Steve Coogan Quotes

I happen to have a public profile. Ditto newspaper editors. It's a result of what I do, not an end.

But with comedy it's a simple premise. If it's funny, people laugh. If it's not, they don't.

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.

I think you need to have the guts to not use comedy. Often, the people that work in comedy use a joke to avoid contemplation.

The important thing is not to be defined by what others think of you.

If you chase something too desperately, it eludes you.

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.

If you do something very successful, you will then be defined by it.

A friend of mine once said he like his women like his parmesan: strong smelling and shaved. I don't agree with that, but I don't like hairy women.

Sadly, I can't say the same for my Father, who is probably in a different place - Hell.

I don't go to premieres, unless I'm contractually bound to.

Most of all I don't want to be bored. That's why I'd rather do something that has some sort of ambition, that risks failing, rather than make safer, more comfortable choices.

There's never any graffiti in the hotel. Although in the Gents a couple of weeks ago I did see someone had drawn a lady's part. Quite detailed. The guy obviously had talent.

I always think that, even when people behave badly, if you like something deep inside them, then there is a tiny bit of nobility - they wish they could be good.

I have never wanted to be famous, as such - fame is a by-product.

The Bible, undoubtedly, is a mixed bag. I don't see myself coming back to the Church. I do like the tradition. If you come from a strong culture, you can decide what you agree with and what you don't agree with. If you're given a blank canvas, it's almost harder in life.

I like the British public. There is something in this country called tall poppy syndrome. You're good but you're not that good, pal, OK? The natural state of our nation is slightly miserable, and probably the healthier for it. In America you don't get a key down the side of your Bentley.

No one has a monopoly on wisdom, and even for people who aren't religious, you can learn things from religious people.

What terrifies me is that I might somehow endorse that view so people think they don't have to read books anymore.

When I see friends from school I think they've all grown old and I've stayed the same.

A lot of people can be very scared about making themselves vulnerable and appearing uncool. I don't really give a damn; as long as it's funny, I'll do it [make fun of myself].

Hacking into a victim of crime's phone is a sort of poetically elegant manifestation of a modus operandi the tabloids have.

It’s our imperfections that make us vulnerable, make us interesting. How can I make myself a bit of an asshole and still have humanity about it?

Big comedy is good, I like things that are big, but good comedy has to be truthful I think and has to reflect some sort of reality.

I think if you try to look for something to show off as an actor, vanity can get the better of you.

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.

I woke with a start. At first I assumed I'd trumped myself awake again.

The Church at its best is about empowering the disempowered and giving voice to the dispossessed and not putting a price on everything and not being about the bottom line and not worshipping the market or everything that is material.

Knowing about comedy has helped me with the drama. To see people laugh, it's like there are moments of catharsis in the middle of sadness.

What I don't like is dance music or hip hop or any of that sort of thing.

I'm not like a politician that goes around talking about family values. And I can't get fired from being a funny person because I did something that most people are disapproving of. I think people are just obsessed with this morality that people perceive as being the right and wrong way of doing stuff.

I find impressionists slightly annoying, really.

I think it's always funny when you see kids do Shakespeare. When I was at school, I was in Hamlet. I played Claudius, who's supposed to be a 60-year-old man, and I was like 18. It's inherently ridiculous seeing 18-year-old boys with gray beards. That's always funny.

I don't like new bands. I don't want to be one of those pathetic old men in their forties who knows exactly what 18-year-olds are into.

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.

I don't want to go around making everyone else agree with me. I don't feel the need to do that.

People regurgitate the same old cliches and it becomes like a photocopy of a photocopy of something that's vaguely interesting.

If you're driving your car and someone winds the window down and gives you the finger and calls you an asshole, instead of giving him the finger back and calling him an asshole back, you just pull a funny face, and he doesn't know how to react to that, because you're using different rules.

I used to do stuff at college. I could do voices. I could make some people laugh. I wasn't the class clown, but I knew I had this skill.

Two fat ladies, 88! Not that you'd find these ladies at a bingo hall, of course... they're altogether a higher class of fat lady.

I want my work to be judged, not me.

In England, I've done a whole bunch of stuff where I just make a complete ass of myself. I've been doing it for 20 years, so I just gravitate toward it anyway. I'd rather do that than do the stuff where I'm supposed to be trying to look cool in some way. It's more interesting to me.

There is a strong ethical dimension to the best comedy. Not only does it avoid reinforcing prejudices, it actively challenges them.

I'm really encouraged by Pope Francis, because I think his attitude is totally laudable.

It's arguably the best newspaper in the world.

As soon as I see period costume, I turn off. It's like hearing drama on Radio 4.

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.

I am of the very last generation who didn't have computers at school. As we grow old we'll become something of an aberration.