Over the last couple of decades, Film Independent's Spirit Awards has firmly established itself as the scrappy alternative to the Oscars. Traditionally held the Saturday before "Hollywood's Biggest Night", it's where filmmakers like Jim Jarmusch, Darren Aronofsky and Christopher Nolan actually get nominated and, on occasion, win. It's also the kind of ceremony where a discussion of "vag rinses" just might break out.

While it's unlikely that this year's host, Steve Coogan, will broach this delightful subject, I suppose it's possible that the HAMLET 2 star could warble a few bars of the jaunty "Raped in the Face". Just don't expect to see Alan Partridge interrogating nominee Mickey Rourke from the stage. According to Coogan, he won't be doing characters this Saturday (February 21 @ 2 PM PST/5 PM EST on IFC). What will he be doing? Jokes, mostly. And introducing presenters. And, as the evening wears on, making sure no one gets too terribly bored.

Emceeing awards ceremonies can be a thankless task, but when I spoke with Coogan last week, he seemed to be looking forward to it. It was also an opportunity to ask him what he's got in the works. The answer: a whole lot of stuff. This isn't the most revelatory Q&A you'll read this year, but it's agreeable and ever so brief.

Mr. Beaks: So why did you turn down the Oscars?

Steve Coogan: That's a very good question. Two reasons. One is because they're not edgy or maverick or spiky or enigmatic or dangerous enough for me. The second reason is I wasn't asked.

Beaks: Hm. Okay. Well, have you done an American Awards show before? Is this your first time trying this over here?

Coogan: No and yes.

Beaks: No and yes. Good. Do you get to bring in your own writers?

Coogan: I got a British writer who I write with, and an American guy who's producing it - he's a writer, too. So I've got one English guy and one American guy, and I'm thinking between them and me, I'll be able to check all the boxes in terms of doing stuff which has an Anglophile feel to it - because I'm British, and I want to do things my way - and I've got a very good American writer with a strong track record. Hopefully, he'll stop me from being too esoteric and vanishing up my own backside, and we'll manage to do something funny and different.

Beaks: Are you thinking about doing characters?

Coogan: Not on the Spirit Awards. You've got to get a balance. It's not all about me doing The Steve Coogan Show; it's about the independent movies. So I can throw a little bit of my stuff in there. You can say "Get a load of me" at the top of the show, but if you keep saying that people might throw stuff at you. You've got to get the balance right, so I won't be doing any character stuff; it's going to be Steve Coogan doing material I think is irreverent, self-mocking, and slightly kind of left-hand compliments to independent filmmakers.

Beaks: Have you seen all the nominated films?

Coogan: No. I've seen a lot of them. I probably won't get to see all of them. I'll try. But there are only so many hours in the day. I could lie and say I've seen them all, but no one would believe me anyway.

Beaks: Have you gone back and checked out the work of previous hosts? Sarah Silverman did a great job a couple of years ago.

Coogan: Yeah, I watched all of those two. Sarah Silverman was funny. She makes me laugh. But I can't do what she does. I don't have her body. I've got my own approach, which is kind of a more laid-back, droll, British approach to doing things. So... we'll see if people like it. (Laughs)

Beaks: You feel like that's why they hired you? They wanted that droll British thing?

Coogan: I don't know they hired me. That's a very good question. I think it's because I've done a bunch of independent movies, they knew I did stand-up comedy, and everyone else on the list said "no". I think that's probably the brutal truth of it.

Beaks: What are the names of the writers you're working with?

Coogan: Neil MacClennan. He's a British writer with whom I did a show called SAXONDALE. He also cowrote my live comedy show with me. And Billy Kimball, who is also producing the Spirit Awards... he's a comedy writer with a good, long track record. Between them, they're helping me come up with some stuff. It's not a huge amount of material. You've got some good one-liners and we'll prerecord some stuff. And the rest of it is just getting through the evening in a smart, professional, slightly punk way.

Beaks: It helps that people are drinking through this.

Coogan: It does and it doesn't. The alcohol is a mixed blessing. It helps because people are anesthetized against material which is... well, they're not judgmental because they're already having a good time. But that means you can't get too elaborate in your comedy as the evening goes on; you start off with the smart gags, and you finish off with the dumb gags. You have to get dumber and dumber as the evening goes on because that's what happens to the audience.

Beaks: And if the evening goes too long, you're sort of reduced to introducing presenters.

Coogan: Yes, it's diminishing returns. It never gets better. It's funny. Those awards ceremonies never work like movies. They never build to a really brilliant resolution. They just run out of steam.

Beaks: And everyone just wants to get the hell out of there.

Coogan: Yeah. So I don't think it's going to be any different. Hopefully, we can just make it less painful than usual.

Beaks: And you've got some films of your own you're working on. I'm really interested in the Eddie The Eagle project.

Coogan: Oh, that's not happening! People always ask if I'm doing something, and I say "If you see it on the internet, it's not going to happen." So that's definitely not happening.

Beaks: Okay. But I bet NIGHT AT THE [SMITHSONIAN] is happening.

Coogan: That is definitely happening. When you spend over $100 million on a movie, you're pretty guaranteed that it's going to come out at some point.

Beaks: Hail the "Independent Spirit"!

Coogan: Independent creativity is a great motivator, but people wanting their cash back is an even greater motivator. That's a fun gig to have, though. I think there's probably going to be more of them. Owen and I always have fun doing them. And we're cooking up something to do together, but I can't say too much about it.

Beaks: So then you're developing other scripts out here as well?

Coogan: Yeah. There are about three things I'm working on. There's something for HBO, which I'm working on with Justin Theroux. And there's two or three other movies that are in development, but I don't want to jinx them by saying what they are. There's about four or five projects that are moving forward with increasing momentum. I think by the end of this year it's going to be a different picture. I'm pretty confident and excited about the stuff that's coming up.

Beaks: Do you find yourself having to access different parts of your personality to appeal to a more mainstream American sensibility?

Coogan: No, you have to remain true to the voice of what you do. You just steer your stuff in a different way. When I do my live comedy in the U.K., a lot of the material is quite parochial; it's very localized and very, very British. But when I come here, I obviously collaborate with a lot of people who are American. So, naturally, when you collaborate with someone, that alters the emphasis of your stuff. But I always remain true to the kind of stuff that makes me laugh. I don't feel like I'm being jammed into stuff that isn't funny. But you also can't do that thing where you try to compromise everything you do so much that it becomes watered down. You've got to retain your unique perspective on stuff, but also tune in to a different environment. And that's fun and kind of exciting.

Beaks: You get a whole new set of things to parody.

Coogan: Yeah. It reenergizes you. There are different rhythms to language over here. But there also are enough funny people to work with over here to not worry about it.

See how Coogan fares this Saturday at 5 PM EST/2 PM PST on IFC. If you miss it, the show will be rebroadcast at 10 PM (EST and PST). Check out the nominees here.

Faithfully submitted,

Mr. Beaks