Media News
Coogan critical of Brand and Ross
Thursday 30 October 2008
Brand and Ross left a series of messages on Sachs, who played Manuel in 'Fawlty Towers', which included boasts from Brand about his relationship with Sachs' granddaughter.
Coogan, creator of a range of comedy characters including Alan Partridge, said that the pair's calls had crossed a line, and that although he knew both Brand and Ross and considered them "very funny people", their actions had been "mean spirited".
The actor, who appeared in the recent Ben Stiller comedy 'Tropic Thunder', which drew negative media coverage over some of its humour, added that he felt the incident had been "blown out of proportion".
He told the Western Mail: "First of all, what they did was inappropriate, wrong and in bad taste - and not particularly funny either.
"Everybody makes mistakes, I've made a few, and you have to hold your hands up and do a mea culpa pretty quick. It's got blown out of proportion because they didn't do it quick enough.
"It's easy to jump on the band wagon and I don't want to be seen to be doing that because I know them both and they are very funny people. But in comedy you have to make a judgement about things.
"I have done stuff that some people might consider close to the bone. As Alan Partridge, I insult certain people, but the joke is on Alan for his bigotry.
"Comedy is about how you couch things. But it was very mean spirited what they did and I was angry when I saw it."
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