Steve Coogan

***Steve Coogan*** (born October 14, 1965) is an English actor, stand-up comedian, impressionist, screenwriter, and producer. He began his career in the 1980s, working as a voice artist on the satirical puppet show Spitting Image and providing voiceovers for television advertisements. In the early 1990s, he began creating original comic characters, leading him to win the Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. In 1999, he co-founded the production company Baby Cow Productions.

His first experience in movies was as an extra in The Deerhunter (1978) starring Robert De Niro. In 1989, he appeared in a series of specially shot sketches in the Observation round in the long-running ITV game show The Krypton Factor. In 1992, Coogan won the Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for his performance with long-time collaborator John Thomson, and starred alongside Caroline Aherne and John Thomson in a one-off Granada TV sketch show The Dead Good Show. His most prominent characters developed at this time were Paul Calf, a stereotypical working class Mancunian, and his sister Pauline, played by Coogan in drag.

While working with Armando Iannucci on On the Hour and The Day Today, Coogan created his most developed and popular character: Alan Partridge, a socially awkward and politically incorrect regional media personality. He featured in several television series, which earned him three BAFTA nominations and two wins for Best Comedy Performance. A feature-length film, Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa, was released in 2013, and opened at number one at the British box office.

Coogan grew in prominence within the film industry in 2002, after starring in The Parole Officer and 24 Hour Party People. He portrayed Phileas Fogg in the 2004 remake Around the World in 80 Days and co-starred in The Other Guys, Tropic Thunder, In the Loop, Hamlet 2, Our Idiot Brother, Ruby Sparks and the Night at the Museum films, as well as collaborating with Rob Brydon in The Trip and A Cock and Bull Story. He was also a voice actor in the animated comedy films Despicable Me 2 and 3, as well as their prequel, Minions, and played Hades in Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief.

Coogan has also branched out into more dramatic roles, with What Maisie Knew, and portrayed Paul Raymond in the biopic The Look of Love. He co-wrote, produced, and starred in the film adaptation Philomena, which earned him a Golden Globe and BAFTA nomination, and two Academy Award nominations (for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Picture). He has been cast in the lead role for the ABC television pilot Doubt and the Showtime drama Happyish.

On November 22, 2011, Coogan, along with Hugh Grant, gave evidence to the Leveson Inquiry on phone hacking, favouring regulation of the press.

### Paul & Pauline Calf

Paul Calf first began as a character named 'Duncan Disorderly' in Coogan's early stand-up routines. Calf first came to wider public notice in 1993, with several appearances on Saturday Zoo, a late-night variety show presented by Jonathan Ross on Channel 4. Paul has appeared in two video diaries, an episode of Coogan's Run, and in various stand-up performances. He is an unemployed Mancunian wastrel with a particular hatred of students. His catchphrase is "Bag o' shite". Paul lives in a council house in the fictional town of Ottle with his mother and his sister, Pauline Calf (also played by Coogan). His father, Pete Calf (played by Coogan in Coogan's Run) died some time before the first video diary was made. For a long time he was obsessed with getting back together with his ex-girlfriend, Julie. Paul's best friend is "Fat" Bob (played by John Thomson), a car mechanic who eventually married Pauline. Paul supports Manchester City and is very partial to Wagon Wheels. He wears Burton suits, sports a bleached mullet and drives a Ford Cortina.

### Alan Partridge

***Alan Partridge*** is a fictional character portrayed by English actor and comedian Steve Coogan. A parody of British television personalities, Partridge is a tactless and inept television and radio presenter who often insults his guests and whose inflated sense of celebrity drives him to treachery and shameless self-promotion. Coogan described Partridge as a Little Englander, with right-wing values and poor taste.

Partridge was created by Coogan and Armando Iannucci for the 1991 BBC Radio 4 comedy programme On the Hour, a spoof of British current affairs broadcasting, as the show's sports presenter. In 1992, Partridge hosted a spin-off Radio 4 spoof chat show, Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge. On the Hour transferred to television as The Day Today in 1994, followed by Knowing Me, Knowing You later that year. In 1997, Coogan starred as Partridge in a BBC sitcom, I'm Alan Partridge, written by Coogan, Iannucci and Peter Baynham, following Partridge's life working for a small radio station and living in a roadside hotel. It earned two BAFTAs and was followed by a second series in 2002.

### On the Hour (1991-92)

***On the Hour*** was a British radio programme that parodied current affairs broadcasting, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 between August 9, 1991 and May 28, 1992. A compilation show was broadcast on December 28, 1992 entitled "Newsbanger!"

Written by Chris Morris, Armando Iannucci, Steven Wells, Andrew Glover, Stewart Lee, Richard Herring and David Quantick, On the Hour starred Morris as the overzealous and self-important principal anchor (for which he used his own full name). He was accompanied by a regular cast assembled by Iannucci, comprising Steve Coogan, Rebecca Front, Doon Mackichan, Patrick Marber and David Schneider, who portrayed assorted news reporters, presenters and interviewees. On the Hour featured the first appearance of Coogan's character Alan Partridge as the "Sports Desk" reporter.

As in much of Morris's work, surrealism was an important part of the programme, the nonsense in the content ("De-frocked cleric eats car park", "Borrowed dog finds Scotland", etc.) delivered in the same straight-faced manner with which contemporary news stories are dealt, and it has often been quoted that Morris's initial intention was indeed to show how the public would believe anything if it was delivered with a straight-face. It did fool many people, with some listeners ringing in to complain about how the anchor treated his guests. The programme also utilised editing of out-of-context sound-clips and prank phone calls, heightening its surreal quality.

Twelve episodes were made (including a Christmas special, of which two versions exist). The final episode of On the Hour closed with Morris introducing a set of headlines with the line "And there is still just time to part the beef curtains on tomorrow's news." Running throughout the final episode was the announcement that On the Hour would be taking over all of Radio 4 to transmit 24-hour "Perma-News."

On the Hour was named "Best Radio Comedy" at the 1992 British Comedy Awards, and it also won the 1992 Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award for Comedy/Light Entertainment. The On the Hour team (minus Lee and Herring due to creative/legal disputes, who were replaced by Peter Baynham and writers Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews) subsequently made a television series called The Day Today, which retained the same regular cast and several characters from On the Hour.

#### Recurring Characters

Chris Morris portrayed several characters in the series, namely "Christopher Morris", the combative, over zealous news anchor. He also voiced Roger and Wayne Blatt, two identically-voiced reporters who were disaster and strategy correspondents, respectively. Morris was also the upbeat smug DJ, Wayne Carr, and the Continuity Announcer.

David Schneider played Lionel Cosgrave, an "everyman" who appears in several news reports, usually presented as a victim.

Rebecca Front was Rosy May, environmental correspondent presenting absurd news in the "Green Desk" segment. Rosy later appeared on The Day Today, though her segment was re-named "Enviromation". She also played Barbara Wintergreen, an American correspondent, speaking with an exaggerated American accent and making convoluted puns.

Patrick Marber voiced Peter O'Hanraha-hanrahan, the highly incompetent economics correspondent reporting dubious facts.

Doon Mackichan played feminist Donna Doubtfire, whose name changed on The Day Today to Thea Peachman.

Steve Coogan voiced Alan Partridge, the sports correspondent who frequently displayed little knowledge of the sport he is covering, getting terminology and basic rules wrong. Often interviewing real-life athletes (impersonated by the cast), Alan frequently goes off into tangents and his interviews usually end awkwardly. After On the Hour, Alan would appear in the Radio 4 series Knowing Me Knowing You with Alan Partridge; the TV series The Day Today, Knowing Me Knowing You with Alan Partridge and I'm Alan Partridge, the web series Mid Morning Matters with Alan Partridge, and the film Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa.

### Knowing Me Knowing You with Alan Partridge (radio series, 1992-93)

***Knowing Me Knowing You with Alan Partridge*** is a BBC Radio 4 series of six episodes braodcast December 1, 1992 to July 3, 1993. It is named after the song "Knowing Me, Knowing You" by ABBA (Alan Partridge's favourite band), which was used as the show's title music.

Steve Coogan played the incompetent but self-satisfied Norwich-based host, Alan Partridge who would annoy and offend his guests, and coin the character's catchphrase, "Aha!" Alan was a spin-off character from the spoof radio show On the Hour (which later transferred to TV as The Day Today).

The show reunited Coogan with Rebecca Front, David Schneider, Patrick Marber and Doon Mackichan.

### The Day Today (1994)

***The Day Today*** is a British comedy television show which parodies television current affairs programmes, broadcast in. It was created by Armando Iannucci and Chris Morris and is an adaptation of the radio programme On the Hour, which was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 between 1991 and 1992. For The Day Today, Peter Baynham joined the writing team, and Lee and Herring were replaced by Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews. The principal cast of On the Hour was retained for The Day Today.

The Day Today is composed of six half-hour episodes and a selection of shorter, five-minute slots recorded as promotion trailers for the longer segments. The six half-hour episodes were originally broadcast from January 19, to February 23, 1994 on BBC2. The Day Today has won many awards, including Morris winning the 1994 British Comedy Award for Best Newcomer.

#### Format

Each episode is presented as a mock news programme, and the episodes rely on a combination of ludicrous fictitious news stories, covered with a serious, pseudo-professional attitude. Each episode revolves around one or two major stories, which are pursued throughout the programme, along with a host of other stories usually only briefly referred to. In addition, the programme dips into other channels from time to time, presents clips of fictitious upcoming BBC programmes, and conducts street interviews with members of the public, in a segment titled "Speak Your Brains".

The programme frequently comments on other programmes, most often a spoof soap opera called The Bureau, set in a 24-hour bureau de change, incorporating clichéd soap opera-style plots, which apparently produces and airs 2,000 episodes between the first and third segments of The Day Today and becomes a hit in Italy. The programme also contains clips from a spoof documentary series called "The Pool", featuring a public swimming pool and its neurotic staff, Morris's character explaining that The Day Today has funded a documentary on every public building in the country. The final episode features reports from the fictitious documentary The Office, which follows office workers as they go on a retreat with an efficiency expert. Chris Morris frequently parodies entirely separate channels, including RokTV (spoofing MTV); reporting on the fictitious and psychotically violent African-American rapper Fur-Q; and Genutainment, a segment which reports on a sheepdog averting a helicopter disaster in a parody of the real-life rescue show 999.

Much of the programme's humour derives from its excessively brash style of reporting. The theme tune is deliberately overdramatic and the opening sequence of each episode is lengthy and complicated, a parody of the overuse of computer-generated credit sequences on news programmes (the graphics throughout were developed by ITN graphics designers).

Each episode is brought to an interrupted ending with just enough time to quickly overview the following day's newspapers (a parody of Jeremy Paxman on BBC2's Newsnight) printed with absurd headlines such as "Lord Mayor's pirouette in fire chief wife decapitation", and a final humorously misused video. Each episode ends in a familiar style for news reports, with the camera panning out as the studio lights dim on Morris. Instead of shuffling his papers in clichéd newsreader style, Morris takes advantage of the dimming lights to perform bizarre activities; putting lots of pens in his jacket pockets, placing a tourniquet around his arm in preparation to inject heroin, removing his normal hair to reveal long blonde locks underneath, and, in the last episode, prostrating himself before the newsdesk.

#### Notable Coverage

The programme featured surreal news items such as IRA "bomb dogs", with Steve Coogan playing a Gerry Adams-type character inhaling helium to subtract credibility from his statements (a satirical comment on the law preventing Sinn Fein spokespeople being heard, with their voices dubbed by actors). There was also a report into a feud between the Queen and the then Prime Minister John Major that leads to physical fighting at Buckingham Palace.

Other stories included a report of two French boys who break into the Roman Catholic Church's computer databanks in order to change the Catholic catechism; an urgent report that the British pound had been stolen; reports of wild horses disrupting the London Underground; and reports that Crete had been kidnapped by Libya and that Japan had manufactured 16 identical Japans.

#### Main Characters

Chris Morris appears as "Christopher Morris", essentially reprising his overzealous newsreader role from On the Hour, although his bullying streak is far more pronounced in the character's TV incarnation.

Doon Mackichan stars as Collaterlie Sisters, business correspondent who talks nonsensically about the world of business, padding out her reports with meaningless jargon ("Trading remained succulent for the rest of the day.") She uses bewildering graphics, mainly when addressing the currency market, using such aids as the "Currency Cat", the "Currency Kidney", and the "International Finance Arse".

David Schneider is Sylvester Stuart, the weatherman, whose head is usually seen floating on a graphic background, and using elliptical analogies such as "That's about as warm as going into a heated drawing room after chopping some wood" and describing gloomy weather as "a

bit like waking up next to a corpse." Schneider also plays Brant, a physical cartoonist from The Daily Telegraph, who satirises the news using cartoon backgrounds and relying on elaborate physical metaphors which have to be labelled to render them comprehensible; an example is his cartoon of Britain's handover of Hong Kong, where Chris Patten, "making a monkey of himself", is represented as King (Hong) Kong climbing the British Empire State Building, swatting at aeroplanes representing China and the handover year, 1997.

Rebecca Front reprises her Barbara Wintergreen character, the programme's American correspondent on its sister channel, CBN, and also that of Rosy May, environmental correspondent who present the "Enviromation" slot. Her stories include the sky detaching from the horizon and a refrigerator powered by earthworms.

Patrick Marber returns as incompetent economics correspondent Pater O'Hanraha-hanrahan.

Steve Coogan again plays sports correspondent Alan Partridge who will often say the worst thing at the worst possible time and make critical errors showing his lack of understanding of the sport he is covering.

### Knowing Me Knowing You with Alan Partridge (TV series, 1994-95)

***Knowing Me Knowing You with Alan Partridge*** is a BBC Television series of six episodes (broadcast September 16, to October 21, 1994), and a Christmas special Knowing Me Knowing Yule on December 29, 1995. It is named after the song "Knowing Me, Knowing You" by ABBA (the main character's favourite band), which was used as the show's title music. Steve Coogan plays the incompetent but self-satisfied Norwich-based talk show host Alan Partridge. Alan was a spin-off character from the spoof radio show On the Hour (which later transferred to TV as The Day Today). Knowing Me Knowing You was written by Coogan, Armando Iannucci (who produced the radio version) and Patrick Marber (who also starred), with contributions from the regular supporting cast of Doon Mackichan, Rebecca Front and David Schneider, who played Alan's weekly guests. Steve Brown provided the show's music and arrangements, and also appeared as Glenn Ponder, the man in charge of the house band (the name of which changed, without explanation, every episode).

Alan went on to appear in two series of the sitcom I'm Alan Partridge, following his life after both his marriage and TV career come to an end. It was generally well received by fans and critics, and was nominated for a BAFTA and a British Comedy Award.

#### Format

Knowing Me Knowing You is a parody of a chat show. It featured a live audience whose laughter meant that viewers could not mistake the show for a real chat show. Some of the guests parodied real life appearances on chat shows. For example, the medical fashion parade by Yvonne Boyd is a reference to Vivienne Westwood's appearance on Wogan.

### I'm Alan Partridge (1997)

***I'm Alan Partridge*** is a BBC situation comedy starring Steve Coogan and written by Coogan, Peter Baynham and Armando Iannucci. It features Alan Partridge, a tactless and inept radio DJ, after he has been left by his wife and dropped from the BBC. The show follows Partridge as he lives in a roadside hotel (Travel Tavern), presents a graveyard slot on Norwich local radio, and desperately pitches ideas for new television shows.

A second series followed in 2002, with Partridge now living in a static caravan after recovering from a mental breakdown. Iannucci said the writers used the sitcom as "a kind of social X-ray of male middle-aged Middle England." 12 episodes were produced.

Supporting Coogan are Felicity Montagu as his faithful but timid personal assistant, Lynn Benfield; Simon Greenall as Geordie handyman Michael; and Phil Cornwell as Partridge's rival DJ Dave Clifton.

The series was nominated for three BAFTAs (winning two), two British Comedy Awards (winning both), and a Royal Television Society award. In a list drawn up by the British Film Institute in 2000, voted by industry professionals, I'm Alan Partridge was named the 38th best British television series of all time.

### Coogan's Run (1995)

***Coogan's Run*** was a UK TV series featuring Steve Coogan as a series of odd characters living in the fictional town of Ottle. Broadcast between November 17, & December 22, 1995, it was written by various people including Coogan, Patrick Marber, David Tyler, Graham Linehan, Arthur Mathews, Geoffrey Perkins and Henry Normal. The series consists of six self-contained stories, although Coogan's characters from the other episodes in the series make occasional cameo appearances.

In the first episode, Get Calf, Paul Calf gets into trouble with three criminal brothers after witnessing a bank robbery and being forced to identify them in court. He joins a cult and retreats to their residence where he is lured into a porn film. Other characters in the series include egotistical computer hardware salesman Gareth Cheeseman, who has similar characteristics to Alan Partridge.

### Other Roles

Other Coogan creations include Tommy Saxondale, Duncan Thicket, Ernest Eckler and Portuguese Eurovision Song Contest winner Tony Ferrino. Duncan Thicket has appeared in a tour of live shows. Other TV shows he has starred in include Dr. Terrible's House of Horrible (2001), Monkey Trousers (2005) and Saxondale (2006-07). Coogan has provided voices for the animated series I Am Not an Animal (2004) and Bob and Margaret (1998-2001), two Christmas specials featuring Robbie the Reindeer (1999, 2002, 2007), and an episode of the BBC Radio Four spoof sci-fi series Nebulous (2005-08).