Steve Coogan on his Alan Partridge tour, Strategem

After 13 years, Alan Partridge is back on the live stage. Although in that time away, Norfolk’s beloved son has published memoirs, made a film (Alpha Papa), a web series (Mid Morning Matters), documentaries such as Scissored Isle, and a podcast and,  a new TV format This Time With Alan Partridge,.

The new stage show is entitled Stratagem – a title that appeals to Coogan, the man who has inhabited Alan’s skin for over 30 years. ‘I like words that feel and sound slightly different,’ he says. ’It’s interesting how the choice of words can make something funny or not funny especially in Alan’s world.

‘We were just sitting around discussing what we should call the show and someone said "Stratagem". It sounded slightly affected and pretentious so we wrote the word down. We knew the show would be some kind of a public address which would then give us enough leeway to chuck in other stuff.’

Coogan describes the live show as a cross between a Ted talk and West Side Story (‘there will be singing and dancing to keep people entertained but there will also be a heavyweight element to it’), while promising a field of metaphorical mines which could explode under the weight of Alan’s inappropriate musings or clumsy turns of phrase.

‘Alan will be trying to impart his accumulated wisdom and put it into some form that has cogency, so that he can "help" other people,’ he adds.

‘It’s an all-encompassing, almost cripplingly broad attempt to cover all potential personal problems that people might have in processing the modern world, so Alan helps people navigate the rocky waters of gender, equality, diversity, sexual identity. Whatever the most precarious and dangerous landscapes that are out there, we’ll put Alan’s walking boots on and let him stomp all over them.’

The use of screens will also be important, with graphics and the ability to conduct interviews with some old friends, without giving too much away.

Having last toured as the hapless presenter in 2008, Coogan con will need to get himself back in the Partridge zone for the live shows.

‘It’s about getting back in the saddle,’ he said. ‘I like writing drama and doing different things but I just need to remind myself that I can do this. There’s enough great stuff written for the show that I can’t wait for people to see, and once it gets up on its feet it’ll be good. I know it’s good, because we all laughed at it.’

The ’we’ is largely Rob and Neil Gibbons, the twin brothers who have been part of the Partridge writing team since 2010, and who most recently had their own comedy, The Witchfinder, on BBC Two.

The arrival of the siblings on to Team Alan may have prolonged the character’s shelf-life. Coogan admits to feeling in a bit of a funk after his original writing team of Armando Iannucci, Peter Baynham and Patrick Marber headed off  on to other projects, but meeting with the Gibbons brothers rekindled his enthusiasm.

‘They all changed my life and as the years have gone by I realise how pivotal those meetings were; they had faith in me when not many people did, and working with them was literally an education.

‘So they went off and did their thing but the curse for me was that I was Alan Partridge. They could go off and find another booming voice but in this I was the booming voice.

‘Neil and Rob who worked for Baby Cow [the production company Coogan set up in 1999 alongside Henry Normal] submitted some material for Partridge and I thought they were amazing; they totally got it and could give it a different spin. I remember thinking that I would never have to pester Armando and Peter ever again because these guys will do it all.’

While Coogan will forever be linked to comedy, he has increasingly turned to serious drama too, from 2013’s award-winning Philomena,  his role in ITV’s three-parter last year about murdered Stephen Lawrence, Stan & Ollie and The Reckoning for the BBC, in which he plays notorious sexual predator Jimmy Savile. And next he’s appearing in Chivalry, a MeToo drama for Channel 4 alongside Sarah Solemani, which they wrote together.

For Coogan, even in the darkest corners, some chink of levity can still be found. ‘In all of the drama I do, I’ll deploy comedy; it’s more interesting to me as a tool in your toolbox than just an end in itself,’ he said.

‘With Partridge, you still have to be saying something at the same time as making people laugh, though a stupid joke is always welcome. When I come back to Partridge, it’s like a warm bath. I’ve got to a place now where I’m really comfortable with it; I don’t have to do it, I choose to do it. And that way, it will always be enjoyable. If the moment comes when I’m doing it because I have nothing else worth doing, that’s when you’re in trouble.’

Given Coogan’s  last Alan Partridge was in New Zealand in 2009, there are some aspects of going on the road this summer that he’s dreading.

‘Well, there’s a feeling I’ll get in the mid-afternoon, a slightly sick feeling in the pit of your stomach which disappears as soon as you’re on the stage. But that bit of anxiety is not avoidable; in fact it’s a necessary part of it.

‘On the upside, there’s that feeling of relief and elation and camaraderie that you have with the team when a show goes well. I’m also looking forward to connecting with an audience. Despite Covid and now the war, which is depressing and tragic, people will always want to laugh.

‘This form of interaction is as old as the hills. Social media is quite new, but standing on stage and entertaining people is very simple and pure. I’m craving that.’

• Alan Partridge tour dates and box office links. Tickets are also available at alanpartridgelive.com. Syndicated interview from producers Phil McIntyre Live.

Published: 12 Apr 2022