Easily Distracted
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- £3.99
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- £3.99
Publisher Description
Steve Coogan was born and raised in Manchester in the 1960s, the fourth of six children. From an early age he entertained his family with impressions and was often told he should 'be on the telly'. Failing to get into any of the London-based drama schools, he accepted a place at Manchester Polytechnic School of Theatre and before graduating had been given his first break as a voice artist on the satirical puppet show Spitting Image.
The late eighties and early nineties saw Coogan developing characters he could perform on the comedy circuit, from Ernest Moss to Paul Calf, and in 1992 he won a Perrier award with John Thomson. It was around the same time, while working with Armando Iannucci and Patrick Marber on On The Hour and The Day Today, that Alan Partridge emerged, almost fully formed.
Coogan, once a tabloid fixture, is now a respected film actor, writer and producer. He runs his own production company, Baby Cow, has a raft of films to his name (from 24 Hour Party People to Alpha Papa, the critically-acclaimed Partridge film), six Baftas and seven Comedy Awards. He has found huge success in recent years with both The Trip and Philomena, the latter bringing him two Oscar nominations, for producing and co-writing.
In Easily Distracted he lifts the lid on the real Steve Coogan, writing with distinctive humour and an unexpected candour about a noisy childhood surrounded by foster kids, his attention-seeking teenage years and his emergence as a household name with the birth of Alan Partridge.
Customer Reviews
Easily Distracted
Excellent! If like me you are a similar age to Steve Coogan and around Manchester in the 1980's you will thoroughly enjoy this read.
Great in parts
Read this book in a couple days. Some bits a fantastic, such as comments in school reports that have transpired to be spot on. Where is falls flat is some of the writing is basically a layman's description of what's good about things on the telly.
Also the tantalising revelations of falling out with Patrick Marber are not fully fleshed out. Such fascinating details of a rift between two people who obviously have great affection and respect for each other I would find interesting.
For speaking out against press I'd love to give 5 stars for that alone but I did find too much of the book fell flat.