Alan Partridge: Nomad

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Reminded me a lot of Pooter in the Victorian satire Diary of a Nobody, but while that fellow was an upfront social climber, Partridge assumes he's "made it" with condescension for all.

The key to the character’s success over the years has been how Coogan has used him across different formats and styles, changing it up with new new show to avoid it all getting stale. However, it is essential that you know Steve Coogan’s Alan Partridge character and his quirks to truly understand, appreciate, and enjoy the book. This week’s offering was something that I’ve been meaning to read for a long time but wasn’t sure how I would feel about it. Some fall a bit flat, but over half of them are almost laugh-out-loud hilarious; in a blink-and-you'll miss them (or whatever the audible equivalent is) never-ending assaults on your funny bone. But if you're a fan of the character and you can't get enough of his regional quips, boring facts or complete lack of self-awareness in many situations, then you're going to want to check this out.Sadly, the show battled against poor scheduling, having been put up against News at Ten, then in its heyday.

Diarising his ramble in the form of a ‘journey journal’, Alan details the people and places he encounters, ruminates on matters large and small and, on a final leg fraught with danger, becomes – not a man (because he was one to start off with) – but a better, more inspiring example of a man. I'm now listening for the third time and it's been better each time, but that's what I've found with pretty much everything he's been in. But being Alan, rather than climb K-2, or cycle from Land's End to John O'Groats, he chooses to follow in the footsteps of his father, from Norwich to Dungeness, determined to get to the bottom of the mystery of why he never made it to a job interview with British Nuclear Fuels. For those of you familiar with the work of Partridge, he does ‘over-share’ and in typical praeteritio style he plummets to great depths of poor taste, over the top open disclosure and unashamed narcissism.The character's voice is 100% accurate, and I'm happy to report that a book made me laugh out loud - often - for the first time in many years. Journalist, presenter, broadcaster, husband, father, vigorous all-rounder – Alan Partridge – a man with a fascinating past and an amazing future. If you haven't kept up with Partridge since he disappeared from TV screens in 2002, you might have assumed that the occasional book release or the inevitable film were just lazy cash-ins. But analysis seems pointless – better to just skim through some of my updates and remind yourself what all the fuss is about.

Alan’s heroic lack of self-knowledge, his insecurities, his bitchiness and resentment, his sublimated homosexuality, his gracelessness, his pettiness, his role as brand ambassador for Corsodyl – all are consistently on show to the reader and invisible to the author. It should be keenly noted by all readers that the top five global routes as ranked according to passenger-kilometres are all out of LHR. I'm fairly Anglophile, but some of the cultural references still went past me, but I'm confident I inferred the point correctly when that happened. Now this is an uncomfortable thing to discuss, but I run towards discomfort like a man who has strapped truth explosives to his body and made his peace with god".

Ok, it's not deathless literature, but I can't imagine that anyone who has enjoyed Partridge in his other media incarnations wouldn't get a big kick out of this. But this is funny, engaging and perfect to stick on in the car, or when you're doing the dishes, or if you're sat on a bus or train during the morning commute.

Early on in the book Partridge admits to padding the word count with meaningless filler, and it's depressing to realise that it's not merely a gag but the literal truth. Narrated by the man himself and written in his unmistakable tone and style, Alan Partridge: Nomad is filled with all the joie de vivre you'd expect. I enjoyed Alan Partridge's first book I, Partridge: We Need to Talk About Alan and so was keen to make another foray into the wonderful world of Partridge.I often save this for really long car journeys - think Manchester to Isle of Skye, and it is like having Alan Partridge in the car with you talking his irreverent nonsense all the way there.