History Literature / IPartridgeWeNeedToTalkAboutAlan

''I, Partridge'' -- or, to give the full title, ''I, Partridge: We Need to Talk About Alan'' -- is a chronicle of the life of [[UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist broadcasting legend]] Series/AlanPartridge, as written by the man himself[[note]]with Rob Gibbons, Neil Gibbons, Armando Iannucci and Steve Coogan[[/note]] and released in 2011. The autobiography [[UnreliableNarrator accurately]], [[SmallNameBigEgo humbly]] and [[BlatantLies honestly]] chronicles Partridge's [[JadedWashout glorious]] career from humble and difficult Norfolk beginnings surrounded by bullying schoolmates [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial whose torments he is now completely over and towards whom he holds no grudges whatsoever]] and monstrously {{Abusive Parent}}s [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial whose cruelty he is not simply exaggerating or outright making up in order to make his childhood seem more edgy and interesting]]. From this, he charts an early career as a reporter in local radio which led to the heights of to an ill-fated career at Creator/TheBBC as a radio and television sports commentator and chat show host, which came to a premature end mainly thanks to the spite and jealousy of people who just didn't get him or his amazing abilities (and only a little bit due to the fact that [[StylisticSuck his show was rubbish]], [[Radio/KnowingMeKnowingYouWithAlanPartridge he accidentally shot a guest dead live on air and then punched his boss during the follow-up Christmas special]]). Partridge then soberly reflects on his divorce from his unfaithful wife and his descent into [[MundaneMadeAwesome Toblerone addiction]], before ending with his triumphant return to his local radio roots where he is [[BlatantLies completely happy and content, with absolutely no desire to get back on television whatsoever]]...

** He describes a moment early on in his career where he happens to find himself seated on a train opposite a young veteran who has lost his leg. This is around about the time of Gulf War 1, and after a few moments, the carriage bursts out into spontaneous applause. In a perfect illustration of his self-absorbed vanity, it takes Alan a week to realize that the applause wasn't for him.

* SlowClap: In Alan's retelling, his final meeting with Tony Hayers in which he is informed that he's not getting a second series of his chat show ends with him delivering a withering put-down to Tony and exiting the BBC restaurant to thunderous applause of this nature from everyone around him "like in a really good movie". In [[Series/ImAlanPartridge reality]] it ended with him throwing a tantrum, assaulting Tony with a block of cheese he'd impaled on a fork and running out screeching, while everyone around him watched in bemusement.

Okay, okay, ''seriously'' now, it's a parody of nakedly self-serving and egotistical entertainment autobiographies, based on the popular British comedy character Alan Partridge. Written by his creators (including Armando Iannucci and Steve Coogan, the actor who portrays him), the book tells Partridge's life and backstory from his perspective, fleshing out the character's backstory and acting as a PerspectiveFlip on significant moments from Partridge's various appearances on radio and television shows such as ''Series/TheDayToday'', ''Radio/KnowingMeKnowingYouWithAlanPartridge'' and ''Series/ImAlanPartridge''. The book thus makes heavy use of the UnreliableNarrator, as the dedicated viewer (or even not-so-dedicated viewer, really) of these shows will notice that there are many significant differences between them versus how Partridge retroactively presents himself when looking back on them.

* WisdomFromTheGutter: At a low point, Alan meets Brian, a homeless man who apparently gives him morale support. [[SubvertedTrope And then nicks all his stuff once he falls asleep.]]

** Alan also tends to reverse his opinions back and forth throughout the novel, sometimes within the same chapter or even within a few paragraphs of each other. In particular, his opinion on the BBC and whether or not he'd like to work there tends to go backwards and forwards depending on whether he's dealing with a section of his life where the BBC has bruised his ego in some way (usually by quite rightfully denying him television work).

** Alan also tends to reverse his opinions back and forth throughout the novel, sometimes within the same chapter or even within a few paragraphs of each other. In particular, his opinion on the BBC and whether or not he'd like to work there tends to go backwards and forwards depending on whether he's dealing with a section where the BBC has bruised his ego in some way (usually by quite rightfully denying him television work).

** Alan also tends to reverse his opinions back and forth throughout the novel. In particular, his opinion on the BBC and whether or not he'd like to work there tends to go backwards and forwards depending on whether he's dealing with a section where the BBC has bruised his ego in some way (usually by quite rightfully denying him television work).

* StylisticSuck: Alan constantly loses his train of thought, switches between tenses and writing styles, explains what he's doing to the reader as he's doing it, latches on to trivial and insignificant details while completely ignoring the main point of what he's supposed to be talking about, introduces irrelevant tangents solely to boost up his word count, and so forth. His editors don't seem to have been that great either, since he's left in large notes for them to check something which have been ignored and left in.

* UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist: The book manages the achievement of making Alan seem ''worse'' than he does on TV (which is really saying something). His every desperate attempt to convince the reader that he's a likeable and sympathetic guy will just further convince them of how utterly loathsome and repellent he truly is.

* HypocriticalHumour: A significant part of the book. One chapter focusses on the time he shot Forbes [=McAllister=] dead live on air during an interview. At the beginning, he asserts that he has to take full and complete responsibility for what happened and how he can't just dismiss it. Every single word of the chapter from that point on is him either pointing out reasons why it's not his fault or reasons why it was on the whole probably a good thing that Forbes [=McAllister=] died.

The book received a follow-up, ''Nomad'', in 2016. Once again a parody of celebrity-related literature -- this time celebrity travelogues, specifically ones which hinge on some kind of narrative gimmick -- this time it involves Alan, after discovering a box of his father's old belongings in his attic, deciding to recreate a journey his father once took from Norwich to the nuclear power planet at Dungeness in Kent for a job interview. This, naturally, leads to all kinds of chaos for Alan, a chance for him to reflect in a rather self-serving fashion on his past, and the possibility of a television spin-off [[BlatantLies that he doesn't care about being made in the slightest]].

* [[DaddyHadAGoodReasonForAbandoningYou Daddy And Husband Had A Good Reason For Abandoning You]]: Subverted; Alan is clearly not a very good husband to his wife or father to his children (and in particular treats his daughter as something of an afterthought), but his only justification for this is that he was trying to build a television career. Of course, in his mind, that's a ''perfectly'' good reason. He also includes a self-written letter purportedly from his wife (or at she at least agreed to being published[[note]]she didn't respond when he forwarded it to her, which he interpreted as consent[[/note]]) which basically absolves him of blame on this score for these very reasons.

* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: Alan certainly isn't just doing this walk as a cynical and thinly-veiled attempt to recapture the limelight by spinning it into a six-episode mini-series shown on BBC 1 with an accompanying book deal and merchandising, and he honestly just wishes you'd let it go (despite the fact that he's the only one who ever brings it up). He's also not bothered in the least that high-powered agent Harvey Kennedy won't return his calls on the subject, and only takes a 120 mile diversion off his route to first try to visit his house and then ambush him at Gatwick Airport because it's convenient. And, of course, he's naturally entirely happy with his trip[=/=]life in general despite how dismal and disastrous it is.

* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: Alan certainly isn't just doing this walk as a cynical and thinly-veiled attempt to recapture the limelight by spinning it into a six-episode mini-series shown on BBC 1 with an accompanying book deal and merchandising, and he honestly just wishes you'd let it go (despite the fact that he's the only one who ever brings it up). He's also not bothered in the least that high-powered agent Harvey Kennedy won't return his calls on the subject, and only takes a 120 mile diversion off his route to first try to visit his house and then ambush him at Gatwick Airport because it's convenient.

* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: Alan certainly isn't just doing this walk as a feeble and thinly-veiled attempt to recapture the limelight by spinning it into a six-episode mini-series shown on BBC 1 with an accompanying book deal and merchandising, and he honestly just wishes you'd let it go (despite the fact that he's the only one who ever brings it up). He's not bothered in the least that high-powered agent Harvey Kennedy won't return his calls on the subject, and only takes a 120 mile diversion off his route to first try to visit his house out of his way to try and

* UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist: The book manages the achievement of making Alan seem ''worse'' than he does on TV (which is really something). His every desperate attempt to convince the reader that he's a likeable and sympathetic guy will just further convince them of how utterly loathsome and repellent he truly is.

!!Provides examples of:

The book received a follow-up, ''Nomad'', in 2016. Once again a parody of celebrity-related literature -- this time celebrity travelogues, specifically ones which hinge on some kind of narrative gimmick -- this time it involves Alan, after discovering a box of his father's old belongings in his attic, deciding to recreate a journey his father once took from Norwich to the nuclear power planet at Dungeness in Kent for a job interview. This, naturally, leads to all kinds of chaos for Alan, a chance for him to reflect in a rather self-serving fashion on his recent past, and the possibility of a television spin-off [[BlatantLies that he doesn't care about being made in the slightest]].