Steve Coogan's character building

Reuters

CHARACTER BUILDING: Steve Coogan's character Alan Partridge has an undergound cult following in New Zealand.

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Steve Coogan brings his dynamic cast of alter egos to the NZ International Comedy Festival. Tom Cardy listens and laughs.

Mention the name Alan Partridge in Britain, and people  are more likely to know the  character than the man behind it - British actor and  comedian Steve Coogan.

In New Zealand, it is the opposite.

Coogan's television shows featuring the fictional television and radio presenter have aired here, and gained a cult following on YouTube. But Kiwis know Coogan more through his movies - as record company impresario Tony Wilson in 24 Hour Party People in 2002, and frustrated movie director in Tropic Thunder. Soon, we will see him in another Ben Stiller movie, Nights at the Museum 2.

So the fact that Partridge is a big part of Coogan's live show in Wellington next week - along with the student-hating, working-class brother and sister Paul and Pauline Calf and Portuguese Eurovision Song Contest winner Tony Ferrino - isn't lost on Coogan.

"It sort of works for me in a way. I've got to do a lot of publicity and stuff to get people to come and see me. In Britain, because the character is so successful, expectations are so very high," he says.

"If anything, there's an underground awareness of me [in New Zealand] - a bit of cult thing. A few people who do know my comedy stuff exchange DVDs and see stuff on the internet. But the material I'll be doing is material I've accumulated over a few years, so it's stuff I'm pretty confident about."

Paul and Pauline Calf and Ferrino are in the first half of the show, while the second half is entirely Partridge "doing his lifestyle coaching for the audience", says Coogan.

More than 350,000 people saw Coogan's live show in Britain last year, but one part we won't be getting is a finale where Coogan appeared as himself to sing a self- depreciating song about his reputation over the years in the British tabloids.

In previous interviews, Coogan has hinted at mixed feelings that people still remembered Partridge long after his TV appearances.

"It's like a band who want to play their new album and people only want to hear their hit singles," he said while promoting his movie A Cock and Bull Story three years ago.

That film, partly based on the classic novel Tristram Shandy and directed by 24 Hour Party People's Michael Winterbottom, included scenes of Coogan playing himself.

In one scene a journalist tries to ingratiate himself during an interview with Coogan by making a joke about the bumbling Partridge. "It was eight years ago, that series," Coogan as Coogan replied dismissively.

So why bring him back?

Coogan says it was partly wanting to return to live performance.

"I chose to do it because I hadn't done it for a while and I missed it. I think it's good to go out there and oil the wheels now and again.

"The year before that, I had been doing a lot of film and TV. I missed that feeling of doing live performance, so I wanted to get that out of my system."

Coogan, 43, grew up in Middleton, near Manchester. Early work included voices for satirical TV puppet show Spitting Image.

The character of Partridge, a failed regional TV and radio presenter who thinks he is very successful, was developed on radio. Later, there were guest TV appearances, a chat show Knowing Me, Knowing You . . . with Alan Partridge and, in the sitcom I'm Alan Partridge.

At the same time, Coogan's other work expanded, with numerous movie and TV roles and other popular comic characters, including former roadie Tommy Saxondale. But Partridge carries on.

Coogan concedes that Partridge is, in a way, real. "All the characters feel like that to a greater or lesser extent. Alan certainly feels as if he is this other character that exists in his own universe and I kind of visit him now and again. Or, if you like, I embody him. He possesses me for a short period of time.

"But it's very much the case that I feel that I deliver the character, which is the work of a few people. I deliver that character to the audience and it's enjoyable. To be him is very cathartic."

Coogan is also aware of his versatility. Parts of 24 Hour Party People and other films, including Coffee and Cigarettes and A Cock and Bull Story, hint of a darker, "serious" acting side that has yet to be fully explored on screen. It means he is an actor and comedian who has been hard to pigeonhole.

"I get quite a lot of acting work and I get a lot of comedy work too. I'm able to move between the two to some degree, and that's just how I like it."

* Steve Coogan Live, Town Hall, Christchurch May 5, Civic Hall, Auckland May 8, Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington, May 9.

- © Fairfax NZ News