Coogan loves 'making an ass' of himself

Steve Coogan has admitted that playing flawed characters is more enjoyable that those who are "cool".

In an interview with The A.V. Club, the comic claimed that he had forged a career out of playing buffoons such as Alan Partridge.

He said: "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 towards 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."

Coogan added that he finds cringe-worthy comedy about dysfunctional characters the most compelling.

"That discomfort, tension, embarrassment, pain - all of those things interest me, and not through some sort of masochistic or sadistic impulse," he explained.

"It illuminates what being a human being is. It taps into what it is to be human more incisively than stuff that's just very pedestrian."