Is Steve Coogan Playing Alan Partridge in ‘Joker 2’?

A new trailer for Joker: Folie à Deux just hit the internet, pleasing fans of comic book movies and absolutely thrilling fans of “slow motion gyrating on staircases” movies. Todd Phillips’ follow-up to 2019’s shockingly successful, billion dollar-earning Joker features several lavish musical numbers involving Lady Gaga, and apparently zero references to Batman, who is presumably still just a small boy in this increasingly confusing universe. 

One intriguing detail in the trailer: Steve Coogan is in it! The British comedy star can briefly be seen in some kind of an interrogation room, along with Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker, sandwiched between two TV cameras. 

When he appeared in the earlier teaser trailer, U.K. fans were shocked by Coogan’s presence, with some likening it to a “jump scare” and others claiming that they were “completely taken out” of the world of the movie when Coogan showed up. Although the best take on Coogan’s casting may have been the suggestion that the scene will involve him and The Joker unloading dueling Michael Caine impressions.

So who is Coogan playing? Well, according to the actor, he’s only in one scene, portraying a cable TV interviewer who sits down for a chat with The Joker, aka Arthur Fleck. 

Steve Coogan is playing a TV show host? Could that mean that his long-time comedy alter ego Alan Partridge is now a part of the DC universe?

The character has yet to be named on the film’s IMDb page, so there’s always a chance that he could be called “Alan Partridge,” in reference to Coogan's fictional chat show host. Partridge was first created by Coogan and Armando Iannucci for the satirical radio news program On the Hour, way back in 1991. 

After spying Coogan in the trailer, fans couldn’t help but point out that the idea of Partridge meeting The Joker would certainly be interesting.

Obviously, this is a little far-fetched. But while Coogan’s character may not literally be called “Alan Partridge” in the film, hiring him in the role of a TV interviewer feels like a symbolic meta-nod to Partridge, not unlike how the first movie cast Robert De Niro as a late-night talk show host, seemingly as a tribute to his iconic performance as Rupert Pupkin in Martin Scorsese’s The King of Comedy (which Joker liberally borrowed from).

As Fard Muhammad pointed out on social media, Coogan’s character may be patterned off of The Tomorrow Show host Tom Snyder and his famous interview with Charles Manson. After all, their haircuts aren’t so dissimilar.

Although, in Joker: Folie à Deux, Coogan’s character is wearing a tie, whereas Snyder’s opted for no tie — presumably because it’s never a great idea to wear potential strangulation devices while visiting murderous cult leaders.

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