Five Great Comedy Losers

A-ha! He's back. Alan Partridge, Britain's favourite radio DJ from Norwich, made a welcome return earlier this year courtesy of Foster's beer and you can find a selection of funny videos online.

The Mid Morning Matters series from Foster's Funny sees comedian Steve Coogan recreate one of his best-loved characters. Partridge is now presenting a radio show on North Norfolk Digital, a far cry from his former life as a TV chat show presenter.

Alan Partridge is one of those classic, fatally flawed comedy characters. Lacking any level of self-awareness, he's insecure, superficial, and socially awkward, and he has a misplaced high opinion of himself. You can't help but laugh and feel sympathy for him in equal measures.

These are all the ingredients you need to create a great comedy character.

Here are four more comedy characters whose insecurities, inflated egos and social inadequacies make them great comic losers...

David Brent (from The Office)

Ricky Gervais left us wanting more by only filming two series of The Office.

We all know or work with someone who is a little bit like David Brent. He is someone who has perfected the art of self-delusion. He thinks he's funny, clever and everyone's idea of the perfect manager...

In reality, he's patronising, petty and politically incorrect. So is there anything to like about him? Of course there is! Remember the awful moment he was made redundant? How uncomfortable was that to watch? We felt his pain. David Brent is missed; it would be great to see him back.

Richie (from Bottom)

If ever two people represented life at the bottom in recession-hit Britain in the early 1990s, it is Richie and Eddie in Bottom. Rik Mayall's Richie was pretentious, perverted, obsessed with sex and had ideas way above his station.

Living on benefits in a grotty bedsit in Hammersmith with Eddie was as good as it was ever going to get for Richie, even if he dreamed of something better.

Father Ted Crilly (from Father Ted)

Poor Father Ted, stuck on Craggy Ireland with the idiot that is Father Dougal, the drunk Father Hackett, and tea-obsessed housekeeper, Mrs Doyle.

It wasn't meant to be like this for Ted Crilly. Life on Craggy Island was punishment for allegedly spending a charity donation intended for a sick child on a trip to Las Vegas instead. As he said though, the money was only 'resting' in his account.

Like many comedy losers, unfortunately for Ted there were always forces he could never quite control that thwarted his ambitions.

Arnold Rimmer (from Red Dwarf)

Mean, bureaucratic and insecure - that is Arnold Rimmer. Constantly the butt of Lister's jokes, and hopelessly uncool compared to Cat, the uptight hologram is the last person you'd want to spend eternity with travelling through the universe.

Yes, he is irritating, but Red Dwarf wouldn't have been the same without him. Rimmer has to be every sci-fi lover's favourite comedy loser.