103 Comments

1. Rick Rouse:

Agreed. This type of humor is deplorable. Whatever happened to old-time comedy where we could all laugh at our own expense without having to feel taken advantage of?

Jul 21, 2009 - 9:37 am 2. ~Paules:

A more magnanimous humor is displayed by those who can make fun of themselves. I asked a redneck friend of mine how he would respond to an ACORN volunteer at his door. He stuck out his beer gut and with a hand on his pistol he drawled, “you sure got a pretty mouth, boy.”

Jul 21, 2009 - 10:14 am 3. Andrew_M_Garland:

Agreed.

Most of this humor makes fun of the tolerance of the victim. The victim is presented with cohen as an odd person and situation, and strains to believe in the story and respond politely. The joke is “how could he believe this?”

Actually, the victim should be praised for being so un-bigoted, ready to take Cohen at face value and tolerate him.

Cohen is painful to watch, making fun of people exactly for their desire to communicate and be polite, despite the warning signals.

Jul 21, 2009 - 10:57 am 4. Tim H.:

“We’re living in a shameful moment when comedians haven’t got the guts to make fun of the most powerful man on earth: President Obama.”

EXACTLY! The only reason I can come up with as to why this idiot isn’t a staple of most comedians is that he represents their own ideals and beliefs and, therefore, he is “off limits”. Better to make statutory rape jokes about a teenage girl, I guess.

I find myself laughing every time I see Obama on the tube or read a transcript from one of his “Let me make this clear” speeches. Of course, most of that laughter is the “Holy crap! This guy is INSANE!! We’re all gonna die!! Hahahahaha!!!” variety.

Jul 21, 2009 - 11:19 am 5. K.C.:

I find myself nodding my head in agreement while reading this. I have always been the “class clown” type and while my ability to be funny is subjective I always seem to make people laugh without making personal attacks.

It always seems better to me when everyone is “in” on the joke. Of course that is often more difficult than making fun of the fat guy.

I spent six years in the Navy where nearly every subject is up for grabs (wives and kids are usually the only thing spared) and while we said some horribly mean things to and about each other we all understood it was in jest and people would give as good as they got. We worked, played, and lived together at times and that was the only time I ever felt comfortable enough to rip into someone.

Lately I find myself cringing at this “reality” style humor. Prank shows are ok as the “victim” is let in on the joke and usually has a good laugh, but many times that isn’t the case.

I just thought of this the other day listening to Howard Stern. I am not a huge fan but find his shows mostly enjoyable (he is actually a good interviewer) but they play prank calls throughout the show and I find I am really turned off by them. The victim is never “in” on the joke. It just comes off as mean.

Jul 21, 2009 - 12:08 pm 6. sinanju:

Do tell.

Can anyone think of any other country where Cohen could pull this crap with everyday people and not get his butt kicked inside of five minutes?

Jul 21, 2009 - 1:02 pm 7. AlpoEater:

Some like to say that Cohen is a modern day Andy Kaufman but what they fail to understand is that Kaufman didn’t look down on his audience. Sure, he put on a turban (and not much else) and sang “Rose Marie” on Letterman and everyone thought, “how ironic, he’s singing that old corny song in a turban” but actually Kaufman was a fan of the music of Slim Whitman and did a great cover to boot. When he taunted the Wrestling fans with his “I’m from Hollywood” schtick he was actually making fun of himself. In truth he love professional wrestling aloved entertaining the fans by being the “bad guy”.

Cohen just comes off a mean spirited, which is a shame because he is talented. He should persue more legit acting roles.

Jul 21, 2009 - 2:21 pm 8. Jan Van:

I never ever thought this guy was funny. As a Jew I felt he made Jews look bad as he ridiculed the commoners. I don’t mind nasty and vicious humor in small doses. But Cohen never made me laugh. He was always over reaching and lame. What was funnier was all the people saying how funny he was
But now the jig is up.

Sascha Cohen made enough boodle to retire and suck eggs for the rest of his life

Jul 21, 2009 - 2:30 pm 9. elvis:

I never even heard of him!

Jul 21, 2009 - 3:00 pm 10. OverWater:

Your comment on Obama is spot on. Most/all(?) of our ’star’ comics are like grapes withering on the vine. Awaiting the return of a Republican president – any one will do – and something they will detest, philosophically.

But, when it happens, they will not only have someone they can trash-talk and stick knives into, they will once again feel truly righteous and funny while doing it.

Jul 21, 2009 - 3:40 pm 11. Michael Asher:

I agree completely except when it comes to the Hollywood types Cohen targeted — the charity girls who exemplified the essential vacuousness of folks like Cohen himself in La-La-Land and the stage-parents willing to subject their children to abuse for a part.

Jul 21, 2009 - 4:32 pm 12. Blarty Blarckleblart:

You know who else stinks? Michael Jackson. Walter Cronkite, also. But you know who was, like, awesome? Ronald Reagan and John Wayne.

Jul 21, 2009 - 5:36 pm 13. Righteous Bubba:

Can anyone think of any other country where Cohen could pull this crap with everyday people and not get his butt kicked inside of five minutes?

Nowhere but America pal, nowhere else in the world.

Jul 21, 2009 - 5:43 pm 14. Marilena:

Well said, Mr. Klavan. Well said.

Jul 21, 2009 - 6:34 pm 15. Michele:

I think he’d get away with it in Canada as well.

Canadians are a very polite bunch in general.

Canada had their own milder version of Sasha Baron Cohen. Rick Mercer did a “Talking to Americans” segment on the show “This Hour has 22 minutes.” I always found it less than funny as he took advantage of the good natured polite Americans humoring a supposed journalist who was really a comedian. Of course, as an American, my criticism was considered highly biased.

I never saw Borat and I’m not going to see Bruno.

Jul 21, 2009 - 8:12 pm 16. Sandra:

This type of humor is wrong. Humor is supposed to have a basis in reality. What they are saying is that the humor part is that someone had an opinion different from a liberal about one sexual matter or another, and that is to be mocked. You are to be mocked if you think differently from these people. It backfired though as Cohen had to be exactly what a lot of people know is the type of behavior that is considered wrong and he validated their beliefs instead of mocked them.

It’s like a pedophile doing the same thing and calling someone an overly religious person if they criticize the behavior of adults to children.

The process is what someone like a Eddie Murphy did when he used to be entertaining, and did that skit about how different the world was if you were white on Saturday Night Live. That was funny because it had a basis in reality. Here you have the behavior people do not like shown as people have viewed it at times,and it is not defendable.

Cohen uses intimidation and shame through humor to silence the public’s personal beliefs, and he failed. he validated them. For this his peers might silence his career.

Jul 21, 2009 - 8:50 pm 17. Rebecca:

Agreed, Mr. Klavan. I have seen only ads for either movie, and felt Mr. Cohen was not funny, but rather mean-spirited. And, I resented having to sit through the “Bruno” trailer recently whilst waiting for the STAR TREK movie to begin. Blech! 20 minutes of trailers…wasteful.

Jul 21, 2009 - 9:30 pm 18. J.J. Sefton:

Heard through the grapevine that there’s talk of a remake of “Fiddler on the Roof.”

3 guesses who’s in the running to play Tevye.

Jul 22, 2009 - 4:02 am 19. Jon:

Apparently someone thought his humor was funny. Borat made 26 million from the theatre alone. Bruno made 40+ million in the first week. The joke is on us.

Jul 22, 2009 - 4:08 am 20. wholebrainer:

Agree. I’ve hated that type of humor from the olden-days of “Candid Camera.” “America’s Funniest Videos” struck me in a similar way as well – laughing at (innocent/accidental) victims.

Jul 22, 2009 - 6:14 am 21. Jed Skillman:

Yup, you hit the bulls eye with your point about comedians being afraid of telling “President Obama” jokes.

Show biz professionals know they’ve got a real problem: Barack Obama’s followers wouldn’t think they were funny, and the rest of us wouldn’t think they were jokes.

Jul 22, 2009 - 6:24 am 22. Pajamas Media » Secret Pleasure At the Death of Bruno:

[...] Read the entire piece here. [...]

Jul 22, 2009 - 6:25 am 23. MOmiss:

I have been wondering if I was the only one since the 80’s also. It has been part of the world going crazy. I have wondered who they were marketing to with these films and the only answer I could come up with was “pubescent boys”. The first film I saw that I was embarrassed at laughing at along this vein was THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY. While I did laugh, I was embarrassed to do so. I haven’t watched many more out of respect for the parents of the idiots that make these “movies”. And I am 44!

Jul 22, 2009 - 6:35 am 24. Thomas L......:

I agree Andrew. I never liked the Letterman phone calls to unsuspecting “fools” wherein Dave and his audience could feel all superior. Although funnier and gentler, I never liked Candid Camera much either, for the same reason. When I saw Borat, what I saw was mostly very, VERY tolerant people NOT giving an a$$hole the beating he so richly deserved. Maybe it says something about the advisability of politically correct tolerance but it doesn’t say much of anything else. And it was only funny up to about the 15 minute mark, at which point, I pressed stop and eject.

Jul 22, 2009 - 6:48 am 25. Michael:

I can’t agree about Candid Camera. I never saw it as mean spirited. In a way it showed the goodness in Americans without being condescending or demeaning. Which is completely at odds with Bruno were demeaning and condescending is his whole point.

Jul 22, 2009 - 6:53 am 26. Thomas L......:

Michael – As to Candid Camera, like I said it was funnier and gentler but it was still ambushing rubes for laughs. Perhaps not as mean spirited as Borat or Letterman but still there was something offensive about the concept. At least, to me. I believe in minding my own business, live and let live. I’m usually easy going and tend to laugh things off but there are days I would resent being the butt of a TV show’s joke.

Jul 22, 2009 - 7:03 am 27. Emma:

Thanks Andrew!! This is exactly the reason why I refused to watch Borat. I hate seeing innocent people being ridiculed in front of millions of people just so that some a$$hole can make lots of money.

Jul 22, 2009 - 7:34 am 28. Bilgeman:

Now bear with me, Cohen’s humor definitely has a strong theme of viciousness running through it, but he does on occasion, score some belly laughs.

The thing about his schtik though, is waiting for one of his victims to see through the gag and punch him in the face.

Watching Cohen with a broken nose and picking up his teeth after hving been served his knuckled comeuppance would be just about the funniest gag imaginable, would it not?

And THAT’S the hook.

Reactions to Cohen strongly remind me of the reactions to Jerry Springer before he started “phoning it in”…if you “got it”, you really appreciated what he was doing for our culture.
If you didn’t “get it”, you were horrified and angry at him, rather than the self-selected freaks he put on his stage and gave a microphone with which they could reveal their warped and defective mind-set.

Springer couldn’t just come out at the end of his shows and say:

“Look at these a$$holes…listen to their self-serving and deluded bull#hit!”

because his willing freak supply would dry up quicker than it did, so he had to do a “mayonnaise” kind of platitudinous moralizing to wrap it.

The point,(in case you STILL haven’t gotten it by now), was that if there was anything in your life or in your mind that might cause his producers to call and offer you a spot on the “Jerry Springer Show” stage, you would do best to hunt it down and kill it without delay and without remorse.

Jul 22, 2009 - 7:55 am 29. Naif Mabat:

What kind of criticism is that of a comedy: he should have lampooned Obama instead?

And a movie you admit you haven’t even seen, no less.

Borat was awesome.

And while Bruno wasn’t quite as good, it’s still way funnier than anything else out there right now.

Jul 22, 2009 - 8:00 am 30. Delia:

Isn’t there going to be a new ‘law’ whereby you could actually go to jail for up to 20+ years for making fun of DohBama?

Or was that another one of my bad nightmares of 2009?

Maybe, just maybe, DohBama is such a JOKE that ‘making fun of him’ is merely repetitive.

Jul 22, 2009 - 8:36 am 31. blotto:

The ONLY reason why Cohen is allowed to get away with this “humor” is because he is a Jew. Jews get a free pass to denigrate the American public. Look at the viciousness of most of the American Jewish comedians past and present. From Jon Stewart to Sarah Barnard they are allowed to get away with saying what they want because they are Jewish.

But Cohen’s attempt at humor pales in comparison to the humor of real comedians like Mel Brooks-also a Jew but one who did not demonstrate a hatered of America.

Jul 22, 2009 - 8:36 am 32. Puggs:

I totally agree Mr. Klavan, and I didn’t see either movie beyond the clips shown on the web. The entire concept that average people are somehow deserving of a cruel savaging just for being tolerant, for holding non Hollywood approved views is just too much.

Jul 22, 2009 - 8:39 am 33. Delia:

The thing that really peeves me off is that I think Hollyweird is afraid of making fun of the ‘FBP’ [First Black President] because that would be akin to racism in their mentally challenged brains.

Friggin’ pathetic.

Jul 22, 2009 - 8:57 am 34. Deep Brain Diarist:

Nobody’s making fun of Obama? Are you HIGH? Jon Stewart, Steven Colbert, David Letterman, Conan O’Brien, et al… make fun of him EVERY NIGHT!!!

Buy a TV for God’s sake!

I agree with the basic premise of this column and was with you all the way to the laughable statement about nobody having the “guts” to make fun of Obama. But then, you guys do filter EVERYTHING through your unreasonable hatred of this man, don’t you?

Jul 22, 2009 - 9:00 am 35. Delia:

Deep Brain Diarist,

Lefties making ’soft’ jokes about ‘their’ president is hardly ‘comedy gold’.

TAKE YOUR MEDS.

Jul 22, 2009 - 9:10 am 36. Shef Rogers:

I agree that Cohen’s lost it, and that it was a pleasure to see Bruno take a fall…but Ali G. was one of the greatest shows ever. And you hated it because Cohen wasn’t reverent enough toward cops? Don’t you know there’s no creature as creepy as a cop groupie?

Jul 22, 2009 - 9:17 am 37. Delia:

Shef Rogers,

Ewwwwwwwwww. There’s such a thing as a ‘cop groupie’? *barf* Just when I thought I’d heard EVERYTHING!

FUHREAKAYYYYYYYYYYYY!

Jul 22, 2009 - 9:33 am 38. Canadian CIncinnatus:

Actually Cohen’s humour is worse than Klavan describes because the viewer is playes the fool almost as much as the on-screen victim. this is because often his skits are heavily edited to make the target of his pranks look as bad as possible. Mitigating details that would make the victim appear more sympathetic to the viewer are left on the cutting room floor because these also tend to make the skit less funny.

Jul 22, 2009 - 9:44 am 39. Blarty Blarckleblart:

Is it really a “secret” pleasure when you publish it on the Internet?

Jul 22, 2009 - 9:47 am 40. sinanju:

Delia…

Yes there is. They’re called “badge bunnies”.

Jul 22, 2009 - 9:50 am 41. Delia:

39. Blarty Blarckleblart:

“Is it really a ’secret’ pleasure when you publish it on the Internet?”

ROTFL! Okay, Blarty. I gotta give you that one. I laughed out loud. -And, I’m in some serious pain right now, so, that laugh hurt. ;p

Jul 22, 2009 - 9:53 am 42. Delia:

40. sinanju:

Yes there is. They’re called “badge bunnies”.
~

OMG! For serious? Dayummmmmmm. That’s NAST! “Badge Bunnies”! Bwahahahahahahaha!

Ouch. Hurts-to-laugh.

hahahahahahaha

Jul 22, 2009 - 9:55 am 43. Blarty Blarckleblart:

Glad you got a moment’s relief, Delia. I hope you have many more.

Jul 22, 2009 - 9:56 am 44. Delia:

43. Blarty,

Thanks, snookums. ;p

Jul 22, 2009 - 10:00 am 45. John Girvan:

Right on Klavan! Cohan sucks and so do the late night comedians. Their jokes about Obama are soft and not belittling or harmful.

Jul 22, 2009 - 10:50 am 46. GracieZG:

Bravo. I’m married to man who is extremely sane, low-key, fair-minded, quietly positive, and brilliantly funny. Never, ever, ever has he made a joke at the expense of others. That’s character. What Cohen does shows much more about him than whoever he is bullying. Cohen has to live with himself. Not a position I would want to be in.

Jul 22, 2009 - 10:58 am 47. Bill:

1)Klavan is correct about Cohen being unfair to unsuspecting victims. It is very easy to manipulate people to react in certain ways, particularly if they are genuine. But…

2)I have to admit, I laughed the whole way through the movie.

3)Michael Moore’s movie are FAR more irresponsible than anything Cohen has ever done. At least Cohen admits his craft is comedy. Moore uses the same methodology except feigns objectivity in an attempt to affect the way people look at serious issues. Moore is the serious villain, Cohen is ultimately harmless.

Jul 22, 2009 - 11:17 am 48. Mike W.:

What none of you fail to mention, of course, because you didn’t even see the flick, is that Cohen, as Bruno, actually traveled to Palestine to interview the the leader of al Aqsa Martyr’s Brigade. During the intervew, he actually asked this scary sunofagun – straight faced, and surrounded by AK-wielding terrorists – “Why does your hero, Osama bin Laden, look like a homeless Santa Claus?”

I don’t care who you are, or what you believe, that right there, is comic genius. And unbelievably ballsy.

Sacha Baron Cohen has more brains and cajones than Klavan or anyone posting on this board. That’s why he gets Isla Fisher, and the rest of you get bitter and jealous.

Jul 22, 2009 - 12:35 pm 49. Delia:

48. Mike W.,

DUDE, DUDE, DUDE!

I am TOTALLY hoping there’s a youtube of that! LMAO!

Jul 22, 2009 - 12:49 pm 50. Californio:

to use what Mike W said as a reference point – it is “comic genius” to ask ohmygoddidhereallyaskthat questions of people you hold in contempt? Eh, not really. Challenge a bigger icon of popular culture – a popular leader, a beloved celebrity – then perhaps you can say that takes cajones. Mocking someone “everyone” you know hates – well that sure is not genius.

Jul 22, 2009 - 1:00 pm 51. Rick Bayan:

YES! You nailed the precise reason Cohen’s shtik irritates me, too. And you’re absolutely right to trace it back to Letterman’s early mock-the-hicks routines.

In “Borat,” I’ll never forget how graciously his genteel Southern hosts treated him, despite the outrageous gaffes…until he expected them to welcome a hooker at their dinner table. (Oh, the deplorable racism of American Southerners!)

In the end, Cohen and his ilk contribute to the “us vs. them” mentality that so permeates red-blue American culture today.

Jul 22, 2009 - 1:01 pm 52. Californio:

opps – make that “cojones”

Jul 22, 2009 - 1:01 pm 53. Middleman:

Remember Republicans. Personally responsiblity! If you signed the release and Sacha Cohen made you look a fool, it’s your own damn fault!

I live in the south and it generally doesn’t take much to make hicks look like idiots. It’s in their DNA.

Jul 22, 2009 - 1:36 pm 54. Andy:

I’m with you, elvis. Who is this guy?

Jul 22, 2009 - 2:33 pm 55. Delia:

53. Middleman:

“Personally responsiblity!” [sic]

It’s also easy to make ‘anyone’ look like a fool…even when it’s unwarranted.

Personally, I think fools make clowns funny and there are plenty of both in this world regardless of political affiliations.

Personal responsibility is a misnomer for the left. They expect ‘everyone else’ to be responsible for the ‘rest’ of society.

Is it right or wrong to not want to throw a coin in a drunk, homeless person’s hat when you know that money will not go to food but, instead, to ‘booze’?

Just sayin’

Jul 22, 2009 - 2:34 pm 56. Roderick Reilly:

Tom Greene was gross enough, so some guy who plummets onto a stage wearing nothing but wings and a jockstrap is grotesque beyond measure.

Jul 22, 2009 - 3:14 pm 57. Delia:

56. Roderick Reilly:

“Tom Greene”???????

Thanks a lot. I had totally ‘forgotten’ him until now. ;p

Jul 22, 2009 - 3:21 pm 58. Peg C.:

I didn’t realize “Bruno” was tanking, but glad to hear it. Just another piece of drek to lower an already low culture even further. I do remember seeing Cohen in “Talledega Nights.” Not only will I never watch another Cohen movie, but Will Farrell is on my (admittedly large and growing larger) boycott list, too. Not funny.

Jul 22, 2009 - 3:42 pm 59. Mary Jackson:

Borat was hilarious. Bruno wasn’t. That’s all that matters.

Americans are so po-faced and puritanical.

Jul 22, 2009 - 5:11 pm 60. Mary Jackson:

Can anyone think of any other country where Cohen could pull this crap with everyday people and not get his butt kicked inside of five minutes?

England for starters, plus we don’t take it so seriously.

Jul 22, 2009 - 5:30 pm 61. Delia:

60. Mary Jackson,

The ‘cheese scene from my wife’s teat’ cracked me up I must admit. he-he-he

Jul 22, 2009 - 5:39 pm 62. Delia:

P.S.

59. Mary Jackson:

What’s ‘po-faced’???? I’ll prolly feel stupid after you tell me and give myself a ‘duh’ smack in the head. :\

Jul 22, 2009 - 5:40 pm 63. Master Cranky Hucklebubble:

Blarty Blarkleblart=Sheesh=yada yada yada.
Good Bye.

Jul 22, 2009 - 7:28 pm 64. Delia:

63. Master Cranky Hucklebubble:

I’m trying my bestest to care about Sheeshers. It gets old when he changes his name on a constant basis though. You’d think he was ‘ashamed’ of his posts?

Hell, I rip open my heart and post straight from my heart and soul and I OWN it.

C’mon, Sheeshers, I know you’ve had some hard times. Stick to one name! Hmm?

Jul 22, 2009 - 9:19 pm 65. Christopher Davis:

59, 60. You wheedling English creeps are a cancer in my country, and the sooner we are rid of you and your pathetic apologists in the New York press and Hollyweird machinery, the better off we will be. Why should we tolerate your lording it over us?

Jul 23, 2009 - 3:04 am 66. Emma:

Yes, I enjoyed its freefall. I’m tired of holier-than-thou Hollywood. “A movie that makes fun of redneck hicks, hahaha! Oh wait, they make fun of gays too. Well now I’m pissed.” They never see the cheap irony of their own bigoted views.

(And off-topic… Delia, I feel like I know you by now – even though I don’t post much, I usually read the comments. You do own it. It’s always fun to read you.)

Jul 23, 2009 - 3:17 am 67. Steveoh:

Blotto: “throw the Jew down the well so my people can be free.” Sounds like you would fit right into that Texas bar where the group so gleefully sang along with Cohen. Fingers as horns and all. His HBO show was hilarious. The movies were rehashed and rather boring. What’s the stink all about?

Jul 23, 2009 - 3:28 am 68. Mary Jackson:

“Po-faced” is probably a “Britishism”. Literally it means face like a bum – sorry – arse – sorry – ass/butt. That sounds a lot nastier than it is, though. In practice it’s a gentle insult meaning don’t be so serious, or lighten up.

Baron Cohen is an equal opportunities offender – essentially he’s a clown, and certainly doesn’t have any “message”. Usually hits the spot very well, and Borat was a scream, but Bruno wasn’t quite as good, somehow, mainly because people know who he is now.

Jul 23, 2009 - 3:51 am 69. JFM:

Borat was hilarious. Bruno wasn’t. That’s all that matters.

I suspect you wouldn’t have found it half as funny it it had mocked anyone other than Americans.

Americans are so po-faced and puritanical.

The British will never forgive America for having saved them of the consequences of their cowardice at Munich and of their intellectual failure three years later (Hint: the string of defeats in Africa to a heavily outnumbered Afrika Korps. Hint: The fall of Malaysia and Singapore. Hint:In 1942 they still hadn’t designed a tank with a decent gun.

Jul 23, 2009 - 4:28 am 70. SmartyJones:

Sadly, the best of the created characters Ali G, has been retired and the second best is a distant second in Borat. The redeeming factor of Ali G is that he was also ridiculing the “wigger” culture which is alive and well in America where ignorance and white guys acting ghetto and living the ghetto “lifestyle” is some sort of achievement for “keeping it real.”

The sheer stupidity of Ali G was also the most endearing quality, something that was equally shared with Borat. That journalists were also being lampooned in their self-importance clearly was lost on many people but Borat had some very very funny moments. One of the funniest aspects of course is that he pokes fun at his own character.

Bruno to me seemed to be an idea best limited to a skit and I won’t see this movie as I’m not really too attracted to the idea of seeing naked dudes all over a big screen. The dropoff beyond the 50% mark may indicate that this is just not a formula that works.

Baron Cohen is a unique talent however. Anyone who watches him interview with Pat Buchanan can’t help but laugh, at everyone. Watching some of the Ali G clips like his interview with contrasting sex opinions is completely hilarious. He often lampoons the pc community that is held beyond rebuke here. And that’s more than welcome.

Jul 23, 2009 - 4:39 am 71. Blarty Blarckleblart:

Blarty Blarkleblart=Sheesh=yada yada yada.

Um, no. In comment threads my nym is always some variant of “Rusty Shackleford”, with or without Blart substitutions.

There’s more than one of us at Overlord Soros’ Troll Mill, you know.

Jul 23, 2009 - 5:55 am 72. Roger Godby:

It would make the rental shelves in Japan but perhaps might not air or make screens. Malicious public humiliation usually doesn’t sell there.

Was Ali G a chav?

Jul 23, 2009 - 6:44 am 73. Delia:

66. Emma,

Awwwwwwww. What a sweet post (((HUG))).
-
68. Mary Jackson,

Thank you for the term of ‘po-faced’. I seriously have never heard that term used in person or in print before. lol
-
71. Blarty Blarckleblart,
“There’s more than one of us at Overlord Soros’ Troll Mill, you know.”

Uh-huh. *smacks you on your cute little hiney*

*thwack!*

That’s gonna leave a mark.

he-he-he ;p

Jul 23, 2009 - 7:01 am 74. Blarty Blarckleblart:

Was Ali G a chav?

Yes.

Jul 23, 2009 - 7:50 am 75. Stephen in Afghanistan:

Somewhat off subject, but if anyone wants to hear a great comic who is willing to trash Obama, listen to Nick Dipaolo.

Jul 23, 2009 - 8:04 am 76. Occam:

Cohen is an equal opportunity offender, and nobody who saw the movie could say it has anything to do with red-state/blue state.

It is a total put-down of the fashionista scene, which is hardly red-state. The scariest scene in the flick is the series of interviews with Stage Parents of very small children agreeing to really outrageous things – anything to get their darlings a job, including losing ten pounds in a week or else having liposuction, and having their kid pretend to be a Nazi and push a wheelbarrow containing another kid who’s the Jew into the ovens. OK, if she gets the job… Wow!

And when it comes to red-state targets, who’s going to defend the “second-level” gay de-programmer who admits that women are annoying, illogical, and always rambling from one topic to another with no point, but then says, “But it’s GOOD for us!” Really…

It’s gross, but it does show what kinds of idiocy are out there, which is more than a little alarming!

It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World.

Jul 23, 2009 - 8:08 am 77. Delia:

I miss Sheeshers!

*pout*

Jul 23, 2009 - 9:20 am 78. Delia:

76. Occam:

“It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World.”

LOL!

Jul 23, 2009 - 9:20 am 79. Tomp:

Sheesh was laid off from his acorn job. To unconvincing, not thuggish enough.

Jul 23, 2009 - 9:46 am 80. Delia:

79. Tomp:

“Sheesh was laid off from his acorn job. To unconvincing, not thuggish enough.”

Was it his pink feather boa that ruined his chances in the Acorn thug 101 class? Awwwwwww. Poor Sheeshers. :\

Jul 23, 2009 - 9:49 am 81. Delia:

Flashes Andrew Klavin’s thread with her ‘Sybil’ ascii art breasts:

(o)(o) Perfect breasts

o o A cups

{O}{O} D cups

(oYo) Wonder bra breasts

(+)(+) Fake Silicone Breasts

(*)(*) High nipple breasts

(@)(@) Big nipple breasts

(v)(v) Cold breasts

(o)(O) Lopsided breasts

(Q)(O) Pierced breasts

(p)(p) Hanging tassels breasts

\o/\o/ Grandma’s breasts

(-)(-) Flat against the shower door breasts

he-he

Jul 23, 2009 - 11:36 am 82. Marie-Claude:

woah, JFM, cé la fête aux Anglishes for once LMAO

Jul 23, 2009 - 11:42 am 83. Dr. Bukk:

The world missed the point of Sacha’s Borat character. He was attacking Muslims, not Americans. His prejudices dwarfed those of the frat boys he “exposed” or any American prejudice. His disgusting opinions were thinly disguised Muslim opinions, and so heinous that only Southern people would tolerate him. He would have been killed if he had stayed up north. The funniest thing was after Khazickstan vowed to sue, Borat said, “Good, sue that Jew”!

Jul 23, 2009 - 1:22 pm 84. Mary Jackson:

The British will never forgive America for having saved them of the consequences of their cowardice at Munich…bla bla bla..

Delia – you asked what po-face means. Now you know.

Jul 23, 2009 - 3:01 pm 85. SP_Immortal:

“What none of you fail to mention, of course, because you didn’t even see the flick, is that Cohen, as Bruno, actually traveled to Palestine to interview the the leader of al Aqsa Martyr’s Brigade. During the intervew, he actually asked this scary sunofagun – straight faced, and surrounded by AK-wielding terrorists – “Why does your hero, Osama bin Laden, look like a homeless Santa Claus?”

I don’t care who you are, or what you believe, that right there, is comic genius. And unbelievably ballsy.”

If you think that he had an interview with an actual member of Al Aqsa, you’re dumb. Anyone that doesn’t realise that at least half of any improv comedian’s routine is a setup isn’t in on the joke. They are the joke.

Jul 23, 2009 - 3:12 pm 86. KB:

Borat succeeds because its hilarity and its fish-out-of-water sweetness outweighs its Eurpoean confirmation bias about Americans. Bruno is definitely funny, but harsher and lacking that sweetness. I liked it, but I can’t say I’m sad to see it go.

Jul 23, 2009 - 3:18 pm 87. happy1ga:

The greatest sin any comedian can commit is not being funny. I can forgive them almost any vile word or deed, but for goodness sakes, make me laugh. Saw Borat, saw Bruno. Yes, I slightly smiled a few times and once in Borat I kind of tee hee’d. However, I never laughed. Shame on you, Sascha, that’s just not forgivable.

Jul 23, 2009 - 3:21 pm 88. matt sturgeon:

Borat was a hilarious movie. I am a conservative and I have no trouble saying when funny is funny. Borat is one of my favorite movies. Foreigners crack me up and Borat hit them all spot on.

“On weekends I go to capital city and watch a-ladies make a-toilet.”

Jul 23, 2009 - 4:01 pm 89. Ed Wallis:

Sure, I’d love to see satirical humor on the screen about Obama.

That ain’t Cohen’s schtick here, Klavan.

It’s satirizing a European homosexual.

Lots of folks seem to be riled because “it’s putting down/degrading homosexuality.”

Today’s protected species o fchoice, Mr. Klavan?!

THEY’RE FAIR GAME…or, (as with “womyn”) “GAYME”…as is anyone else on this earth.

Got a problem with that, Mr. Klavan?

That’s YOUR problem, Mr. Klavan.

Jul 23, 2009 - 4:30 pm 90. Ed Wallis:

ADDENDUM:

Should I write a piece about how offended I am by this film because I am a first generation European-American, Mr. Clavan?!

Now, that would be just plain silly…heh.

Just like this article.

Jul 23, 2009 - 4:34 pm 91. Solonoid:

In fairness, Cohen, as Ali G, has done mock interviews with many famous people, including Gingrich, Pat Buchanan, Ralph Nader, Donald Trump, Andy Rooney, Buzz Aldrin, Shaq O’Neil, Kobe Bryant, C. Everett Koop, etc. Go see YouTube. These are funny.

So he isn’t picking only on ordinary people.

Jul 23, 2009 - 5:25 pm 92. Dan Tana:

Yes, the same type of bold “artists” who can conceive of “piss Christ” but can’t step out and rake Moohammed over the coals.

Jul 23, 2009 - 6:07 pm 93. Capital G:

I liked the Borat character a bit – Ali G I thought was just dumb. Bruno is even dumber.

Borat was a kind of believable persona. Ali G and especially Bruno aren’t. I’m not really offended by the ‘type’ of humor so much as the circumstances.

If you are poking fun at regular people, then a cop or firefighter is realistic target. It can be done to make them a sympathetic or inconsequential target and not like a racist, a homo, a homo hater or whatever.

I did laugh at the MTV Awards/Eminem thing – was expecting to laugh at the Ron Paul bit but just thought it was stupid. That wasn’t even clever. I think Ron Paul is a joke – but that was just worthless. That was a comedic golden opportunity wasted IMO. Excellent opportunity – horrible execution and massive failure.

If anything I have a lower opinion of Cohen’s comedic talent now – and it wasn’t that high to begin with. He is a far cry from Andy Kaufman or anything similar he is trying to rip off.

Jul 24, 2009 - 1:39 am 94. Capital G:

I do agree with your sentiments about comedians not willing to make fun of Obama. When Obama is brought into the joke – someone else is the butt of the joke without fail.

There is a certain defensive reaction when discussing Obama among the liberal media and the few 0-bots you meet in daily life. You make fun of him and you are criticized.

Bring up his decision (and it was his decision to post the document) to post a short form COLB instead of the typical long form BC we are all familiar with (even the ‘anti-birthers’ know what I mean) and you are called a conspiracy theorist.

Most of you never even saw a COLB before (I have a copy of my long form BC – I suspect many others do as well). I know I hadn’t. I saw that document and was like WTF is that? After some investigating I decided that was hardly an acceptable version of a BC.

I’m not what you would probably call an ‘employer’ (far from my primary function) – but I’ve hired a few people before and received a few BC’s or other documents for authentication purposes – but never received that BS document 0bama tried to pass off as a BC.

Jul 24, 2009 - 2:13 am 95. JFM:

Marie Claude

I could have told the same thing about the French. Ask yourself why ypur elites are so much in love with Germany and ask yourself why there was never the same level of contempt towards Russia/Soviet Union who helped Germany in 1940. Petty men resent having been helped. Unlike some others I am not secretly happy about France’s fall into pettiness.

BTW while touring the D-Day beaches we dined at Bayeux where we had “Poulet au calvados”, one of the most delicious dishes I ever tasted. Well, at the next table there was an English couple who had ordered the same thing and the man was looking at his diner like if wondering if it wasn’t poisonous. LOL.

Jul 24, 2009 - 2:20 am 96. SM:

In fairness, Cohen, as Ali G, has done mock interviews with many famous people, including Gingrich, Pat Buchanan, Ralph Nader, Donald Trump, Andy Rooney, Buzz Aldrin, Shaq O’Neil, Kobe Bryant, C. Everett Koop, etc. Go see YouTube. These are funny.

So he isn’t picking only on ordinary people.

========
Ali G interviewed Naomi Wolf, in his way.

But HBO didn’t air it.

Hmmm…

Jul 24, 2009 - 2:29 am 97. MikeBuz:

You said exactly what I thought when I saw Borat (I have not seen Bruno and don’t care to). The clips with Alan Keyes and Pamela Anderson were okay because these are people who have chosen to put themselves in the spotlight and are fair game. But the rest of the movie picked on ordinary people who didn’t deserve to be humiliated in a national theater release. The pits was the parts where he snuck into the fundamentalist service. I am not religious, much less a fundamentalist Christian but I thought it was appalling that he could make fun of something that many people take very seriously and find great comfort in. I thought at the time, “You know, he would never do this sneaking into a Jewish service” (not that that would be okay either), or, god help us, a Moslem service because at bottom Cohen is gutless. He picks the easy targets he knows most of his audience will approve humiliating, targets that pose no danger to him. He thinks it’s edgy but it’s as safe as milk.

Jul 24, 2009 - 3:12 am 98. Just wondering:

I haven’t seen Cohen’s movies, but “Ed Wallis”’s comment, that the Bruno movie is “satirizing a European homosexual,” makes me wonder if Cohen ever sets up gay folks for his “gotcha” gags. Does he? Or are they off-limits?

On the racial side, from what I’ve heard, he mostly goes after white, and often Southern, people. A while back I read a review that pointed out that he didn’t try to trap African-Americans into revealing their attitudes about Jews. Is that true?

So, besides Obama, perhaps there are other targets who are too politically incorrect for Cohen? If so, wouldn’t that make him a coward?

Jul 24, 2009 - 3:26 am 99. Ed Wallis:

Dear Just Wondering,

Did you happen to see the music awards opening show with Cohen “flying in out of the sky with wings (and basically nothing but tanga swimtrunks on…) falling into Eminem’s lap/face?
A publicity stunt, to be sure, but, as with his other characters, no one is “safe” form Cohen’s humor…and that’s a good thing!

Jul 24, 2009 - 7:22 am 100. JFM:

The British will never forgive America for having saved them of the consequences of their cowardice at Munich…bla bla bla..

Delia – you asked what po-face means. Now you know.

It means someone who goes straight to the truth.

Jul 24, 2009 - 7:24 am 101. vivo:

“Lefties making ’soft’ jokes about ‘their’ president is hardly ‘comedy gold’.”

. . . the humorless Pajammer said.

All Bush jokes were soft. But to his adorers, they were poison, of course.

Jul 25, 2009 - 1:54 pm 102. jvon:

What struck me more than anything about the Borat movie was how patient and polite people were with him, even though he acted like a jackass.

I have a feeling I am more the type of person he is trying to make fun of — I love this country, I believe in God, and I have no patience for idiots like him. But ironically, faced with someone acting like Cohen, I’d say “get the f**k away from me” and he would have no material for his movie.

Jul 25, 2009 - 7:21 pm 103. SpaniardinTexas:

In Spain we had programs made by PUBLIC tv (paid by everybody) that make fun of people in offices… but the problem was that to get people in that office the tv crew published FAKE job ads… outrageous.

Jul 26, 2009 - 3:39 pm

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