern Partridge stuff, and that is it lacks the input of Armando Iannucci. Neil and Rob Gibbons are fans first and directors/script writers second and as with all geeky fans the concept and character has become far too deep and detailed in all the wrong ways. They seemed to have evolved Alan Partridge into a quasi cool, reformed success. You do see glimmers of the old Alan we know and find hilarious peppering the show and the little pre recorded snippets with the fabulous Felicity Montague as Alan's long suffering PA, Lynn Benfield are amusing. Unfortunately for the most part though, the show is weird, disjointed, confusing and rather sadly, simply not funny.

The first half of the show is palatable if not particularly amusing but the second half of the show is genuinely awkward and almost desperate in its execution. The singing doesn't work, the narrative is weak and the entire show makes you cringe but not in the way Alan Partridge should.

It's a sad demise and the combination of Neil and Rob Gibbon's weak abilities and Steve Coogan's complete loss of focus for the character and dare I say it arrogance, has led to this being a complete train wreck of a show. Perhaps the saddest element of this is they've dragged the character of Alan Partridge down with them.

It really needs to be watched to appreciate how poor it is - you'll be left gob smacked I promise you...

Couldn't have been more bored if I tried - no idea what prompted audience laughter certainly not the content on stage. A very cheap money spinner for Coogan with no merit at all. Tedious slide shows, phone calls picking on ghdd Ed audience, and dance routines - a real mishmash with no theme or narrative thread. While one understands it is supposed to be a parody of a dim and socially unaware character it is just not funny. Rather like someone making an unpleasant remark and claiming " I was only joking " this show was a weak and cynical excuse simply to provide a paycheck for Coogan. Do not waste your time.

I had the good fortune to see Stratagem live in Leeds, UK, in May 2022 during an overseas business trip. The recording available from the London show in April is consistent...and funny!

First, who other than the character of Alan Partridge can still be funny after close to 30 years? No, he's not the same as the oft-repeated "cringeworthy" Alan of Armando Iannucci and Peter Baynham. Instead, he's the brilliant recreation of Neil and Ron Gibbons. Instead of being the failure trying to bounce back, he's arrived at a level well below his dreams. We can thank the brothers Gibbons for giving us Scissored Isle, This Time, the truly excellent From the Oasthouse podcast, the book I, Partridge, and more. They're brilliant, end of.

Second, who other than Alan Partridge is self-centered enough to launch a national tour of his self-help brand for two solid hours, being met with the harsh reality of his continued fruitless pursuit of success and fame. He's accompanied by Lynn, Martin Brennan (hands down the best character introduced in years), and the astute will notice the Irish guitarist is our old friend Glenn Ponder from KMKYWAP.

Third, this is LIVE. For TWO hours. You really have to be your character to be in character for that long in a live performance. No one can be more Partridge than Steve Coogan.

To be fair, the 120-minute time is more generous than it needed to be as there are some segments that drag (the Stratagem testimonial in particular and the bit where he has a participant from the audience who ends up giving him life advice) but the good parts, of which there are many, far outweigh any of the weak spots.

I will start by saying that I'm a big Partridge/Coogan fan. I loved the film, podcasts and shows but this was really poor. Coogan needs to retire the Partridge character in my opinion. I feel like every new show just destroys the comedy status of the character.

I watched the whole show expecting it to get better and it really didn't. The first 10 - 20 minutes showed promise but it really bombed after that.

The random songs and guest appearances were odd and it just didn't flow. Even the addition on Lynne didn't really go anywhere or create humour.

So glad I didn't get tickets to watch this live.

This has to be the worst Alan Partridge show I have ever seen.

I am so glad that I didn't have to buy tickets to see this badly written show and I actually feel sorry for those that did.

Bearly a smile let alone a laugh in the whole performance.

Long gone are the days of "I'm Alan Partridge" or "Knowing me, Knowing you with Alan Partridge" (AHA.) I feel that Armando Iannucci is badly needed to bring back the actual funniness and laughter to steve Coogan's current writing.

The basic pitch of a life improvement seminar falls flat from beginning to end.

There seem to be lot of "Yes Alan that is hysterically funny!" in the writing team. Either that or they are just not trying anymore.

Have been a fan of Alan Partridge for years, his latest attempt at comedy fell flat on its face, just unfunny. I watched this and wanted to turn if, but did not. Hoping to myself if would improve, unfortunately not the case, started unfunny boring and no real theme and continued like that through to the end. Do not bother wasting your time and life watching this. If you do all you will feel is regret and disappointment. Stratagem, should not have been made, had IMDB applowed me this AVOID LIKE JEREMY CLARKSON, u fortunately not that lucky had to bring this horrific show back to mind in order to send a warning to potential viewer, Don't do it.

I've always been a fan of Alan Partridge and have watched everything to date.

Unfortunately the English classic does not transfer well to a live setting. I'm unsure whether it's simply that Alan should be retired after many years of service or whether Steve Coogan is simply unable to sustain an audience's attention in a live setting.

The first 15 minutes were entertaining, but things very quickly became unhumorously awkward and that's the manner in which the show continued. The live audience tried hard to laugh among, but considering the O2 was full it was clear for the majority of the show that they weren't overly amused, with many jokes falling on deaf ears.

Maybe an should remain on the small screen.

Compared with Knowing Me Knowing You with Alan Partridge (1994) or I'm Alan Partridge (1997) or The Man Who Thinks He's It (1998) or even This Time with Alan Partridge (2019), this is terrible. I am a huge fan of Steve Coogan as Alan Partridge, but I almost never laughed watching this. I understand that Coogan wants to play Alan Partridge in a different way, but he "forgets" that most people who love Alan Partridge probably want to see him the way he was created, being rude to interview guests, etc. This TV special is not very funny, in part because it is too different from the classical Alan Partridge. In part, it has to do with Coogan's performance itself. His voice is strained, his hands are almost always in the air, he is constantly reading his lines on two screens on the stage floor and pressing buttons on a remote control. He is not even dressed like Alan Partridge. Pity.

Having seen all the negative reviews of the show and YouTube videos mocking it, I watched it to see how bad it was and was pleasantly surprised to see it was actually much better than anticipated!

I think its classic Partridge whom I can watch all day long, especially new content.

No idea why people are questioning who wrote it, it's the usual partners with Steve (of modern day patridge) so that argument is muted already.

It is not as good as some old Coogan Stand Up but is much better than other people's attempts. I had some moments of really wetting myself and the rest was typical engaging Patridge.

Fans of Alan, this is a must watch!

Alan Partridge is one of my all time favourite comedy characters. This, unfortunately must prove to be the last outing of the character.

I was hoping for some classic Partridge while watching this, instead we got 5-10 minutes of pointless and quite frankly, pathetic musical numbers which made no sense whatsoever, and then the fun began. Right? Wrong. It got worse. No originality, none of the well known awkward Partridge moments we all came to love, and it just never got any better.

We then got more pointless songs where Coogan tried far too hard to force some humour from quite frankly awful lyrics.

The film released a few years ago (Papa Alpha) was overall poor, though did have it's moments, this has nothing, absolutely no redeeming moments. How the audience managed to stay for the whole event is something of a miracle. No one could've blamed them had they all headed out at the intermission.

In closing. Please let this be the last outing of a once great character. Let it go.

There are many negative reviews here, but I personally think it's quite good. I'm not a huge stand up comedy fan, but I enjoy the song bits and the sketches scattered throughout-reminiscent of Monty Python's 2014 reunion. Although it doesn't quite feel like Alan, Steve does a great job leading the show and interacting with the audience and fellow performers. Does the character translate to live theatre as well as televison? Probably not. However, it's quite impressive, and even when not chuckling outloud, I was still very much entertained.

I would recommend giving this a watch, as there are lots of throwbacks to previous Partridge bits (Martin Brennan's appearance is particularly memorable). But it may not be everyone's cup of tea.

Just watching it now near the end why are people moaning 😂😂😂 it's his same cringey witty same old Alan partridge 😅 maybe the ones moaning haven't seen all his old stuff who knows but I for one loved it....just the same old stuff he does so what's not to love!! Wish I had got tickets to be honest and I'd be happier if he bought back Alan in the hotel or another film like alpha papa....come on how can you not like it funny amusing cringey 😬 the typical Alan I'd love to see if Alan soon on tv...let's not wait years like last time he will always be one of my favourites him and Peter Kay.. aha love him.