Zach Galifianakis created The Campaign character as a teen

Zach Galifianakis has been perfecting his character in new movie The Campaign since he was a teenager.

The Hangover star reveals his portrayal of conservative Marty Huggins in the political comedy came easily to him as he came up with the idea for the character years ago, and he's been practising it ever since.

He tells WENN, "I have been doing this character since high school and he was called the Effeminate Racist. It was a character I would perform for my dad and then through the years I did it in clubs here and there. Then it got to be in the movie with Will Ferrell so it's pretty exciting."

Zach Galifianakis recently admitted he was convinced he was destined to play a politician on the big screen as his uncle previously served as a congressman in North Carolina, but the funnyman had some other personal experience to draw on too.

He adds, "I was a volunteer for the Michael Dukakis (1988 presidential) campaign with my brother. We cold called people in North Carolina. I would say, 'My name is Zach Galifianakis and I'm calling about Michael Dukakis.' It sounded like a sentence about two dinosaurs!"