Even great people are always slightly disappointing, which is generally what makes them interesting. – Steve Coogan
If the person who can effectively sanction ill-conceived wars can play the electric guitar, which is a symbol of rebellion, then that whole worldview becomes confused. – Steve Coogan
Me, myself, personally, I like to keep myself private. I have never said I am a paragon of virtue, a model of morality. I simply do what I do. – Steve Coogan
When you tour you become more intimate with your audience. It’s like I need reassurance that they like me or at least find me relevant. And that I can still do it. – Steve Coogan
London audiences are tricky, too. They don’t laugh as much as the Northern audiences because, and I hate to say this, they are a bit cleverer normally, and they are picking up on all the little details and listening more carefully. – Steve Coogan
I’m a huge fan of Jack Lemmon, he was someone who managed to tread that line between comedy and tragedy and sometimes give very big performances, but they were never over-demonstrative and they were never not based on a kind of real truthful human being. – Steve Coogan
I’m an entertainer. I don’t go round saying I’m a paragon of virtue, so that is clearly not in the public interest. – Steve Coogan
I’m just attracted to playing people who are ostensible unlikable. That’s not to say that there’s something in there that makes you care. It might be that you just find them so awful that you just can’t stop watching, like a car crash. – Steve Coogan
I don’t like comedy that I think is bad comedy, where people are trying to be sick for the sake of it, where there’s no intellectual point behind it. I like stuff that’s got an underlying point of view. – Steve Coogan
My father worked for IBM. My mother raised us kids. There were six of us, and a couple of extra foster kids at any given time. – Steve Coogan
The trick is always to write in pairs because if at least two people find it funny, you’ve immediately halved the odds of it not being funny. – Steve Coogan
I’ve always been drawn to discomfort and that limbo of unease you get between comedy and tragedy. Making people laugh one moment and the next making them feel really uncomfortable. – Steve Coogan
Actually, bizarrely, in America, I get more appreciation from the odd, unusual stuff I’ve done, almost because I’m not, if you like, famous in America as I am in England. – Steve Coogan
If you start to disrespect the character you’re playing, or play it too much for laughs, that can work for a sketch, it will sell some gags, but it’s all technique. It’s like watching a juggler – you can be impressed by it, but it’s not going to touch you in any way. – Steve Coogan
I happen to have a public profile. Ditto newspaper editors. It’s a result of what I do, not an end. – Steve Coogan
When I was a student I was very, very ambitious, completely immersed in my comedy career. I never had that period of reckless hedonism that you should get out of your system in your youth. – Steve Coogan