With the return of Chris Evans to the show that dominated TV ratings during the 1990s, everyone that grew up during that period was handed a large, ginger slice of nostalgia and the good news is that we’re about to get another with the announcement that Steve Coogan’s Alan Partridge will be joining him as the co-host of the TFI Friday Christmas Special. It’s been a long time since he had to brave the wilds of a live show, but we’re betting he hasn’t lost any of his broadcasting capabilities over the years.
If that’s not enough festive good cheer to revel in, the fact that the show will be a 90-minute leviathan of comedy, fuzzy fun times and incredible music spots should be enough to send you to the fridge for another little bottle of Beer d’Or. It’s no mean feet keeping your comic pecker up for that length of time, so it’s only understandable that Evans has roped in the King of North Norfolk radio to give him a hand with his classic skills when it comes to the late evening outings department.
The show has been confirmed for an air date of Friday the 18th December 2015, starting out at a sedentary 7:30pm and romping right the way through until an equally relaxed 9pm. Hopefully, you’ll be rounding this off with a few mince pies, a flagon of mulled wine and a Monopoly death match to ride the adrenaline train out for the rest of the night. Aha!
The TFI Friday Christmas Special will also be graced by James Cordon, who’s name, we’ve just noticed has some similarities to Jeremy Corbyn, so maybe that means that one day he’ll become a staunch socialist aging falcon too one day. The comedy power pump will also be showering Jack Whitehall and Lee Mack into the mix so there should be enough cascading jets of humorous fun to keep everyone in fine spirits up to the usual frenetic end.
For the singing and dancing portion control of the show, Chris and Alan have worked their contacts to secure, huh, the indomitable Tom Jones, hopefully singing Stoke City football chants with a blue finish to get them back for what they’ve done to his classic belter, Delila. They’ve also roped in Canadian 69er, Brian Adams, Lianne La Havas and Elle King. Sadly Shaun Ryder is nowhere to be seen, but hopefully he’ll be wheeled out on an upright gurney, wearing a straight jacket and the bottom half of a sawn-off hockey mask mid way through Tom’s rendition of Kinky Afro.
The rumour mill is running at a fine grind ahead of the air date for the Christmas Special that a rift has already begun to appear between the two stalwarts of British broadcasting, but they’ve been quick to respond to the contrary. Chris Evans posted on his MySpace page that he was looking to learn a few new tricks of the trade from Norfolk’s master of the airwaves, while Alan Partridge told the Norwich and Lowestoft Bugle Herald Tribune that he was honoured to get the invitation to co-host, “Thank Frig It’s Friday”.
Steve Coogan hasn’t been seen on the telly as his alter-ego character Alan since Mid Morning Matters, so it’ll be interesting to see whether or not he’ll be able to hold his character for the full 90-minutes. However, with both the Alan Partridge Movie and his autobiography, I, Partridge, in the last few years or so he shouldn’t be too rusty, no matter how many Night At The Museum movie’s he’s done in between.
