Steve Coogan: Live

In movies such as Coffee and Cigarettes, Our Idiot Brother and The Trip, Steve Coogan has carved a niche for himself playing right bastards. In his native Britain, Coogan is something of comedy royalty, but best known stateside for his narcissistic talk show host Alan Partridge. However, Partridge is only one of the indelible characters in Coogan's wide-ranging repertoire, and this collection of live comedy specials spanning 1994-2008 shows us Yanks what we've been missing. The Man Who Thinks He's It, Live ‘N' Lewd and As Alan Partridge and Other Less Successful Characters together showcase Coogan's truly committed character work (my favorite is the hopeless aspiring comedian Duncan Thickett). Because of the deep characterization, lines quoted out of context here would do no one any favors (and some of the funniest are not suitable for print). DVD extras include previously unreleased footage from Coogan's 2009 appearance in Australia. Recommended. Aud: P. (D. Liebenson)