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Once again, Alan Partridge faces turmoil! However, many are in similar straits today? During his previous television outing, Alan had an on-air breakdown while presenting the magazine program This Time, wrapping up with him excluded of the BBC. At the start of his new, self-produced project, the light documentary How Are You? It’s Alan (Partridge), Alan discloses he’s since hit another low by collapsing onto a woman during an interview at an industry gathering for an agricultural firm. Hard moments, but such characters rebound: tie your troubles to a national trend and try to develop a program from it.

Investigating Mental Health Trends

How Are You? features Coogan’s timeless character in documentary style, examining a wave of mental health issues that he perceives as escalating: “To put it simply, it’s become insane!” He tries out spiritual practices, reconnect with friends from school, and enjoy therapeutic hikes, while dealing with his past. Episode one builds towards a hostile but cathartic reunion with “Sidekick” Simon Denton (Tim Key), Alan’s former colleague on This Time and North Norfolk Digital radio, and throughout the series, previously unreleased footage is displayed.

With Coogan and his creative partners, How Are You? marks a change of pace. In contrast to earlier innovations, How Are You? frequently revisits old themes: as well as directly reviving old formats, the series echoes past satirical documentaries in recent years. As his life intertwines with the subject matter, it recalls his audio ventures.

Contrasting Alans

This leads to a minor issue. There are two Alans: Successful Alan (with high-profile jobs) and Outcast Alan (on the sidelines), and despite Wilderness Alan leading the beloved show I’m Alan Partridge back in 1997, a more wistful Wilderness Alan has recently taken flight in books and audio projects. How Are You? situates us in his world and features Kelly as Katrina, a mismatched romantic partner from the podcast. But that tragic tale – he refuses to accept her betrayal with a pal and business owner – feels like one that would have benefited from the slower pace of audio-only Alan, enabling mental imagery to amplify laughs. When we can’t see him, Wilderness Alan has room to breathe: television nowadays feels more suited to putting Winning Alan under pressure and observing his collapse, as seen before.

Comedy Through Flaws

Still, these are minor points compared to a major truth: across all platforms, he delivers the most laughs in Britain, and even placeholder Partridge has more laughs-out-loud per half-hour than competing shows. How Are You? has Alan in multiple creative roles, which showcases his knack for blunders and misjudgments. If he thinks Britain’s mental health problems are best illustrated by an aggressively edited montage of exploding fruit, it will be included, and no one corrects his verbal errors or other mistakes in commentary. The brief pained expression he makes exiting knowing on some level that that piece to camera was another balls-up consistently amuses, and the same goes for his transitional clips, highlighted by his awkward, caring expressions while gulping down a brew.

Striking Moments and Feelings

What could be funnier than his dumpster antics? Surely not. He is also a visual treat, with an implausibly light hair color, and his clothing showcasing loud pants, contrasting shoes, assorted vests and over-the-top joy about style revivals.

Moreover, the content reveals his deeper side that have been there ever since the Gibbons brothers took over co-writing duties. More than once the series pulls off flashes of pathos, where his blindness exposes pain that nearly brings viewers to tears, before the persona snaps back in and we’re crying from laughter again instead. It succeeds because of enduring fandom: any version of Alan Partridge is always welcome back.