New Sacha Baron Cohen show

[up_the_hampipe]

Watching this on Channel 4 now. Pretty shit so far. Baffling that none of them have seen through the crap disguises, but they've all fairly obvious worked out it's a wind up and are just playing along. Zero subtlety.

Be patient, gold is coming.

[Utter Shit]

OK fair dos this gun stuff is great. The 'heads, shoulders, not the toes" song is bonkers, and accusing liberals of having an anti-tragedy agenda is so good.

[Tony Yeboah]

Was looking forward to this based on the Kindergarten Cop stuff, but the rest of it has been poor. The characters are unfunny and the guests are very polite in dealing with the oddballs so there is little humour in their reactions either.

[Utter Shit]

Yeah that second half was incredible and hilarious.

[JesusAndYourBush]

The gun part was great and made me genuine laugh out loud a few times, the earlier bits were a bit so-so.

[canadagoose]

Yeah, the gun part was the best - the first half made me cringe in the way I thought it would, and it was funny, but not quite as good as the second half. Did someone honestly say there was a "Wiz Khalifa" in the brain in the gun bit? Reminded me of "Shatner's Bassoon".

[Utter Shit]

He also mentioned the Cardi B part of the brain. Pretty sure there was another pop culture reference in that bit too.

[up_the_hampipe]

He also mentioned the Cardi B part of the brain. Pretty sure there was another pop culture reference in that bit too.

"Elevated levels of the pheromone Blink 182"

[Captain Z]

Something about Blink-182 and Rita Ora. Will have to watch that part again as I laughed out loud a few times. I echo the comments about the first half of the show, I actually felt myself warming to the republican couple.

[The Always Red Society]

Presumably Peter Baynham is involved in this?

[alan nagsworth]

Yeah, the pop culture references were Blink-182, Rita Ora, Cardi B and Wiz Khalifa. Loved that.

Personally I'm willing to stick with this if it even hits as much as this episode did, which I'd say is at least 60/40 in its favour. If some of the marks appear to be in on it, and some of it is a bit too silly, but on the flip side we get some genuine brilliance and shock factor like how Larry Pratt laughed when hearing a child had shot a muslim who was just praying, or "it's not rape if it's your wife", then I'll certainly remain satisfied with this. I also thought it was great how that segment was diffused with Cohen's narration "Now that I had this Pratt onboard", got a big laugh out of me.

Jeez, even the way his Erran Morad character walks, and sits manspreading to the most extreme degree, is very funny in and of itself.

[Petey Pate]

At the screening of Oxide Ghosts I attended, one of the questions Michael Cumming was asked in the Q&A was along the lines of 'why isn't Chris Morris considered a national treasure like Sacha Baron Cohen, who basically ripped off everything you guys did?' I thought this was pretty unfair, not only because the guy assumed that Cumming shared his negative opinion of Cohen, but also because Cohen is talented in his own right. That said, the 'kinderguardian' segment of Who Is America was clearly indebted to Brass Eye, which isn't a bad thing, as it was just as hilarious and shocking. 

The facial prosthetic worn for Erran Morad looks so ridiculous it's hard to imagine people being fooled by it. I recall reading an online post by the girl who dated Nathan Fielder in 'The Hero' episode of Nathan For You where she claimed that she could tell straight away he was wearing make up - even though this obviously doesn't come across in the edit.

[Pseudopath]

Presumably Peter Baynham is involved in this?

Yep. Consulting Producer apparently (along with Nathan Fielder).

[Ant Farm Keyboard]

The WGA only allows for a limited number of people to be credited as writers at the same time. Other people will be credited as consultants or consulting producers, so they still get residuals.

[Shaky]

At the screening of Oxide Ghosts I attended, one of the questions Michael Cumming was asked in the Q&A was along the lines of 'why isn't Chris Morris considered a national treasure like Sacha Baron Cohen, who basically ripped off everything you guys did?'

What did Cumming say to this, by the way?

[St_Eddie]

Yeah, the pop culture references were Blink-182, Rita Ora, Cardi B and Wiz Khalifa. Loved that.

Personally I'm willing to stick with this if it even hits as much as this episode did, which I'd say is at least 60/40 in its favour. If some of the marks appear to be in on it, and some of it is a bit too silly, but on the flip side we get some genuine brilliance and shock factor like how Larry Pratt laughed when hearing a child had shot a muslim who was just praying, or "it's not rape if it's your wife", then I'll certainly remain satisfied with this. I also thought it was great how that segment was diffused with Cohen's narration "Now that I had this Pratt onboard", got a big laugh out of me.

Jeez, even the way his Erran Morad character walks, and sits manspreading to the most extreme degree, is very funny in and of itself.

I endorse this comment.

[Wet Blanket]

I liked it well enough that I'll watch it again, but didn't think it was in the same league as Brass Eye or his own early Ali G stuff. Does nobody wonder why their interviewer is wearing a weird rubber mask? The gun guy (in the best segment) looked like a character out of Bo Selector with his daft fake chin.

The art gallery woman had either twigged it was a gag or was just generally game, both of which reflected well on her I thought. Also I had no idea Bernie Sanders sounded so much like Larry David.

Are there loads more characters to come or will it always be the same four? I think that will soon become repetitive if so.

[rasta-spouse]

Also I had no idea Bernie Sanders sounded so much like Larry David.

They're related.

[Utter Shit]

The facial prosthetic worn for Erran Morad looks so ridiculous it's hard to imagine people being fooled by it.

He looked like a crazed Queen superfan who's had surgery to look more like Freddie Mercury.

[up_the_hampipe]

I liked it well enough that I'll watch it again, but didn't think it was in the same league as Brass Eye or his own early Ali G stuff. Does nobody wonder why their interviewer is wearing a weird rubber mask? The gun guy (in the best segment) looked like a character out of Bo Selector with his daft fake chin.

They probably wonder why he looks so odd, but they're not going to be rude and question the integrity of his face.

[New Jack]

Go to truthbrary.org

[Petey Pate]

What did Cumming say to this, by the way?

His response was pretty diplomatic and considered. He said that he didn't think it was true that Morris wasn't hugely revered by many people, and that he's been very much active since Brass Eye. He also said that Morris' commitment to attention to detail and research means that it takes a long time for him to release new projects - and that he's currently working on a new film.

[Clownbaby]

Like pretty much everyone else I thought the gun section was the strongest bit. I'll keep watching this but I'm indifferent to it at the moment. It's annoying that he'd probably be too recognisable without the face prosthetics because they look very pale and not quite convincing. The beard on the guy in the art gallery was so wispy and fake looking and you could see the seam on the side of his head where the makeup met his skin. I'm really not a fan of prosthetic disguises.

With Borat, Bruno, Ali G etc the good thing about them was that it was his hair, outfits, behaviour as each character which was all that was needed. And you didn't have the strange doughy built up faces. But I guess if you weren't preparing you self for an interview with a man with a prosthetic face, it probably wouldn't even occur to you.

I did like when he said "it's not rape if it's your wife!" And the guy high fived him, genuinely giggled and said "this won't make it onto the show will it?" "Oh! No, no."

[popcorn]

I watched the Bernie Sanders clip. Wasn't sure what the point was.

So Cohen pretends to be an idiot, and we get to watch Sanders deal with someone being an idiot. Sanders responds in a fairly reasonable way: by pointing out that the man's argument is bizarre. Is this satire? What does it reveal?

[up_the_hampipe]

I watched the Bernie Sanders clip. Wasn't sure what the point was.

So Cohen pretends to be an idiot, and we get to watch Sanders deal with someone being an idiot. Sanders responds in a fairly reasonable way: by pointing out that the man's argument is bizarre. Is this satire? What does it reveal?

Just that Sanders was perhaps fooled into thinking this character was real. That's all it serves in that instance, as with a lot his stuff. The segments where he's tricking Republicans have more of a mission behind them.

[Petey Pate]

Someone else pointed out that the Hebrew on Eran Morad's t-shirt is the wrong way around (reading left to right), which I'm guessing is a subtle gag on Sacha Baron Cohen's part. Either way, the Republican congressman weren't exactly savvy enough to notice.

[popcorn]

Just that Sanders was perhaps fooled into thinking this character was real. That's all it serves in that instance, as with a lot his stuff.

Mm. In which case I find that it a pointless and basically mean-spirited exercise.

Sanders doesn't outright accuse Cohen of being an act - why would he? that's a fast way to look like a dick, if you're wrong - but he does at least say "your argument is bizarre". He's intellectually honest.

It reminds me of the bit in Brass Eye where Morris asks a drug dealer for made-up drugs and the guy's just like "I don't know what the fuck you're on about, fuck off". He's one of the few people (the only?) in the entire show who doesn't pretend to know what Morris is talking about. He's completely bullshit-free. And therefore I sort of think the bit fails. It didn't work. It didn't reveal anything.

[up_the_hampipe]

Mm. In which case I find that it a pointless and basically mean-spirited exercise.

Sanders doesn't outright accuse Cohen of being an act - why would he? that's a fast way to look like a dick, if you're wrong - but he does at least say "your argument is bizarre". He's intellectually honest.

It reminds me of the bit in Brass Eye where Morris asks a drug dealer for made-up drugs and the guy's just like "I don't know what the fuck you're on about, fuck off". He's one of the few people (the only?) in the entire show who doesn't pretend to know what Morris is talking about. He's completely bullshit-free. And therefore I sort of think the bit fails. It didn't work. It didn't reveal anything.

Well, that's your own problem with that type of comedy really. Cohen has been doing this for about 20 years. It's just about putting someone in front of an absurd character they think is real and seeing how they react. I don't think a lot of them are particularly mean-spirited.

[popcorn]

Well, that's your own problem with that type of comedy really.

That's that conversation dead then.

[popcorn]

A few years ago I was briefly a lodger in a home belonging to an essentially evil woman who made a sort of sinister living writing insane rightwing opinion pieces for newspapers and calling into radio programs to explain why gay people are evil. Sort of like a Katie Hopkins who never made it big. She used make me drink microwaved espresso with her for hours while she chain-smoked and told me about how the Japanese are a sadistic race.

Anyway, I later discovered that she was one of Ali G's interviewees. And he made her look like a fucking idiot. So that was better than the Sanders thing.