The Sacha Baron Cohen Poll: Ali G vs. Borat vs. Bruno

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Pills 'n' soap.

morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 15 July 2018 22:14 (five years ago) link

at age 4 a child processes images 80% faster than an adult, meaning essentially, like owls, they can see in slow motion

Dan S, Sunday, 15 July 2018 22:30 (five years ago) link

I find that hard to believe given the increase in myelination of the brain through adolescence.

an incoherent crustacean (MatthewK), Sunday, 15 July 2018 23:03 (five years ago) link

don't know if that was ironic, I was quoting from Larry Pratt (Gun Owners of America) in one of the SBC interviews

but genuinely interested to see someone else here who has an interest in neuroscience

Dan S, Sunday, 15 July 2018 23:09 (five years ago) link

I'm left wondering if Chris Morris would still get away with what he was doing 20 years ago with Brass Eye. Would think that once the word that somebody was going around pulling pranks like this it would mean it was difficult to get away with. Presumably there is a whole season of this Who Is America but is it automatically going to be short lived.

― Stevolende

chris morris isn't _interested_ in doing what he was doing 20 years ago with brass eye and appears to have some certain degree of self-awareness which has kept him from just remaking old black mirror episodes unto eschaton.

Arch Bacon (rushomancy), Sunday, 15 July 2018 23:10 (five years ago) link

It was more taht I would have assumed that once a few people in the media eye were caught out the same prankster wouldn't be able to continue. Hoping that levels of gullibility weren't that high.
BUt always funny to see people like Noel Edmonds make themselves look like idiots especially when the script in front of them or owrds they've been given at least presumably give the game away. I keep thinking about that 'it's a made up drug' which I would think would parse as this is fictional i.e. made up and presumably was read as it was created, if there was anything semantic involved.
But once it got on TV I would have thought the show wouldn't be able to keep catching people out indefinitely.
Is that me having more faith in human nature than is deserved.

Stevolende, Sunday, 15 July 2018 23:18 (five years ago) link

Is that me having more faith in human nature than is deserved.

― Stevolende

yes

Arch Bacon (rushomancy), Monday, 16 July 2018 00:11 (five years ago) link

The part of the episode where he plays the ex-mossad agent is 100% worth watching and gold from start to finish. The other ones aren't nearly as strong, unfortunately

josh az (2011nostalgia), Monday, 16 July 2018 04:59 (five years ago) link

This was funny but felt like rubbing salt in the wound to me, I mean the US is ducked as is. Laughed but felt sad as well

Ross, Monday, 16 July 2018 05:17 (five years ago) link

that was some of the funniest shit I've seen in a long time, absolutely incredible what these people go along with

niels, Monday, 16 July 2018 11:26 (five years ago) link

I'll be curious enough to stay apprised of who gets clowned on, but I don't think I have any desire to cringe through another round of SBC.

Sacha Baron Cohen pls trick my dad into saying he’s proud of me

— Sophia Benoit (@1followernodad) July 14, 2018

Simon H., Monday, 16 July 2018 14:57 (five years ago) link

Οὖτις kinda otm here

i liked Ali G and Borat and all that about 10 years ago. but even then the schtick was getting tired. too bad he already made The Dictator

for me im not really hankering for yet another place to promote/own horrible people & be cynical about politics. but for those reasons this will probably be a huge hit.

Hazy Maze Cave (Adam Bruneau), Monday, 16 July 2018 15:09 (five years ago) link

Is him looking like Freddie Mercury-with-a-shaved-head in the gun clips just a coincidence or a snook being openly cocked at Queen? He looks way more like Freddie than the fella that's actually now in the biopic.

piscesx, Monday, 16 July 2018 15:25 (five years ago) link

He was actually attached to the biopic for a while iirc

Simon H., Monday, 16 July 2018 15:28 (five years ago) link

Yeah that's what i mean..it ended badly.

piscesx, Monday, 16 July 2018 15:45 (five years ago) link

Yes, he died of an AIDS related illness before he could join the fight against badger culling.

Alan Alba (Tom D.), Monday, 16 July 2018 15:49 (five years ago) link

i like joe walsh justifying everything with "they flew me out and gave me an award"

my unnecessary take is that this isn't good, based on the clips. the small push that it takes to get someone to agree with opinions close enough to ones they've voiced support for in the past on cable news (+ point out that they don't know wiz khalifa and are dumb enough to record drops for a guy with a prosthetic) or try to out openly evil public and semi-public figures in their 70s and 80s as monsters isn't worth the trouble or funny because you could get a 24 year old defend western civilization youtuber to go in and elicit the same responses, spoken rationally into a galaxy s9 camera, and without some goofy character.

XxxxxxxXxxxxxxxxXxxxx (dylannn), Monday, 16 July 2018 16:15 (five years ago) link

but it's hilarious!

niels, Monday, 16 July 2018 16:27 (five years ago) link

Watched the first Sanders segment and don't know if I'll bother continuing. There's simply no joke in it

Number None, Monday, 16 July 2018 16:27 (five years ago) link

I think it improves but I can't remember one section and the middle class dinner isn't overly brilliant just a bit better than the bernie bit. Middle class dinner seems to be self consciously gross.

Stevolende, Monday, 16 July 2018 16:29 (five years ago) link

xp
also this is getting close to a handwaving liberal twitter take but, honestly, the fact that this—it's coming out after being hit over and over again with scenes of gun violence where i can't help but imagine children getting shot in the head and replaying scenes of violence in a country intractably fucked up about gun violence, when i can open youtube and they make sure i get to see steven crowder debunking gun myths etc. so and the fact that it goes after the softest targets (right wing gun nuts that have made a living saying offensive shit), seems out of touch with the culture when in the past few years shit is even more surreal and terrifying than lol a gun for babies in a teddy bear, and really isn't packed with jokes and never gets very funny, it's kinda unpleasant.

imho tricking bob barr into eating breast milk cheese is as political as sacha baron cohen.

XxxxxxxXxxxxxxxxXxxxx (dylannn), Monday, 16 July 2018 16:49 (five years ago) link

"should get" are the two words to end that sentence.

XxxxxxxXxxxxxxxxXxxxx (dylannn), Monday, 16 July 2018 16:51 (five years ago) link

really isn't packed with jokes and never gets very funny, it's kinda unpleasant

Satire's not actually supposed to be "funny," you know.

grawlix (unperson), Monday, 16 July 2018 17:06 (five years ago) link

This sounds as insufferable as expected, it sounds like he's done a Shatner's Bassoon ripoff as well. Fuck this tool!

calzino, Monday, 16 July 2018 17:08 (five years ago) link

satire huh so that's what this is.

mods can you delete my last three posts i clearly missed the point

XxxxxxxXxxxxxxxxXxxxx (dylannn), Monday, 16 July 2018 17:19 (five years ago) link

Sacha Baron Cohen's not actually supposed to be "funny," you know.

Alan Alba (Tom D.), Monday, 16 July 2018 17:19 (five years ago) link

it's quite possible that his ambitions/aims have evolved...

Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Who Is America” is much more disturbing than the surface-level of officials saying “give children weapons.”

(Brief thread)https://t.co/vmI6pk8pIs

— Ms. Entropy / سيدة الفتنة (@MsEntropy) July 16, 2018

the ignatius rock of ignorance (Dr Morbius), Monday, 16 July 2018 18:03 (five years ago) link

He has evolved beyond "Grimsby".

Alan Alba (Tom D.), Monday, 16 July 2018 18:07 (five years ago) link

It’s hard watching satire post-Trump. 2 years or so back, during every episode of Last Week Tonight about the NRA or Drumpf’s bankruptcies or whatever i was like “Wow how can he survive THIS…” and then you’d see it didn’t dent his image one jot somehow.

piscesx, Monday, 16 July 2018 19:10 (five years ago) link

Outraging liberals IS his image

Οὖτις, Monday, 16 July 2018 19:16 (five years ago) link

xp thought it was kind of obvious that the use of the character had as much to do with Israel and the terrorism paradigm as with gun control. I mean he makes a joke about shooting an arab gardener, that's pretty "surface level" but thanks twitter thread

Fedora Dostoyevsky (man alive), Wednesday, 18 July 2018 14:26 (five years ago) link

the sanders bit was pretty funny if you watched it with scott steiner's "steiner math" in your head (tbf tho it's always in my head)

challops trap house (Will M.), Thursday, 19 July 2018 03:29 (five years ago) link

Baron Cohen also came from a highly educated university iirc

tsrobodo, Thursday, 19 July 2018 10:44 (five years ago) link

THe show seems to be doing well enough that it can sponsor the Late Show. I'm not 100% sure what that entails but surprised tehy would have extra budget if its what I thought it was.

But it was tagged as sponsor on one of the last 2 nights.

Stevolende, Thursday, 19 July 2018 10:50 (five years ago) link

That's Showtime looking to take the lead from HBO. Between having Billions (better than Succession) and this show (more buzz than any recent HBO comedy), makes sense they'll spend to sponsor it.

... (Eazy), Thursday, 19 July 2018 14:07 (five years ago) link

I feel like his star fell a lot with the Borat movie, the Bruno movie and various dumb antics, but the Ali G show was legit very funny imo.

Fedora Dostoyevsky (man alive), Thursday, 19 July 2018 14:11 (five years ago) link

Borat movie was his peak, Bruno was when everyone got sick of him

flappy bird, Thursday, 19 July 2018 19:50 (five years ago) link

the wrestling-event sequence in Bruno was arguably funnier and more scandalous than anything in Borat - I remember virtually nothing else in/about it, though

Simon H., Thursday, 19 July 2018 19:53 (five years ago) link

super greg is peak

https://youtu.be/V8wrIgbiCgs

Allen (etaeoe), Thursday, 19 July 2018 19:59 (five years ago) link

xp I meant more his critical star than his popular star. IN the movie he sort of played out the Borat character by turning it into an SNL-style catch phrase guy with some shock humor thrown in. The sketches were much more clever.

Fedora Dostoyevsky (man alive), Thursday, 19 July 2018 20:07 (five years ago) link

Ali G show was one of the best DVD purchases I ever made, honestly

the segment where Bruno keeps making the Spring Breakers spell out PARTY is so classic. dude jumping off the van always makes me lose it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhP0tOm6yt0

frogbs, Thursday, 19 July 2018 20:11 (five years ago) link

I loved this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXuI3DqaCyw

Fedora Dostoyevsky (man alive), Thursday, 19 July 2018 20:12 (five years ago) link

Borat the sketch always sort of toed the line btw laughs at the expense of a foreign caricature vs laughs at the expense of Americans' naivite with respect to and ignorance of foreigners, but mostly leaned toward the latter. The movie really tipped things toward the former imo.

Fedora Dostoyevsky (man alive), Thursday, 19 July 2018 20:13 (five years ago) link

THis seems to be very hit and miss. I found myself laughing at a couple of bits but miss seems to outweigh things.
Californian vacuity seems to be a favourite topic of his, at least i'm assuming both of those women were califonian.
Way too much non-firing sketches anyway.
So wonder how many bad pub impressions it will trigger.

Stevolende, Monday, 23 July 2018 14:52 (five years ago) link

Agreed. First episode was pretty zzz. It's been done better many times before and in this batshit political climate not particularly shocking.

millmeister, Tuesday, 24 July 2018 15:31 (five years ago) link

The mosque segment was depressing.

Yerac, Tuesday, 24 July 2018 15:35 (five years ago) link

i take back some of my criticism after seeing the jason spencer thing.

XxxxxxxXxxxxxxxxXxxxx (dylannn), Tuesday, 24 July 2018 16:48 (five years ago) link

party clip frog linked is so good

iatee, Tuesday, 24 July 2018 17:10 (five years ago) link

he he yeah it's great

niels, Wednesday, 25 July 2018 06:19 (five years ago) link

Haha that Bruno clip.. haven’t seen it since it aired but I can still remember vividly the moment when the dude rips off the mic spoffle. Such a weird instantaneous moment of anger.

piscesx, Wednesday, 25 July 2018 10:06 (five years ago) link


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