FRESH AIR
Comedian, writer and producer Steve Coogan, an icon of British comedy, is best known for playing his character Alan Partridge, the “nerdy radio DJ with a terrible taste in sweaters and an inflated ego.” As Partridge, Coogan was often compared to Garry Shandling in The Larry Sanders Show and Larry David in Curb Your Enthusiasm, for his ability to improvise and play with the tiny details of life. In 2006, Coogan took his comedy skills to film, starring in the scripted Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story, with fellow comic Rob Brydon. The movie interpreted the comic novel by Laurence Stern — often thought to be unfilmable — onto the big screen. In Coogan’s latest film, The Trip, he reunites with Brydon — but this time, the two men play fictionalized versions of themselves going on a restaurant tour of Northern England. Adapted from a BBC Two sitcom, the movie features the two men riffing off each other on a variety of subjects and interacting with various actors playing their relatives and friends. MORE