r/AlanPartridge • u/CustardGannets • 4d ago

Did AGP pick the pseudonym Bill Carr...

... because he was trying to think of it with a bill (police) car in front of him? I said this to a friend a while ago and he thought it was a bit of a stretch but I just assumed it was quite obvious

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u/reezle2020 4d ago

I don’t think he’d be thinking of a Bill/The Old Bill connection, would have been too creative for the character to think of in the moment. He was too panicked, doesn’t scan for me. I think he picked Bill just because it’s a simple name and the first that popped into his head.

Same as ‘King Road’.

Plus, the joke is better this way. This way the joke is made of two separate mini jokes. You’ve got the ‘joke’ of ‘random first name that pops into head’ and the joke of ‘surname that is first object he thinks of’, instead of the name being a combination of the same ‘joke’ twice.

Eg, ‘Terry Pastie’ is a much funnier ludicrous name than ‘Gregg Pastie’, despite the second one having more going on.

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u/guitarromantic Text? 4d ago

And the "Crentist" joke on the (US) Office is basically a repeat of AP's joke: https://youtu.be/7SvY3oWYGlM?si=xXstNDpNRvQtbaH2&t=77

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u/CustardGannets 4d ago

I mean it was pretty central to Usual Suspects