Alan Gordon Partridge is a character portrayed by English actor and comedian Steve Coogan. A parody of British television personalities, Partridge is a tactless and inept television and radio presenter who often insults his guests and whose inflated sense of celebrity drives him to treachery and shameless self-promotion. Coogan described Partridge as a Little Englander, with right-wing values and poor taste. Partridge was created by Coogan and Armando Iannucci for the 1991 BBC Radio 4 comedy programme On the Hour, a spoof of British current affairs broadcasting, as the show's sports presenter.

Alan Partridge is an incompetent and tactless television and radio presenter from Norwich, England. He is socially inept, often offending his guests, and has an inflated sense of importance and celebrity. According to the Telegraph, Partridge is "utterly convinced of his own superiority, and bewildered by the world's inability to recognise it - qualities that place him in the line of comedy lineage that runs directly from Hancock, Captain Mainwaring, and Basil Fawlty." His need for public attention drives him to deceit, treachery and shameless self-promotion, and sometimes violence; in the Knowing Me, Knowing Yule Christmas special, for example, he assaults a BBC boss and a paralysed former golfer. Partridge holds right-wing views; Coogan described him as a Little Englander, with a "myopic, slightly philistine mentality". He is a reader of the right-wing tabloid newspaper the Daily Mail, and supports Brexit because, according to Coogan, the Daily Mail "told him to". Earlier versions of the character were more bigoted, but the writers found there was more humour in having him attempt to be liberal; in I, Partridge, for example, Partridge stresses his friendship with gay television presenter Dale Winton. Coogan said: "He's aware of political correctness but he's playing catch-up. In the same way that the Daily Mail is a bit PC - it wouldn't be openly homophobic now - Alan is the same. He tries to be modern." According to Forbes, Partridge has "parochial bad taste", and Coogan described him as "on the wrong side of cool". He is a fan of James Bond films and Lexus cars and his music taste includes Wings and Abba; Partridge named his son Fernando and his talk show Knowing Me, Knowing You after Abba songs, and his talk show catchphrase, "Aha!", also comes from Abba. In earlier incarnations, Partridge's wardrobe included a blazer, badge and tie, driving gloves, and "too-short" shorts, styles he describes as "sports casual" and "imperial leisure". According to Iannucci, by the time of Alpha Papa his wardrobe had "evolved to the Top Gear Presenter Circa 2005 stage", with sports jackets and a "borderline-foppish" fringe. As Coogan aged, the ageing make-up he wore in earlier performances became unnecessary. Baynham told the Guardian that "despite the fact that people say he's awful, a lot of the time we were trying to build empathy: you're watching a man suffer but also at some level identifying with his pain." According to Marber, the "fundamental aspect" of the character is desperation. Felicity Montagu, who plays Partridge's assistant Lynn, felt he was a good person "deep down" and actually "vulnerable and lovable". Iannucci said that Partridge stays optimistic because he never sees himself as others see him, and that despite his failings was "the perfect broadcaster for these times, when there are 24 hours to fill and dead time is a crime - he has a unique capacity to fill any vacuum with his own verbal vacuum." Rob and Neil Gibbons felt that by the time of Mid Morning Matters, when Partridge is working for an even smaller radio station, he was more at peace with himself and that his lack of self-awareness saved him from misery. CANNOTANSWER

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