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. Steve Coogan More Quotes by Steve Coogan More Quotes From Steve Coogan I'm not elitist. I like to do crowd-pleasing stuff which is a bit smart, but is just about belly laughs. Steve Coogan crowds smart laughing 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]. Steve Coogan fun giving long I'm getting older , so I'm quieting down a bit. Steve Coogan getting-old bits getting-older When it comes to morality, I'd rather have an unfaithful president like Bill Clinton, who tried to reform welfare, than a faithful George Bush who propagated an illegal war on the rest of the world. So that is where my morality stands. Steve Coogan faithful president war Comedy can be silly and gross and offensive, as long as there's sort of a point. You can make a joke that, on the face of it, is racist. Ostensibly someone can appear to be racist, but if you know you're making a point about race, and not just being pig-headed, then you can do that. I think some people who don't understand comedy will have a knee-jerk reaction to some stuff, and will always be offended by it because they don't understand it. Some people react to it in a vociferous way, which is unsophisticated, but there's always going to be those people out there. Steve Coogan silly long thinking I'm not turned away from the church through anger, although I have criticisms of it. It's through finding affirmation of life and illumination of life through creativity and art. Steve Coogan illumination creativity art I use improvisation as a writing tool to help produce material that goes into a script, but a well-crafted script shouldn't sound scripted, and oftentimes people confuse something that looks like improvisation for what is actually a very well-written script that is well-acted. Steve Coogan sound writing people It may seem like improv because it flows quite naturally, and a little bit of leeway for improvisation is good, but you have to be judicious with it. So it's good, but sometimes people deify it. You can't improvise your way out of a paper hat. Steve Coogan paper may people Even if I screw up in my personal life, as long as I'm not destroying myself, I just think, "Okay, I screwed up." I'm not Mother Theresa. Steve Coogan mother long thinking 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. Steve Coogan talking people thinking 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. Steve Coogan car wind giving I don't want to go around making everyone else agree with me. I don't feel the need to do that. Steve Coogan want feels needs 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. Steve Coogan empowering voice giving The irony is, of course, that many of the values that I was raised with, that I think are very important, that I hold dear, are the result of a religious faith. Steve Coogan important religious thinking I'm really encouraged by Pope Francis, because I think his attitude is totally laudable. Steve Coogan pope attitude thinking To me, I like and understand ritual and I think it is important. Things that we do that give us comfort are important. Like Christmas, I like to go into a church and hear the carols sung. There's a comfort of actually going inside of a church, I find them serene. They're unchanging. Steve Coogan important giving thinking All drama teachers are very effusive, very emotionally open, very big, and gesticulate a lot, and are very physical. Those people don't work in banks and they don't work for pharmaceutical companies. They teach drama, or they may be theatre directors. That's why I love people who are openly gay in theatre, because they have license to do what they like, and there's a kind of artistic liberal tolerance thing that goes on. Steve Coogan gay teacher drama I've always been drawn to discomfort and that limbo of unease you get between comedy and tragedy. Making people laugh one moment and the next making them feel really uncomfortable. Steve Coogan laugh moment you people
