By now, you’ve probably seen the news stories about Sacha Baron Cohen tricking prominent conservative figures into giving him interviews – from former VP Dick Cheney to former VP candidate Sarah Palin, who is REAL mad.
But as the full first episode of his new show Who Is America? shows, his trickery goes so much farther than that – most spectacularly, the footage of sitting and former Republican representatives endorsing arming literal toddlers.
In his new mockumentary series, Cohen plays not one but four distinct characters: a far-right conservative and conspiracy theorist, in the vein of Alex Jones, who uses an electric scooter to ‘conserve his finite energy’; a liberal whose children are named Harvey Milk and Malala; an ex-con who makes art with his own bodily fluids; and an Israeli anti-terror expert.
One of the first things we see in the first episode is an interview between the “conservative” and Bernie Sanders. Bernie is unfailingly polite to the man, though he does challenge him on a few of his claims, and delivers the best (whether intentional or not) reactions to the camera throughout their interview.
Cohen’s liberal character goes to dinner with a pair of Republicans, where he talks about his children and his wife and their yurt. He mentions that his wife “took a porpoise lover” and that he “found it very difficult being cuckolded” by said porpoise.
The Republicans manage to empathise with him about this trying situation, with the wife reminding her husband not to pass judgement as he struggles to remain composed throughout the meal.
We see the ex-con get released from prison, and he then visits a small art gallery to show the owner his work, which he made in prison using his own faeces and ejaculate.
Confusingly, the gallery owner takes it completely in her stride, suggesting that the man’s work is “indicative of a sort of genius”. When he mentions that he collects the pubic hair of artists, and has Damien Hirst and Banksy’s pubic hair, she happily cuts her own off with her back to the camera and gives it to him. I’d like to see a show about this woman, tbh.
Crafternoon, anyone?
We spend the most time with the last character, the Israeli anti-terror expert. He has a plan to establish a ‘Kinderguardians’ program, where three-year-olds would be taught how to use weapons in self-defence.
To that end, he interviewed gun rights advocates like Philip Van Cleave of the Virginia Citizens Defense League and Larry Pratt of Gun Owners of America, as well as Republicans like former Senator Trent Lott and former Congressman Joe Walsh, and Congressmen Dana Rohrbacher and Joe Wilson – all as part of a fake award ceremony thanking them for their support of Israel.
Cohen manages to get all of these men to endorse this ‘Kinderguardians’ program, and it’s here that the episode really shines. Cohen is at his best when he’s quietly leading his subjects to their own executions; when he lets them hang themselves on their own words.
Congressman Matt Gaetz was the only one who declined to endorse a program he knew nothing about.
https://twitter.com/twpolk/status/1018372408074522624
That didn’t stop Van Cleave, who appears in a commercial for ‘Gunimals’, a line of stuffed animals with guns inside or attached to them. The range includes a stuffed bear for kids aged 12-24 months, and a Puppy Pistol.
Cohen also got Van Cleave to say that children would make effective soldiers because they don’t yet know right from wrong, and got Pratt to laugh at a comment about a Muslim man being shot for yelling ‘Allahu Akbar’ while praying, and the statement “it’s not rape if it’s your wife”.
Pratt also read this immortal bit of pseudoscience right off a teleprompter:
“Children under 5 also have elevated levels of the pheromone Blink-182, produced by the part of the liver known as Rita Ora. This allows nerve reflexes to travel along the Cardi B pathway to the Wiz Khalifa 40% faster, saving time & saving lives.”
While it’s hard to discredit people who already have very little credibility, Cohen does a thorough job of highlighting just how devoid of empathy these men are.
The first episode was at its strongest when it was satirising politicians, and I’m looking forward to seeing where Cohen takes that in this series, particularly after the news stories about him tricking Dick Cheney and Sarah Palin. He’s already made headlines for giving Republican figures a stupendously low moral bar to clear and then filming them as they run directly into it.
Ex-GOP Rep. Joe Walsh: Sacha Baron Cohen tricked me into saying some "pretty stupid" stuff (including arguing for the arming of preschoolers, apparently) https://t.co/lR8zDMBKcb
— Marlow Stern (@MarlowNYC) July 14, 2018
And just like that producers rushed me out of the studio as an apparent fight broke out. Strangest interview of my life – don't think they spoofed me very much – but I did get this award, thanks @showtime. #boycottShowtime pic.twitter.com/yTZcxTww6O
— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) July 11, 2018
For fans of Cohen, Who is America is a solid return to his character-based satire – and for fans of career-immolating trainwrecks, the interviews in this series are a must-watch.
The first episode is on Stan now, with new episodes dropping at 2pm each Sunday.