Mark Cunliffe 🇵🇸’s review published on Letterboxd:
It's hard to understand why, at the peak of his fame on TV with both Paul Calf and Alan Partridge having been met with critical and commercial acclaim, Steve Coogan's attempt at a third alter ego, that of the arrogant, womanising and misogynist Latin crooner Tony Ferrino, failed to find an audience.
I remember how some critics said that Ferrino was a good joke...when Lenny Henry did it as Theophilus P. Wildebeeste. No, sorry. Coogan's character was far funnier than Henry's, drawing on the comedian's acknowledged and much admired ability to fully depict and ground the world of his character. Here, Coogan's childhood in the 1970s watching Saturday night musical 'spectaculars' prove invaluable as he accurately replicates and satirises this cheesy aspect of light entertainment. Gary Wilmot even turns up in a Kenny Lynch or Sammy Davis Jr style guest appearance. This retro approach really tapped into the cultural zeitgeist too when you consider the resurgence of 60s and 70s lounge music and the appeal for that period in general in the Cool Britannia era of the mid to late 90s (Mike Flowers Pops, Austin Powers), and this makes the failure of Ferrino all the more mystifying when viewed today - surely this should have been catnip?
Perhaps the key to understanding the failure lies in the way in which the British press (something which Coogan has rightly railed against in recent years) build successes up, only to knock them down. With two extremely popular characters, Coogan was riding high. A third was clearly considered too greedy by the press who went on to influence the general public, curtailing the Ferrino character. There's also the natural cynicism we possess to consider too; many felt Coogan just used Tony Ferrino to showcase his ability to sing and weren't prepared to indulge him on this. In America, versatility is respected. In the UK, the public like to pigeonhole. You're a comedian, stick to the jokes. Such a narrow viewpoint wouldn't even consider intentionally funny songs in this case.
A shortlived character he may have been, and yes, it wasn't as funny as Partridge or Calf granted, but Tony Ferrino gave us two specials - this and a spoof interview one - an album (again, the sight of Coogan releasing music turned off audiences) and several appearances on shows ranging from kids TV such as Live and Kicking and charity telethons like Comic Relief. Indeed the latter is arguably the highpoint of Ferrino; a duet of his song Short Term Affair with Bjork. The original features here with Kim Wilde, but the Bjork version is far superior, by virtue of being just that little bit more wtf?