Am I the only person in the world who is puzzled by the incredible over-exposure Sacha Baron Cohen's comedy attracts? For God's sake, even Christopher Hitchens devotes a column to him in Slate (although admittedly for the worthy point of correcting lefties who take the Borat movie as some sort of genuine indictment of American culture.)
I have just never found him all that funny.
3 comments:
There is also the concern that he will only be interviewed in character, which essentially negates any chance of serious jounalism - a point made by "On the Media" recently.
I liked his role in Madagascar but the little I've seen of his interview in character act suggests Norman Gunston did it better 30 years ago.
Geoff
Completely agree. Just what is supposed to be so wonderful and I really do think Norman Gunston was a thousand times better. Incidentally, I did a post on Gunston and Humphreys some time back.
Yes I agree with the Gunston assessment. He also did not overplay the confusion of the interviewee in the way that I think is Cohen's technique. (I mean, I think with Gunston we laughed at the Gunston character more than at the interviewee. I think Cohen is more aimed at making the audience laugh at the interviewee for being a sucked in.)
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