Steve Coogan admitted he sang Come Out, Ye Black and Tans on TV last year as a “private bet” and as part of an “in-joke”.
The actor and comedian, whose parents are both from Ireland, appeared as both Alan Partridge and west of Ireland farmer Martin Brennan on an episode of the spoof BBC magazine show This Time with Alan Partridge last March.
In a scene that became the standout moment from the whole series, Martin scandalised the TV host when he performed an impromptu rendition of Come Out Ye Black and Tans, followed by a verse of The Men Behind the Wire.
Speaking to RTÉ Entertainment ahead of the release of his new movie Greed, Coogan, 54, said: “As someone who is half-Irish, I was hoping that my fellow Irishmen would appreciate it and they did.
“It was kinda like a little in-joke, a private bet - I wonder could we get, just for the mischief, an Irish rebel song on primetime BBC One and we managed to do that.
“In fact, we got two Irish rebel songs in!”
Asked if there was much resistance to the idea from the BBC, Coogan added: “No, no.
“It’s an in-joke for us but it works comically because Alan Partridge plays a member of the establishment who is appalled by it and that’s where the comedy comes from so artistically it’s entirely justifiable but it also makes me have a private chuckle.”
Coogan is set to play Sir Richard McGreadie, in Greed, a second-generation Irishman in the UK who has made a fortune in the fashion industry but now faces a professional and personal crisis as his 60th birthday looms.
The movie, which was directed by regular Coogan collaborator Michael Winterbottom, also stars Isla Fisher and Shirley Henderson.
It also features numerous celebrity cameos from the likes of Keira Knightly, Chris Martin of Coldplay, Stephen Fry, James Blunt, and Colin Firth.
