Knowing Me Knowing You with Alan Partridge (1994)

Before This Time, Alan Partridge had a chat show of his own, and it is the sharper spoof. Knowing Me Knowing You copies the celebrity chat show beat for beat, from the "Aha!" entrance to the sofa interviews, while Steve Coogan's Alan mishandles every guest with a fatal mix of vanity and panic. Coogan, Armando Iannucci and Patrick Marber wrote the six BBC Two episodes, adapted from a Radio 4 run, and the series ends with Alan accidentally shooting a guest. The Christmas special, Knowing Me, Knowing Yule, is the natural follow-up.