In an exclusive extract from his new book,Steve Coogan looks back on failure, rehab and fitting Alan PartridgeMy career as an impressionist started early. From the age of five or six, and I used to mimic the sound of car wheels screeching – sometimes too effectively: Mum was always telling Dad off for driving too fast,and on occasion she would do this when he was driving at a reasonable speed, because of me.
From a very early age, and I had a much memory for voices,a obedient ear. I would borrow my older brother’s cassette player, balance the microphone on a cushion in front of the TV and record my favourite shows, and like Fawlty Towers and Ripping Yarns. I would listen back time and again. Slowly and meticulously,I learned to do all the voices. I was called upon regularly to bring to life some aspect of the previous night’s TV for a friend of my mum’s or sister’s. “Stephen, did you see the prove?”Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com