WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.839 Welcome to the Deep Dive. Today we are immersing 00:00:03.839 --> 00:00:07.299 ourselves in the really extraordinary and let's 00:00:07.299 --> 00:00:10.599 be honest, often excruciatingly awkward world 00:00:10.599 --> 00:00:13.619 of Sacha Baron Cohen. This is a figure who's 00:00:13.619 --> 00:00:16.140 built an entire like multi -decade career out 00:00:16.140 --> 00:00:19.800 of creating chaos, using, you know, highly sophisticated 00:00:19.800 --> 00:00:22.859 deception to force people to confront and often 00:00:22.859 --> 00:00:25.379 proudly display their most uncomfortable truths. 00:00:25.620 --> 00:00:27.640 That's absolutely right. Cohen is, well, he's 00:00:27.640 --> 00:00:29.859 far more than just a comedian in a funny costume, 00:00:29.940 --> 00:00:32.899 isn't he? Yeah. He is essentially a kind of satirical 00:00:32.899 --> 00:00:35.899 surgeon. Yeah. He uses his... fictional alter 00:00:35.899 --> 00:00:39.159 egos, you know, Ali G, Borat Sagdiev, Bruno Gayhard, 00:00:39.359 --> 00:00:43.159 and Admiral General Hafez Al -Adin as these incredibly 00:00:43.159 --> 00:00:45.939 precise instruments. Right. His entire methodology, 00:00:46.079 --> 00:00:48.179 it seems, designed to expose genuine societal 00:00:48.179 --> 00:00:51.700 flaws, bigotry, prejudice, making subjects reveal 00:00:51.700 --> 00:00:53.200 what they really believe when they think they're 00:00:53.200 --> 00:00:55.000 in a safe space, or maybe just dealing with someone 00:00:55.000 --> 00:00:57.200 ignorant. And our mission today, looking at this, 00:00:57.200 --> 00:00:59.719 well, pretty... dense stack of sources we've 00:00:59.719 --> 00:01:02.100 got is to really look past the punchlines past 00:01:02.100 --> 00:01:04.659 the ridiculous accents we're analyzing his whole 00:01:04.659 --> 00:01:07.219 arc from his academic background through his 00:01:07.219 --> 00:01:10.599 meticulous it's almost spy level isn't it preparation 00:01:10.599 --> 00:01:13.459 his methods of deception oh absolutely the massive 00:01:13.459 --> 00:01:16.379 legal battles that follow him everywhere and 00:01:16.379 --> 00:01:19.879 then That eventual shift into, well, serious 00:01:19.879 --> 00:01:22.799 acting and public activism. We're tracking a 00:01:22.799 --> 00:01:26.319 career that spans, what, from 1995 right up to 00:01:26.319 --> 00:01:28.359 now. And you're tracking a really critically 00:01:28.359 --> 00:01:30.379 acclaimed provocateur. I mean, the quick facts 00:01:30.379 --> 00:01:32.400 alone tell a story of high achievement alongside, 00:01:32.719 --> 00:01:36.359 well, considerable risk. Born Sacha Noem, Baron 00:01:36.359 --> 00:01:40.290 Cohen, 1971, London. He hasn't just achieved 00:01:40.290 --> 00:01:42.810 fame. He's got institutional recognition for 00:01:42.810 --> 00:01:45.409 basically elaborate trickery. It's kind of amazing 00:01:45.409 --> 00:01:47.609 when you put it like that. It is. Two BAFTA TV 00:01:47.609 --> 00:01:49.629 awards, three Golden Globes, major nominations 00:01:49.629 --> 00:01:51.549 across comedy and drama, three Academy Awards, 00:01:51.689 --> 00:01:54.689 nods, six primetime Emmy nominations. It's a 00:01:54.689 --> 00:01:56.909 remarkable tally for someone whose main job is 00:01:56.909 --> 00:01:59.450 essentially high stakes political performance 00:01:59.450 --> 00:02:02.370 art. Okay, so let's unpack where this intensity, 00:02:02.950 --> 00:02:05.269 this rigor comes from. Because when you look 00:02:05.269 --> 00:02:07.769 at the characters, whether it's Ali G, the suburban 00:02:07.769 --> 00:02:11.270 chav, or Borat, the supposedly anti -Semitic 00:02:11.270 --> 00:02:14.509 Kazakh journalist, you realize this isn't just 00:02:14.509 --> 00:02:17.210 accidental comedy. No, not at all. All his foundation 00:02:17.210 --> 00:02:20.069 is, like you said, intensely academic. And it 00:02:20.069 --> 00:02:23.530 seems deeply informed by a really profound personal 00:02:23.530 --> 00:02:26.030 history. This is where the intellectual engine 00:02:26.030 --> 00:02:28.849 really starts, I think. He comes from a strong, 00:02:28.909 --> 00:02:31.889 established English family, specifically an Ashkenazi 00:02:31.889 --> 00:02:34.009 Jewish family. Right. And for listeners who might 00:02:34.009 --> 00:02:36.810 not know, Ashkenazi refers to Jews whose ancestors 00:02:36.810 --> 00:02:39.810 came from Central and Eastern Europe. Often there's 00:02:39.810 --> 00:02:42.430 a strong cultural lineage there tied to historical 00:02:42.430 --> 00:02:45.330 displacement. His father was an editor, owned 00:02:45.330 --> 00:02:48.030 a clothing store, and had roots in Belarus. And 00:02:48.030 --> 00:02:50.990 his mother's side. That really emphasizes the 00:02:50.990 --> 00:02:52.870 kind of historical weight he seems to carry, 00:02:52.969 --> 00:02:55.189 doesn't it? It really does. She was a photographer 00:02:55.189 --> 00:02:57.949 born in British Mandatory Palestine back in 1939. 00:02:58.469 --> 00:03:01.229 Her parents were German Jewish. And crucially, 00:03:01.310 --> 00:03:04.590 they had fled the Nazis in 1936. So this heritage, 00:03:04.669 --> 00:03:07.590 this direct, you know, intergenerational experience 00:03:07.590 --> 00:03:12.150 of fleeing persecution, witnessing the absolute 00:03:12.150 --> 00:03:15.069 darkest parts of European history. It feels absolutely 00:03:15.069 --> 00:03:17.389 critical to understanding the sort of moral mission 00:03:17.389 --> 00:03:20.229 that seems to drive his later most confrontational 00:03:20.229 --> 00:03:22.729 work, especially Borat. That serious intellectual 00:03:22.729 --> 00:03:25.030 foundation, it's mirrored in his education too, 00:03:25.090 --> 00:03:26.949 right? Absolutely. He went to the Independent 00:03:26.949 --> 00:03:29.250 Catholic School, St. Columbus College, then finished 00:03:29.250 --> 00:03:31.610 secondary at Haberdasher's Astus Boys School, 00:03:31.710 --> 00:03:34.210 and then came Cambridge, Crease College, studied 00:03:34.210 --> 00:03:37.629 history, graduated in 93 with upper second class 00:03:37.629 --> 00:03:40.129 honors. And his academic focus wasn't just, you 00:03:40.129 --> 00:03:42.930 know, broad history. It was laser focused and 00:03:42.930 --> 00:03:45.050 almost predictive of his career. Looking back, 00:03:45.189 --> 00:03:47.849 his thesis was on the role of Jewish activists 00:03:47.849 --> 00:03:50.189 in the American civil rights movement, a really 00:03:50.189 --> 00:03:52.889 complex, often controversial topic. That specific 00:03:52.889 --> 00:03:55.229 research area is so telling, isn't it? Yeah. 00:03:55.310 --> 00:03:58.330 It's a deep dive into how a minority group integrates, 00:03:58.349 --> 00:04:01.789 how they navigate conflict opposition. Specifically, 00:04:01.930 --> 00:04:04.569 how they use leverage and activism, often through 00:04:04.569 --> 00:04:07.310 unconventional means, to fight for justice in 00:04:07.310 --> 00:04:10.550 a really polarized society. So that analytical 00:04:10.550 --> 00:04:13.990 framework. using marginalized or othered identities 00:04:13.990 --> 00:04:16.810 to confront established power structures. That's 00:04:16.810 --> 00:04:18.769 the blueprint. It's the intellectual blueprint 00:04:18.769 --> 00:04:21.269 for every single character he's ever created. 00:04:21.550 --> 00:04:24.389 He was analyzing social leverage long before 00:04:24.389 --> 00:04:26.769 he ever put on, you know, the fluorescent tracksuit 00:04:26.769 --> 00:04:28.910 or the gray mustache. And he wasn't just reading 00:04:28.910 --> 00:04:31.550 history. He was performing, too, even back then. 00:04:31.709 --> 00:04:33.689 Right. At Cambridge, he was in the Amateur Dramatic 00:04:33.689 --> 00:04:35.889 Club. Yeah. Did classics like Fiddler on the 00:04:35.889 --> 00:04:39.829 Roof, Cyrano de Bergerac. also acted with Habonim 00:04:39.829 --> 00:04:42.529 Dror, the labor youth movement. Habonim Dror. 00:04:42.670 --> 00:04:44.990 That's important context, isn't it? A socialist 00:04:44.990 --> 00:04:47.930 Zionist youth movement. Exactly. It shows an 00:04:47.930 --> 00:04:50.089 early active connection to organized political 00:04:50.089 --> 00:04:53.189 and ideological communities. And after university, 00:04:53.430 --> 00:04:56.350 he deepened that commitment. Spent a year volunteering 00:04:56.350 --> 00:04:59.079 on Kibbutzim. In Israel, those collective settlements, 00:04:59.240 --> 00:05:02.600 Rosh Hanukkah and Beit HaMik specifically. So 00:05:02.600 --> 00:05:04.779 he wasn't just your typical British university 00:05:04.779 --> 00:05:08.000 comedian. He was actively engaging in these quite 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:10.639 complex geopolitical and cultural spaces early 00:05:10.639 --> 00:05:13.279 on. But when he talks about his comedic DNA, 00:05:13.420 --> 00:05:16.379 his influences, it's interesting. He doesn't 00:05:16.379 --> 00:05:19.139 really point to the classic British satirical 00:05:19.139 --> 00:05:21.199 establishment like Monty Python, although he 00:05:21.199 --> 00:05:24.079 was a fan. No, he singles out one figure above 00:05:24.079 --> 00:05:26.319 all. Peter Sellers. Peter Sellers. Yeah, this 00:05:26.319 --> 00:05:28.720 is like the Rosetta Stone for understanding his 00:05:28.720 --> 00:05:31.139 performance method. Sellers, you know, famous 00:05:31.139 --> 00:05:34.139 for Clouseau, Dr. Strangelove. Incredible commitment 00:05:34.139 --> 00:05:37.720 to character accents. Precisely. And Cohen explicitly 00:05:37.720 --> 00:05:41.060 admired Sellers' ability to be, quote, incredibly 00:05:41.060 --> 00:05:44.079 realistic actor who was also hilarious and who 00:05:44.079 --> 00:05:46.699 managed to bridge the gap between comedy and 00:05:46.699 --> 00:05:50.300 satire. That bridge. Comedy and satire, that 00:05:50.300 --> 00:05:52.100 feels like the key distinction for Cohen. It 00:05:52.100 --> 00:05:54.699 is. He called Sellers the most seminal force 00:05:54.699 --> 00:05:57.959 in shaping his early ideas on comedy. It wasn't 00:05:57.959 --> 00:06:00.300 just after laughs. He wanted to use realistic 00:06:00.300 --> 00:06:03.000 performance to trick the audience and, crucially, 00:06:03.079 --> 00:06:06.259 his interviewees into suspending disbelief just 00:06:06.259 --> 00:06:08.399 long enough for the satire to hit home. And that 00:06:08.399 --> 00:06:10.639 realism, that wasn't just instinct, right? He 00:06:10.639 --> 00:06:13.910 actually trained for it. He did. Formally, after 00:06:13.910 --> 00:06:16.310 Cambridge, he went to Paris, studied at the legendary 00:06:16.310 --> 00:06:19.230 École Philippe Gaulier to clown train. Clown 00:06:19.230 --> 00:06:21.509 training. Now, most people hear that and think, 00:06:21.509 --> 00:06:24.329 you know, red noses, big shoes. Right. But the 00:06:24.329 --> 00:06:26.910 Gaulier method is much deeper. Yeah. It's about 00:06:26.910 --> 00:06:30.870 theatrical presence, impulse and really importantly, 00:06:31.009 --> 00:06:33.920 mask work. finding the truth within an absurd 00:06:33.920 --> 00:06:35.980 character. And Gallia himself apparently thought 00:06:35.980 --> 00:06:37.639 he was pretty good. Yeah, described him as a 00:06:37.639 --> 00:06:40.860 good clown, full of spirit. And Cohen credits 00:06:40.860 --> 00:06:43.759 that training completely. He said, without him, 00:06:43.779 --> 00:06:45.800 I really do doubt whether I would have had any 00:06:45.800 --> 00:06:48.699 success in my field. Wow, okay. So that foundation, 00:06:49.019 --> 00:06:52.160 formal performance, mask work, that explains 00:06:52.160 --> 00:06:54.980 why his characters aren't just impressions. They're 00:06:54.980 --> 00:06:57.180 fully constructed, psychologically consistent 00:06:57.180 --> 00:07:00.040 beings that effectively hide the man's actual 00:07:00.040 --> 00:07:03.139 intent. And that enables the deception that really 00:07:03.139 --> 00:07:05.500 defines his whole career. That rigorous commitment. 00:07:05.600 --> 00:07:08.259 Yeah. Rooted in history and clown training. That's 00:07:08.259 --> 00:07:10.480 what let him weaponize surprise so effectively. 00:07:11.290 --> 00:07:13.329 Let's start with the character that really launched 00:07:13.329 --> 00:07:16.589 him globally. Ali G. Right. Ali G. Alistair Graham. 00:07:16.750 --> 00:07:18.889 He was this embodiment of a cultural collision, 00:07:19.009 --> 00:07:21.370 wasn't he? A fictional stereotype, white British 00:07:21.370 --> 00:07:24.329 suburban guy, the chav, wholeheartedly mimicking 00:07:24.329 --> 00:07:27.550 urban black British hip hop, Jamaican culture, 00:07:27.790 --> 00:07:31.149 speaking in that exaggerated rude boy style and 00:07:31.149 --> 00:07:33.370 claiming to be from Staines of all places. Staines, 00:07:33.470 --> 00:07:36.230 massive. Yeah. Deeply conservative suburban town. 00:07:36.329 --> 00:07:38.889 The character debuted in these little two minute 00:07:38.889 --> 00:07:41.540 sketches on the 11 o 'clock show. in 98. And 00:07:41.540 --> 00:07:44.279 blew up fast. Instantly. Led to die on a G show 00:07:44.279 --> 00:07:47.459 in 2000, won a BAFTA, became a cultural icon. 00:07:47.560 --> 00:07:49.779 He was the limo driver in Madonna's music video 00:07:49.779 --> 00:07:52.040 that same year. The initial satire, especially 00:07:52.040 --> 00:07:54.439 in Britain, was really targeting cultural appropriation, 00:07:54.459 --> 00:07:56.560 right? And that hilarious disconnect between 00:07:56.560 --> 00:07:59.439 the suburban reality and the adopted street persona. 00:07:59.699 --> 00:08:01.959 Exactly. But the real insight for us, the thing 00:08:01.959 --> 00:08:04.519 that defines Cohen's whole modus operandi is 00:08:04.519 --> 00:08:08.079 that methodology of deception. The incredibly 00:08:08.079 --> 00:08:10.319 elaborate ritual he and his team figured out 00:08:10.319 --> 00:08:13.259 to consistently fool respected, usually cautious 00:08:13.259 --> 00:08:15.600 people, senior politicians, business leaders, 00:08:15.759 --> 00:08:19.600 celebs, into doing these ridiculous, often reputation 00:08:19.600 --> 00:08:21.639 -destroying interviews. This is the really fascinating 00:08:21.639 --> 00:08:24.459 part, almost like spycraft. It is. It's forensic. 00:08:25.019 --> 00:08:28.199 Sources like Rolling Stone documented this multi 00:08:28.199 --> 00:08:31.699 -layered trick. It relied on misdirection, exploiting 00:08:31.699 --> 00:08:34.639 the subject's professional expectations. Such 00:08:34.639 --> 00:08:37.360 a Baron Cohen, dressed as Ali G, would enter 00:08:37.360 --> 00:08:39.580 the interview space first. But he wouldn't act 00:08:39.580 --> 00:08:42.419 like the star. No, he'd act like an inconspicuous 00:08:42.419 --> 00:08:44.960 crew member, maybe carrying gear, fiddling with 00:08:44.960 --> 00:08:46.500 the camera, something like that. And the real 00:08:46.500 --> 00:08:48.639 deception was aimed at the subject's handlers, 00:08:48.759 --> 00:08:51.799 wasn't it? Absolutely. The interviewee was led 00:08:51.799 --> 00:08:54.879 to believe that a different person, some serious 00:08:54.879 --> 00:08:57.080 -looking, well -dressed guy in a suit who came 00:08:57.080 --> 00:08:59.809 with the crew, That guy was going to conduct 00:08:59.809 --> 00:09:02.789 the actual serious interview for broadcast. Okay. 00:09:03.070 --> 00:09:05.470 So then Baron Cohen, still dressed as Ali G., 00:09:05.470 --> 00:09:07.889 sits down with the interviewee and asks a few 00:09:07.889 --> 00:09:10.129 preliminary questions. So the subjects are completely 00:09:10.129 --> 00:09:12.129 off guard. They think it's just a sound check, 00:09:12.350 --> 00:09:14.649 camera test. Or maybe just a quick disposable 00:09:14.649 --> 00:09:17.429 chat before the real interview screets. They're 00:09:17.429 --> 00:09:20.110 relaxed, maybe a bit amused by this silly guy, 00:09:20.330 --> 00:09:22.470 but they haven't put up their political or media 00:09:22.470 --> 00:09:25.470 defenses yet. And then the trap springs? Right 00:09:25.470 --> 00:09:28.240 before the cameras officially roll. They reveal 00:09:28.240 --> 00:09:30.399 the suited man is just the director or producer 00:09:30.399 --> 00:09:33.840 and Ali G is the actual main interviewer. At 00:09:33.840 --> 00:09:36.639 that point, the subject's invested time. They've 00:09:36.639 --> 00:09:38.460 probably signed releases. There's a live camera 00:09:38.460 --> 00:09:41.480 crew. They're psychologically cornered. It's 00:09:41.480 --> 00:09:43.899 masterful manipulation, as you said, making it 00:09:43.899 --> 00:09:46.620 incredibly hard, maybe impossible for them to 00:09:46.620 --> 00:09:49.190 back out right then. Without admitting they'd 00:09:49.190 --> 00:09:50.909 been totally fooled and canceling this whole 00:09:50.909 --> 00:09:53.769 big production. Exactly. Cohen ensured the interview 00:09:53.769 --> 00:09:56.350 went ahead, often with incredibly damaging results 00:09:56.350 --> 00:09:59.330 for the subject. And the same sophisticated method, 00:09:59.529 --> 00:10:02.049 he perfected it and then applied it to his most 00:10:02.049 --> 00:10:04.230 famous and arguably most explosive character. 00:10:04.830 --> 00:10:07.929 Borat Zagdiev. Borat, the Kazakh journalist. 00:10:08.210 --> 00:10:10.429 He evolved from an earlier character, Alexei 00:10:10.429 --> 00:10:13.230 Crickler, back in 96. Right. But became a global 00:10:13.230 --> 00:10:16.190 phenomenon with the 2006 film Borat, Cultural 00:10:16.190 --> 00:10:18.850 Learnings of America for Make Benefit, Glorious 00:10:18.850 --> 00:10:21.210 Nation of Kazakhstan. Borat's comedic strategy 00:10:21.210 --> 00:10:25.330 is just pure, unadulterated confrontation built 00:10:25.330 --> 00:10:28.370 on that outsider persona. His humor relies on 00:10:28.370 --> 00:10:31.169 mocking societal norms by presenting these Utterly 00:10:31.169 --> 00:10:33.570 outrageous, often repulsive viewpoints, violating 00:10:33.570 --> 00:10:37.090 taboos, using gross vulgarity. In the 2006 film, 00:10:37.210 --> 00:10:39.870 The Mockumentary Format, it explicitly used interviews 00:10:39.870 --> 00:10:42.389 with various Americans to poke fun at the culture, 00:10:42.470 --> 00:10:44.929 but also to expose really deep -seated flaws. 00:10:45.309 --> 00:10:49.169 Sexism, racism, homophobia, anti -Semitism, jingoism. 00:10:49.210 --> 00:10:51.789 All of it. Which brings us right to the core 00:10:51.789 --> 00:10:54.610 ethical intellectual dilemma of his career, really. 00:10:54.769 --> 00:10:57.590 That intense controversy around Borat's own... 00:10:57.799 --> 00:11:00.779 fictional, blatant anti -Semitism, which Cohen 00:11:00.779 --> 00:11:03.600 used not as a character flaw, but as a deliberate 00:11:03.600 --> 00:11:05.759 strategic tool. This is the moment we really 00:11:05.759 --> 00:11:07.320 need to spend some time on because it connects 00:11:07.320 --> 00:11:09.620 directly back to his Cambridge thesis, his family 00:11:09.620 --> 00:11:12.399 history, all of that. His defense of using Borat's 00:11:12.399 --> 00:11:15.279 anti -Semitism was explicit, deeply intentional. 00:11:15.799 --> 00:11:18.059 Baron Cohen argues that by adopting this character, 00:11:18.259 --> 00:11:21.679 Borat acts as a tool, a tool to let unsuspecting 00:11:21.679 --> 00:11:24.019 bigots lower their guard and expose their own 00:11:24.019 --> 00:11:26.240 prejudice. The character is basically bait. But 00:11:26.240 --> 00:11:28.960 it went deeper than just exposing outright bigotry, 00:11:28.960 --> 00:11:31.779 didn't it? He talked about indifference. Exactly. 00:11:31.779 --> 00:11:33.940 That was the more profound philosophical argument. 00:11:34.100 --> 00:11:37.220 He directly connected his method to the historian 00:11:37.220 --> 00:11:40.220 Ian Kershaw, quoting his assessment that the 00:11:40.220 --> 00:11:42.740 path to Auschwitz was paved with indifference. 00:11:43.019 --> 00:11:45.799 Wow. And if you look at that performance, the 00:11:45.799 --> 00:11:48.559 infamous song, In My Country There Is Problem 00:11:48.559 --> 00:11:51.879 or Throw the Jew Down the Well in the 2006 film. 00:11:52.429 --> 00:11:54.850 This principle is just laid bare. Yeah, that 00:11:54.850 --> 00:11:58.610 scene is unforgettable. Borat, performing in 00:11:58.610 --> 00:12:00.590 front of this small working class bar audience, 00:12:00.830 --> 00:12:03.710 singing overtly anti -Semitic lyrics, asking 00:12:03.710 --> 00:12:06.350 the audience to sing along, celebrate the violence. 00:12:06.669 --> 00:12:09.269 And the crowd. They don't recoil. They cheer. 00:12:09.389 --> 00:12:12.009 They sing along enthusiastically. It's really 00:12:12.009 --> 00:12:14.090 jarring to think about that level of premeditated 00:12:14.090 --> 00:12:16.889 intellectual manipulation just to get that reaction 00:12:16.889 --> 00:12:19.600 right. He suggested that the audience members 00:12:19.600 --> 00:12:21.960 cheering didn't necessarily see themselves as 00:12:21.960 --> 00:12:24.340 raging anti -Semites. Their indifference. Their 00:12:24.340 --> 00:12:26.960 indifference. Their willingness to participate 00:12:26.960 --> 00:12:29.879 in this violent genocidal fantasy just because 00:12:29.879 --> 00:12:32.600 they thought it was funny or harmless. That was 00:12:32.600 --> 00:12:35.639 the real target. The character exposed indifference 00:12:35.639 --> 00:12:38.740 to prejudice just as much as maybe even more 00:12:38.740 --> 00:12:41.740 than actual bigotry. That's the high wire activist 00:12:41.740 --> 00:12:43.759 satire, isn't it? It's like investigative theater 00:12:43.759 --> 00:12:46.919 with this explicit moral historical core. Totally. 00:12:46.960 --> 00:12:49.600 But the character was so effective, so globally 00:12:49.600 --> 00:12:52.299 exposed that the element of surprise started 00:12:52.299 --> 00:12:54.820 to vanish. He actually had to announce Borat's 00:12:54.820 --> 00:12:57.940 retirement in 2007, said the public had become 00:12:57.940 --> 00:13:00.659 too familiar, making that necessary deception 00:13:00.659 --> 00:13:03.039 impossible. But retirement's never permanent 00:13:03.039 --> 00:13:05.299 in comedy, is it? Apparently not. He won the 00:13:05.299 --> 00:13:07.620 Golden Globe for Best Actor in 2007 for the first 00:13:07.620 --> 00:13:10.320 film, got an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted 00:13:10.320 --> 00:13:12.779 Screenplay. Huge recognition. And then he successfully 00:13:12.779 --> 00:13:16.039 resurrected Borat for the 2020 sequel, Borat's 00:13:16.039 --> 00:13:19.000 subsequent movie film, proving that even familiarity 00:13:19.000 --> 00:13:21.220 can be overcome, especially in our current age 00:13:21.220 --> 00:13:23.179 of, you know, increased political polarization. 00:13:23.799 --> 00:13:26.980 He even appeared as Borat at the 2022 Kennedy 00:13:26.980 --> 00:13:29.940 Center Honors, which shows just how much the 00:13:29.940 --> 00:13:33.769 character despite the controversy, became institutionally 00:13:33.769 --> 00:13:36.490 accepted in a way. In between those Borat outings, 00:13:36.490 --> 00:13:40.690 though, there was Bruno. Bruno Gayhart. Ah, yes, 00:13:40.789 --> 00:13:44.470 Bruno. The flamboyantly gay Austrian fashion 00:13:44.470 --> 00:13:47.350 show presenter. Bruno's satirical targets felt 00:13:47.350 --> 00:13:49.330 a bit different, didn't they? More focused on 00:13:49.330 --> 00:13:51.370 the fashion world, the clubbing scene. Yeah, 00:13:51.429 --> 00:13:55.279 the vacuity, the utter inanity, and... Often 00:13:55.279 --> 00:13:57.960 the hidden homophobia within those worlds. Bruno 00:13:57.960 --> 00:14:00.379 is defined by those specific catchphrases. I 00:14:00.379 --> 00:14:04.639 don't think so. Yeah. This character also pushed 00:14:04.639 --> 00:14:07.080 boundaries of taste, maybe even more extremely 00:14:07.080 --> 00:14:09.259 than Borat sometimes, like that interview prompt 00:14:09.259 --> 00:14:11.259 where he tried to get a guest to choose between 00:14:11.259 --> 00:14:13.399 keep them in the ghetto or train to Auschwitz. 00:14:13.559 --> 00:14:16.299 Just trying to force that reaction of moral outrage. 00:14:16.620 --> 00:14:18.679 It's interesting, though, while his whole career 00:14:18.679 --> 00:14:21.679 is built on unscripted chaos. Bruno was responsible 00:14:21.679 --> 00:14:24.159 for one of his most famous, and actually confirmed, 00:14:24.539 --> 00:14:28.620 staged The Eminem incident. The aerial drop onto 00:14:28.620 --> 00:14:32.860 Eminem at the 2009 MTV Movie Awards. Descending 00:14:32.860 --> 00:14:35.679 from the ceiling, landing buttocks first onto 00:14:35.679 --> 00:14:38.159 the rapper's face. Became instant viral legend, 00:14:38.340 --> 00:14:41.039 and Eminem later admitted it was all pre -planned 00:14:41.039 --> 00:14:43.580 with Cohen and the team. Right, which shows this 00:14:43.580 --> 00:14:46.639 secondary layer to his work sometimes. The chaos 00:14:46.639 --> 00:14:49.100 can be meticulously controlled, pre -negotiated, 00:14:49.100 --> 00:14:51.700 just for maximum promotional impact, even while 00:14:51.700 --> 00:14:54.179 the core of the film still relies on duping unknowing 00:14:54.179 --> 00:14:56.559 people. And the stakes were huge financially, 00:14:56.840 --> 00:15:00.220 too. Universal reportedly paid $42 .5 million 00:15:00.220 --> 00:15:03.159 for the Bruno film rights after a bidding war. 00:15:03.379 --> 00:15:06.480 Wow. OK, so after the height of that mockumentary 00:15:06.480 --> 00:15:09.799 era, Cohen made a really clear structural shift 00:15:09.799 --> 00:15:12.899 in 2012 with The Dictator, playing Admiral General 00:15:12.899 --> 00:15:15.700 Aladin. Yes, this was a pivotal moment. He moved 00:15:15.700 --> 00:15:17.820 completely away from the hidden camera, unwitting 00:15:17.820 --> 00:15:20.889 interviewee format. This is a conventional, fully 00:15:20.889 --> 00:15:23.370 scripted narrative feature film. The satire was 00:15:23.370 --> 00:15:25.090 still there, though, still totally political. 00:15:25.250 --> 00:15:27.610 The film was marketed as, what was it, the heroic 00:15:27.610 --> 00:15:30.070 story of a dictator who risked his life to ensure 00:15:30.070 --> 00:15:31.950 that democracy would never come to the country 00:15:31.950 --> 00:15:34.649 he so lovingly embraced. Brilliant tagline. And 00:15:34.649 --> 00:15:36.889 the main satirical target, when they were writing 00:15:36.889 --> 00:15:39.950 it, was the then still alive Libyan dictator 00:15:39.950 --> 00:15:42.929 Muammar Gaddafi. And the producers were actually 00:15:42.929 --> 00:15:45.090 worried about real world threats. They were. 00:15:45.509 --> 00:15:49.019 So concerned about angering Gaddafi. maybe provoking 00:15:49.019 --> 00:15:52.200 retaliation, even a terrorist attack, that they 00:15:52.200 --> 00:15:54.639 deliberately put out misinformation. What did 00:15:54.639 --> 00:15:57.019 they say? They claimed the film was loosely based 00:15:57.019 --> 00:15:59.379 on some fictional romance novel written by Saddam 00:15:59.379 --> 00:16:02.159 Hussein. That's wild. They felt they had to distract 00:16:02.159 --> 00:16:04.820 actual dictators with fake source material just 00:16:04.820 --> 00:16:06.879 to keep the production safe. It really speaks 00:16:06.879 --> 00:16:09.720 volumes about the perceived global threat level 00:16:09.720 --> 00:16:12.000 of his satire, doesn't it? Yeah. And true to 00:16:12.000 --> 00:16:15.139 form, the promotion was pure Cohen chaos. He 00:16:15.139 --> 00:16:17.039 showed up on the Oscars red carpet. With the 00:16:17.039 --> 00:16:19.620 urn. With the urn. Flanked by uniformed female 00:16:19.620 --> 00:16:22.200 bodyguards holding an urn he claimed contained 00:16:22.200 --> 00:16:25.870 Kim Jong -il's ashes. Which he then... accidentally 00:16:25.870 --> 00:16:28.470 spilled, later admitting it was just flour all 00:16:28.470 --> 00:16:31.110 over Ryan Seacrest. Poor Ryan Seacrest. That 00:16:31.110 --> 00:16:33.389 incident just perfectly encapsulated his brand. 00:16:33.610 --> 00:16:36.409 High production value, maximum political commentary, 00:16:36.649 --> 00:16:40.269 and utter theatrical chaos. Then, in 2018, he 00:16:40.269 --> 00:16:42.429 came roaring back to the Deep Deception format 00:16:42.429 --> 00:16:45.950 with the Showtime series Who Is America? Yeah, 00:16:45.970 --> 00:16:47.830 the pressure was immense then, because he'd already 00:16:47.830 --> 00:16:50.950 basically said the format was impossible due 00:16:50.950 --> 00:16:53.830 to his fame. He had to create a whole new set 00:16:53.830 --> 00:16:57.149 of highly specialized, completely unrecognizable 00:16:57.149 --> 00:16:59.690 characters. And the standout was Aaron Morad. 00:16:59.830 --> 00:17:03.370 Aaron Morad, yeah. The aggressive, macho, Israeli 00:17:03.370 --> 00:17:06.809 anti -terrorism expert. His identity kept shifting. 00:17:06.910 --> 00:17:09.910 Colonel, Captain, General, Major. And he always 00:17:09.910 --> 00:17:12.710 had that caveat, former agent, or specifically, 00:17:13.009 --> 00:17:15.809 not in the Mossad. Right. This character was 00:17:15.809 --> 00:17:18.069 incredibly effective. Generated conservative 00:17:18.069 --> 00:17:20.509 outrage before the show even aired. With public 00:17:20.509 --> 00:17:22.170 figures rushing... out press releases saying 00:17:22.170 --> 00:17:23.930 they'd been tricked. The most famous segment, 00:17:24.029 --> 00:17:26.710 the most politically impactful has to be kindergartens. 00:17:26.789 --> 00:17:29.190 Oh, absolutely. Morad successfully convinced 00:17:29.190 --> 00:17:31.309 senior conservative figures, including sitting 00:17:31.309 --> 00:17:33.710 members of Congress like Joe Wilson and Dana 00:17:33.710 --> 00:17:36.410 Rohrabacher, former Congressman Joe Walsh, to 00:17:36.410 --> 00:17:38.710 openly support this truly disturbing proposal. 00:17:38.990 --> 00:17:42.269 A fictional, totally absurd program to arm children 00:17:42.269 --> 00:17:45.970 age three to 16 with guns to protect themselves 00:17:45.970 --> 00:17:49.460 in schools. The absurdity was the key. Morehead 00:17:49.460 --> 00:17:51.299 presented these politicians with literature, 00:17:51.599 --> 00:17:53.940 cartoon illustrations of toddlers holding assault 00:17:53.940 --> 00:17:57.400 rifles, completely straight -faced, arguing that 00:17:57.400 --> 00:17:59.940 toddlers have the same biological instincts to 00:17:59.940 --> 00:18:03.119 aim a gun as adults. And these politicians thinking 00:18:03.119 --> 00:18:06.079 they were supporting some cutting -edge Israeli 00:18:06.079 --> 00:18:09.920 anti -terrorism tech. One on camera. Read teleprompter 00:18:09.920 --> 00:18:12.319 statements endorsing the concept. Only Congressman 00:18:12.319 --> 00:18:15.180 Matt Gaetz apparently expressed immediate skepticism 00:18:15.180 --> 00:18:17.819 and refused to do the video part. But the segments 00:18:17.819 --> 00:18:20.579 were incredibly potent, especially the one that 00:18:20.579 --> 00:18:22.859 effectively ended the political career of Jason 00:18:22.859 --> 00:18:25.579 Spencer, a Republican state representative from 00:18:25.579 --> 00:18:28.099 Georgia. This is a perfect example of Cohen's 00:18:28.099 --> 00:18:31.319 work having immediate real world political consequences 00:18:31.319 --> 00:18:34.380 way beyond just entertainment. Morad convinced 00:18:34.380 --> 00:18:37.240 Spencer he needed to practice these secret counterterrorism 00:18:37.240 --> 00:18:39.500 techniques to distract potential terrorists. 00:18:39.740 --> 00:18:42.859 Techniques that required Spencer to overcome 00:18:42.859 --> 00:18:45.720 his fear by going to ludicrous extremes. Ludicrous 00:18:45.720 --> 00:18:48.109 is putting it mildly. Spencer performed several 00:18:48.109 --> 00:18:50.549 racially charged and deeply humiliating acts 00:18:50.549 --> 00:18:53.009 on camera, taking pictures of a woman's burka 00:18:53.009 --> 00:18:55.990 with a selfie stick, walking backward, bearing 00:18:55.990 --> 00:18:59.109 his buttocks, yelling America great in a mock 00:18:59.109 --> 00:19:02.589 Asian accent, and shouting racial slurs, specifically 00:19:02.589 --> 00:19:05.190 the N -word, during a fake training drill to 00:19:05.190 --> 00:19:07.329 attract attention. The fallout was immediate, 00:19:07.490 --> 00:19:10.589 wasn't it? Totally. The episode aired July 29, 00:19:10.910 --> 00:19:14.529 2018. Spencer initially refused to step down, 00:19:14.630 --> 00:19:17.140 claimed he'd been exploited. But the footage 00:19:17.140 --> 00:19:19.740 was just so politically devastating, so career 00:19:19.740 --> 00:19:23.200 -ending. He officially resigned July 31st, before 00:19:23.200 --> 00:19:25.500 his term was even up. That really proved that 00:19:25.500 --> 00:19:28.079 even years later, his hidden camera stuff, when 00:19:28.079 --> 00:19:30.579 it worked, could still wield devastating social 00:19:30.579 --> 00:19:33.440 and political power. Definitely. But just like 00:19:33.440 --> 00:19:36.079 with Borat, the success of Who is America proved 00:19:36.079 --> 00:19:38.579 to be its immediate undoing. It confirmed Cohen's 00:19:38.579 --> 00:19:40.980 earlier statement. He declared definitively that 00:19:40.980 --> 00:19:43.720 a second season was impossible. The intense publicity 00:19:43.720 --> 00:19:45.940 from season one just made it too difficult to 00:19:45.940 --> 00:19:48.640 dupe high -profile guests again. The sheer effectiveness 00:19:48.640 --> 00:19:51.019 of the method basically consumes its own ability 00:19:51.019 --> 00:19:53.680 to continue on that scale. What's equally remarkable, 00:19:53.859 --> 00:19:55.920 though, is that running parallel to this career 00:19:55.920 --> 00:19:59.079 of just chaotic, often career -ending stunts, 00:19:59.119 --> 00:20:02.059 Cohen has always maintained this completely separate 00:20:02.059 --> 00:20:05.140 track as a versatile, serious, dramatic actor. 00:20:06.009 --> 00:20:07.990 The transition is seamless. It really speaks 00:20:07.990 --> 00:20:10.690 volumes about his command over performance itself. 00:20:10.930 --> 00:20:13.210 His range is genuinely surprising when you list 00:20:13.210 --> 00:20:15.890 it out. We know him as King Julian the 30th, 00:20:15.890 --> 00:20:18.049 the lemur in Madagascar. Right, the voice work. 00:20:18.349 --> 00:20:19.930 And then there's that hysterical performance 00:20:19.930 --> 00:20:22.250 as Jean Girard, the French Formula One driver 00:20:22.250 --> 00:20:25.109 in Talladega Nights. But he quickly started taking 00:20:25.109 --> 00:20:28.150 on serious period roles that required him to 00:20:28.150 --> 00:20:30.910 completely ditch the outlandishness. He transitioned 00:20:30.910 --> 00:20:33.569 beautifully, played the highly dramatic role 00:20:33.569 --> 00:20:36.670 of Signor Adolfo Pirelli, the rival barber, and 00:20:36.670 --> 00:20:39.390 Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd. Right. Appeared as 00:20:39.390 --> 00:20:41.789 Inspector Gustave d 'Este in Scorsese's Hugo. 00:20:42.440 --> 00:20:45.039 and maybe most memorably, played the despicable 00:20:45.039 --> 00:20:48.599 innkeeper than RDA in the 2012 film of Lily Miserob's. 00:20:48.720 --> 00:20:51.819 And in all those roles, you just don't see Borat 00:20:51.819 --> 00:20:54.960 or Ali G. You see a skilled character actor. 00:20:55.299 --> 00:20:57.460 Which brings us back to that Peter Sellers foundation, 00:20:57.859 --> 00:21:00.420 right? The ability to just disappear into a realistic 00:21:00.420 --> 00:21:02.779 character, regardless of the genre. Exactly. 00:21:03.039 --> 00:21:05.000 And that skill set eventually brought him the 00:21:05.000 --> 00:21:06.900 highest critical recognition for his straight 00:21:06.900 --> 00:21:10.339 acting. Nominations for playing significant dramatic 00:21:10.339 --> 00:21:13.119 historical figures. Specifically, Abbie Hoffman, 00:21:13.220 --> 00:21:16.000 his portrayal of the political activist and anarchist 00:21:16.000 --> 00:21:19.680 in the trial of the Chicago 7 back in 2020. That 00:21:19.680 --> 00:21:21.680 performance earned him the Academy Award nomination 00:21:21.680 --> 00:21:24.420 for Best Supporting Actor, his first Oscar nod 00:21:24.420 --> 00:21:26.680 for acting, adding to the screenwriting nomination 00:21:26.680 --> 00:21:29.599 for Borat. And that dramatic focus seems to be 00:21:29.599 --> 00:21:31.799 continuing. He played the real -life Israeli 00:21:31.799 --> 00:21:34.880 spy Eli Cohen in the limited series The Spy in 00:21:34.880 --> 00:21:39.000 2019, anchored a serious, tense drama. Recently 00:21:39.000 --> 00:21:41.579 played Robert Ravenscroft in the Apple TV Plus 00:21:41.579 --> 00:21:45.220 miniseries Disclaimer in 2024. And moving into 00:21:45.220 --> 00:21:47.519 the big franchise world, he's slated to play 00:21:47.519 --> 00:21:49.900 the demonic villain Mephisto in the Disney Plus 00:21:49.900 --> 00:21:52.940 Ironheart series in 2025. This successful transition, 00:21:53.240 --> 00:21:55.319 it isn't just about showing off versatility, 00:21:55.440 --> 00:21:58.180 is it? It feels like it mirrors his increasingly 00:21:58.180 --> 00:22:01.670 public and focused role. as an activist and philanthropist. 00:22:02.089 --> 00:22:04.730 Stepping out from behind the masks to speak as 00:22:04.730 --> 00:22:07.730 himself, maybe the loss of the satirical tool 00:22:07.730 --> 00:22:10.450 pushed him towards more direct advocacy. That 00:22:10.450 --> 00:22:13.289 seems plausible. He has become a highly vocal, 00:22:13.390 --> 00:22:16.369 very specific critic of modern information platforms, 00:22:16.750 --> 00:22:19.349 directly accusing social media companies of basically 00:22:19.349 --> 00:22:22.490 prioritizing profit over truth. He's fierce about 00:22:22.490 --> 00:22:25.990 it. In that powerful 2019 speech, he singled 00:22:25.990 --> 00:22:29.690 out Facebook, Google, YouTube, Twitter. called 00:22:29.690 --> 00:22:31.630 them part of the biggest propaganda machine in 00:22:31.630 --> 00:22:34.710 history, pulled no punches, claimed their lax 00:22:34.710 --> 00:22:37.569 rules on content moderation and hate speech meant 00:22:37.569 --> 00:22:39.970 that, quote, they would have let Hitler buy ads. 00:22:40.460 --> 00:22:42.700 That kind of forthright, uncompromising stance 00:22:42.700 --> 00:22:45.599 echoing his family history, his academic studies 00:22:45.599 --> 00:22:48.079 that earned him the Anti -Defamation League's 00:22:48.079 --> 00:22:51.160 International Leadership Award in 2019, specifically 00:22:51.160 --> 00:22:54.079 for opposing bigotry and prejudice. Right. And 00:22:54.079 --> 00:22:55.759 he's also a founding member of the Stop Hate 00:22:55.759 --> 00:22:57.859 for Profit movement, targeting companies that 00:22:57.859 --> 00:22:59.960 advertise on platforms failing to police hate 00:22:59.960 --> 00:23:03.119 speech. And beyond the critical voice, his philanthropy 00:23:03.119 --> 00:23:06.940 is enormous and seems strategically focused on 00:23:06.940 --> 00:23:09.710 international aid. Our sources highlight that 00:23:09.710 --> 00:23:13.250 big donation in 2015. He and his then wife, Isla 00:23:13.250 --> 00:23:16.829 Fisher, gave 335 ,000 pounds, half a million 00:23:16.829 --> 00:23:18.809 U .S. dollars to save the children. Yeah, for 00:23:18.809 --> 00:23:20.970 measles vaccinations for kids in northern Syria. 00:23:21.170 --> 00:23:22.990 And they matched it, giving another half million 00:23:22.990 --> 00:23:24.970 to the International Rescue Committee for Syrian 00:23:24.970 --> 00:23:28.470 refugees, aid, health care. Sanitation. This 00:23:28.470 --> 00:23:31.109 isn't just casual charity. It's large -scale 00:23:31.109 --> 00:23:34.089 targeted intervention in global crises, entirely 00:23:34.089 --> 00:23:36.190 consistent with the moral foundation you see 00:23:36.190 --> 00:23:37.769 in his character work. And that commitment's 00:23:37.769 --> 00:23:40.410 ongoing. As recently as October 2024, another 00:23:40.410 --> 00:23:43.750 huge donation, $500 ,000, split between Save 00:23:43.750 --> 00:23:46.049 the Children and IRC for relief efforts in the 00:23:46.049 --> 00:23:49.369 Sudan crisis. Famine. Displacement. And his political 00:23:49.369 --> 00:23:52.799 advocacy remains clear, current. 2023, he signed 00:23:52.799 --> 00:23:54.940 that open letter to President Biden calling for 00:23:54.940 --> 00:23:57.640 the release of hostages taken by Hamas. Later 00:23:57.640 --> 00:23:59.980 that year, challenged TikTok executives over 00:23:59.980 --> 00:24:02.619 content moderation, safety for Jewish users amidst 00:24:02.619 --> 00:24:05.519 the Gaza war. So he uses his unmasked identity 00:24:05.519 --> 00:24:08.779 and influence to advocate for the exact kinds 00:24:08.779 --> 00:24:11.740 of victims and marginalized groups. His satirical 00:24:11.740 --> 00:24:14.140 characters were often designed to protect or 00:24:14.140 --> 00:24:16.240 expose prejudice towards. It's a clear through 00:24:16.240 --> 00:24:19.000 line. OK, so given that his entire comedy technique 00:24:19.000 --> 00:24:22.440 relies on, well, fraud. and deliberate misrepresentation 00:24:22.440 --> 00:24:25.420 to get information. It's no surprise that the 00:24:25.420 --> 00:24:28.019 constant theme throughout his career is litigation, 00:24:28.440 --> 00:24:31.759 high stakes lawsuits. How did his team keep him 00:24:31.759 --> 00:24:34.160 from getting bankrupted or just shut down? Yeah, 00:24:34.220 --> 00:24:36.559 the price of satire is definitely high, but his 00:24:36.559 --> 00:24:38.940 legal defense seems built on two key pillars. 00:24:39.299 --> 00:24:41.819 First, he generally wins because subjects routinely 00:24:41.819 --> 00:24:44.339 sign these ironclad consent agreements and release 00:24:44.339 --> 00:24:47.000 forms beforehand. Ah, the paperwork. The paperwork. 00:24:47.259 --> 00:24:49.640 His legal team leverages those heavily, arguing 00:24:49.640 --> 00:24:51.880 the subject. knowingly participated in a satirical 00:24:51.880 --> 00:24:55.339 context. Second, they frequently rely on anti 00:24:55.339 --> 00:24:57.700 -SLAPP statutes. Okay, let's pause there. What 00:24:57.700 --> 00:25:00.180 exactly is anti -SLAPP for listeners who might 00:25:00.180 --> 00:25:03.759 not know? Right. SLAPP stands for Strategic Lawsuits 00:25:03.759 --> 00:25:07.039 Against Public Participation. Basically, lawsuits 00:25:07.039 --> 00:25:10.519 filed not necessarily to win, but to intimidate, 00:25:10.519 --> 00:25:12.880 silence, or bankrupt critics by dragging them 00:25:12.880 --> 00:25:16.380 into expensive, long legal battles. Anti -cell 00:25:16.380 --> 00:25:18.599 APP laws are designed to protect free speech, 00:25:18.839 --> 00:25:21.920 journalism, satire from these kinds of frivolous, 00:25:21.920 --> 00:25:25.019 retaliatory lawsuits. Since Cohen is clearly 00:25:25.019 --> 00:25:27.759 engaging in political satire, these laws often 00:25:27.759 --> 00:25:30.140 give his lawyers a powerful defense, letting 00:25:30.140 --> 00:25:32.240 them get cases dismissed early. Good example. 00:25:32.730 --> 00:25:35.329 That huge lawsuit from Roy Moore, former Senate 00:25:35.329 --> 00:25:38.490 candidate in Alabama, $95 million over that mock 00:25:38.490 --> 00:25:40.990 interview in Who Is America? Right. Moore claimed 00:25:40.990 --> 00:25:43.589 defamation, emotional distress, argued he was 00:25:43.589 --> 00:25:46.049 tricked. But that lawsuit was defeated. Definitively. 00:25:46.250 --> 00:25:48.890 In 2022, the U .S. District Court found Moore 00:25:48.890 --> 00:25:50.970 had signed a consent agreement that explicitly 00:25:50.970 --> 00:25:53.710 barred his claims. The court confirmed he signed 00:25:53.710 --> 00:25:55.890 away his right to sue over stuff arising from 00:25:55.890 --> 00:25:58.079 the interview. Similar thing happened with those 00:25:58.079 --> 00:25:59.960 University of South Carolina students from Borat. 00:26:00.099 --> 00:26:02.480 They sued, claimed they were duped while drunk, 00:26:02.660 --> 00:26:05.480 lawsuit dismissed in 2007 because the court said 00:26:05.480 --> 00:26:07.720 the contracts were valid. But the danger wasn't 00:26:07.720 --> 00:26:10.220 always just legal, was it? Sources point out 00:26:10.220 --> 00:26:12.099 sometimes the consequences were very physical. 00:26:12.359 --> 00:26:14.400 Oh, absolutely. The deception often put him in 00:26:14.400 --> 00:26:17.099 genuine physical danger. Yeah. During the Bruno 00:26:17.099 --> 00:26:20.720 filming in Jerusalem, he dressed in that camp 00:26:20.720 --> 00:26:23.119 version of traditional Hasidic clothing. Yeah. 00:26:23.720 --> 00:26:26.599 Deeply offended the local community. He was quickly 00:26:26.599 --> 00:26:28.960 chased by an angry mob throwing rocks, wanting 00:26:28.960 --> 00:26:31.319 to attack him. He only escaped by hiding in a 00:26:31.319 --> 00:26:34.039 shop. Later said the mob wanted to really kill 00:26:34.039 --> 00:26:36.500 me. It shows the extreme danger involved in his 00:26:36.500 --> 00:26:39.000 methods. And there was one crucial legal failure, 00:26:39.000 --> 00:26:41.119 though, a case that resulted in a settlement. 00:26:41.480 --> 00:26:44.599 Yes, the claim filed by Ayman Abu Eidah, a Palestinian 00:26:44.599 --> 00:26:47.339 Christian grocer. This case is a critical nuance. 00:26:48.000 --> 00:26:50.900 Abu Eidah was falsely identified in Bruno as 00:26:50.900 --> 00:26:53.200 a member of the Al -Aqsa martyrs brigades. Okay. 00:26:53.840 --> 00:26:56.160 Crucially, Albuida was a nonviolent activist. 00:26:56.319 --> 00:26:59.059 And unlike most of Cohen's subjects, he testified 00:26:59.059 --> 00:27:01.640 he never signed a release form or consent agreement. 00:27:01.799 --> 00:27:05.099 Ah, no paperwork. Exactly. Because that crucial 00:27:05.099 --> 00:27:07.960 legal paperwork was missing, his defamation claim 00:27:07.960 --> 00:27:11.259 was settled out of court in 2012 for an undisclosed 00:27:11.259 --> 00:27:14.599 amount. It really underscores that without that 00:27:14.599 --> 00:27:17.279 signed release, Cohen's whole legal strategy 00:27:17.279 --> 00:27:20.339 kind of collapses. It's remarkable that for someone 00:27:20.339 --> 00:27:22.740 who is so public, so outrageous in character, 00:27:23.019 --> 00:27:25.440 the actual man, Sacha Baron Cohen himself, has 00:27:25.440 --> 00:27:28.700 always been fiercely private, especially early 00:27:28.700 --> 00:27:31.339 on. That privacy was deliberate image management, 00:27:31.420 --> 00:27:33.980 it seems. He consciously avoided out of character 00:27:33.980 --> 00:27:37.140 interviews for much of the early 2000s. Director 00:27:37.140 --> 00:27:39.380 Larry Charles, who worked with him a lot, said 00:27:39.380 --> 00:27:41.920 it was to protect his weakness, maintain the 00:27:41.920 --> 00:27:44.019 integrity of the deception. The public needed 00:27:44.019 --> 00:27:46.339 to focus only on the character. Never the man 00:27:46.339 --> 00:27:48.279 pulling the strings. Rolling Stone even called 00:27:48.279 --> 00:27:51.140 a 2006 piece, maybe hyperbolically, his only 00:27:51.140 --> 00:27:53.960 interview as himself. Right. Despite that privacy, 00:27:54.059 --> 00:27:56.279 though, he's been clear about his personal life 00:27:56.279 --> 00:27:58.460 and his deep beliefs. Confirmed he's immensely 00:27:58.460 --> 00:28:00.859 proud of his Jewish identity. Stated he tries 00:28:00.859 --> 00:28:03.039 to keep kosher, attend synagogue maybe twice 00:28:03.039 --> 00:28:05.960 a year, fluent in Hebrew. Again, showing how 00:28:05.960 --> 00:28:08.400 deep that intellectual, spiritual, cultural foundation 00:28:08.400 --> 00:28:10.799 runs through everything. And his personal life. 00:28:11.440 --> 00:28:14.319 He met Australian actress Isla Fisher in Sydney 00:28:14.319 --> 00:28:17.759 back in 2001. Long relationship. She converted 00:28:17.759 --> 00:28:19.940 to Judaism. They married in a Jewish ceremony 00:28:19.940 --> 00:28:22.619 in 2010. They have three children, two daughters, 00:28:22.680 --> 00:28:24.960 one son. They'd split time between London and 00:28:24.960 --> 00:28:27.279 LA before settling in Sydney for a while. And 00:28:27.279 --> 00:28:29.539 they jointly announced filing for divorce late 00:28:29.539 --> 00:28:33.640 2023, finalized June 2025. But they emphasized 00:28:33.640 --> 00:28:36.160 publicly they remain committed to co -parenting, 00:28:36.160 --> 00:28:39.119 remain friends despite the separation. So, yeah, 00:28:39.160 --> 00:28:41.000 we circle back to that dual legacy we started 00:28:41.000 --> 00:28:43.859 with, really. Sacha Baron Cohen, this highly 00:28:43.859 --> 00:28:46.680 educated actor, screenwriter, major philanthropist, 00:28:46.680 --> 00:28:49.059 who successfully leveraged these controversial, 00:28:49.339 --> 00:28:52.549 high -risk comedic characters as unique. powerful 00:28:52.549 --> 00:28:55.329 form of critical confrontational social observation, 00:28:55.569 --> 00:28:58.450 all backed by this deep, serious moral intent. 00:28:58.750 --> 00:29:01.430 His legacy isn't just the huge financial success 00:29:01.430 --> 00:29:03.930 or the critical acclaim, is it? It's the moral 00:29:03.930 --> 00:29:05.950 and political impact he managed to wield through 00:29:05.950 --> 00:29:08.589 deception. He forced people, powerful people, 00:29:08.730 --> 00:29:10.829 regular citizens to reveal their true selves, 00:29:11.029 --> 00:29:13.410 functioning like a highly accurate, very public 00:29:13.410 --> 00:29:15.769 human litmus test for bigotry, ignorance, prejudice. 00:29:16.069 --> 00:29:19.009 He's a master of creating situations where apathy 00:29:19.009 --> 00:29:22.289 just isn't an option. He generated these uncomfortable 00:29:22.289 --> 00:29:25.849 truths, undeniable video evidence, stuff that 00:29:25.849 --> 00:29:28.230 sticks with you long after the initial shock 00:29:28.230 --> 00:29:30.849 or laugh fades away. But here's the final compelling 00:29:30.849 --> 00:29:33.200 question we're left with, isn't it? Given that 00:29:33.200 --> 00:29:35.099 his methods are now compromised, he's said it 00:29:35.099 --> 00:29:38.000 himself, the hidden camera high deception format 00:29:38.000 --> 00:29:40.720 is basically impossible now because the public 00:29:40.720 --> 00:29:43.440 media figures, they're just too familiar with 00:29:43.440 --> 00:29:45.839 his face, his methods. Right. Which leaves him 00:29:45.839 --> 00:29:48.160 focusing almost entirely on conventional dramatic 00:29:48.160 --> 00:29:51.059 roles, roles he's highly celebrated for, and 00:29:51.059 --> 00:29:53.440 direct non -character based public advocacy. 00:29:54.059 --> 00:29:56.640 So what does the effective end of his unique, 00:29:56.700 --> 00:29:59.200 unpredictable hidden camera satire actually mean 00:29:59.200 --> 00:30:02.059 for political and social comedy? Are we losing 00:30:02.059 --> 00:30:04.460 a crucial, really uncomfortable mirror that forced 00:30:04.460 --> 00:30:06.759 society to see and confront its own prejudices 00:30:06.759 --> 00:30:09.119 simply because the targets learn how to recognize 00:30:09.119 --> 00:30:11.359 the man behind the mustache and maybe crucially 00:30:11.359 --> 00:30:12.559 learned how to look away?