A biography for Steve Cooganhasn’t been written yet.
“I don't think there's anything outside what comedy can address.”
“If you do something very successful, you will then be defined by it.”
“London audiences are tricky, too. They don't laugh as much as the Northern audiences because, and I hate to say this, they are a bit cleverer normally, and they are picking up on all the little details and listening more carefully.”
“I try to not make safe choices, but I also like to do stuff which is interesting and is sort of exciting in some way and accessible.”
“I used to do stuff at college. I could do voices. I could make some people laugh. I wasn't the class clown, but I knew I had this skill.”
“When you see a crowd of people jumping up and down at a pop concert, all gloriously in the moment, I don't think you'll ever see a comedian there. They'll all be standing at the sides, looking at how it all fits together.”
“I happen to have a public profile. Ditto newspaper editors. It's a result of what I do, not an end.”
“If the person who can effectively sanction ill-conceived wars can play the electric guitar, which is a symbol of rebellion, then that whole worldview becomes confused.”
“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.”
“I have never wanted to be famous, as such - fame is a by-product.”
“I'm just attracted to playing people who are ostensible unlikable. That's not to say that there's something in there that makes you care. It might be that you just find them so awful that you just can't stop watching, like a car crash.”
“If you are a great dramatic actor then you often don't know if people are enjoying your stuff at all because they are sitting there in silence. But with comedy it's a simple premise. If it's funny, people laugh. If it's not, they don't.”
“I don't like comedy that I think is bad comedy, where people are trying to be sick for the sake of it, where there's no intellectual point behind it. I like stuff that's got an underlying point of view.”
“What I don't like is dance music or hip hop or any of that sort of thing.”
“I did not become successful in my work through embracing or engaging in celebrity culture. I never signed away my privacy in exchange for success.”
“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.”
“Comedy is unique in the sense that laughter is a palpable noise that everyone makes.”
“Even great people are always slightly disappointing, which is generally what makes them interesting.”
“I like the transience of Klimt paintings.”
“I want my work to be judged, not me.”