Time & Perspective Quote by Steve Coogan

Coogan is describing a taste for the trapdoor. The “limbo” he names isn’t just a mood; it’s a mechanism: get the audience to lean back in laughter, then pull the floor away so they land in recognition. Comedy and tragedy aren’t opposites here, they’re adjacent rooms with a thin wall. He likes pressing his ear to it, then inviting everyone else to do the same.

The intent is partly artistic, partly tactical. Discomfort forces attention in a way pure punchlines don’t. When the laugh catches in your throat, you stop consuming the joke and start interrogating yourself: Why did I laugh? What does that reveal about me, about the character, about the culture that made this scenario legible? Coogan’s best work trades on that delayed reaction, the moment after a chuckle when you realize you’ve been complicit.

The subtext is also about power. “Making people laugh” is friendly; “making them feel really uncomfortable” is a kind of controlled aggression, a refusal to let the audience stay morally tidy. It’s an assertion that comedy isn’t only relief, it’s exposure.

Context matters: Coogan’s career (from Alan Partridge’s exquisitely humiliating cringe to his more politically sharpened projects) sits in a British tradition where embarrassment is a scalpel. His characters often weaponize self-delusion, and the audience’s laughter becomes evidence. The unease isn’t a byproduct; it’s the point.