I always find it easier to portray myself as being unlikeable and idiotic; to actually play a character that is likeable and engages the audience is far more difficult. It's a more subtle kind of challenge.

It waits for the tabloids to dish the dirt and then it talks about the tabloids dishing the dirt while enjoying it themselves. He has also played himself three times on screen. Career
Coogan started out as a comic and mimic in Ipswich as well as doing voice-over work for adverts and impressions on Spitting Image.

In the early 1990s Coogan began creating original comic characters which he presented in stage shows; this led to him winning the 1992 Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Fringe for his show with long-time collaborator John Thomson. On 22 November 2011 Coogan along with Hugh Grant gave evidence to the Leveson Inquiry on phone hacking favouring regulation of the press. Outside the UK Coogan is better known for his roles in films including 24 Hour Party People The Wind in the Willows Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief Night at the Museum Tropic Thunder Hamlet 2 A Cock and Bull Story The Trip and The Other Guys.