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'Who is America?': Cohen splits critics with TV return

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Agence France-Presse

<p>NEW YORK -- &quot;Who is America?&quot; is both the title of Sacha Baron Cohen&#x27;s first foray into television satire in more than a decade and the existential question on the lips of liberals living through the Trump presidency.</p><p>Trailed by a blaze of pre-launch publicity and a furious backlash from public figures who believe they have been pranked, its splashy debut won most attention Sunday for hoodwinking Republican politicians into endorsing a made-up plan to train pre-schoolers how to fire a gun.</p><p>The series brings seven episodes to pay-to-view channel Showtime years after the British comedian was last on television with &quot;Da Ali G Show&quot; -- his wannabe-rapper character interviewing the powerful and famous.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QkXeMoBPSDk?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="~//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="~//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div><p>In &quot;Who is America?&quot; Cohen conjures up four new characters. Billy Wayne Ruddick Jr., is an opponent of &quot;mainstream&quot; media who debates healthcare with left-leaning Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.</p><p>There is Nira Cain-N&#x27;degeocello, a pink-hat wearing, ultra-liberal hippy, who dines at the home of a Trump-voting couple.</p><p>Rick Sherman is an ex-con turned artist who works in the medium of human feces and bodily fluids, and who meets a totally accepting California gallery owner who donates pubic hair to his paint brush.</p><p>Finally, Israeli &quot;anti-terror expert&quot; Colonel Erran Morad pranks Republicans into endorsing a concocted plan to teach children as young as three and four how to fire a firearm, along with a &quot;Puppy Pistol.&quot;</p><p>Teasers for the new series saw US former vice president Dick Cheney signing a &quot;waterboard kit&quot; and Sarah Palin unleash a furious Facebook attack, upset to have been one of Cohen&#x27;s pranked subjects.</p><blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bk_I7LdD3w9/" data-instgrm-version="9" style="background:#FFF;border:0;border-radius:3px;box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15);margin:1px;max-width:540px;min-width:326px;padding:0;width:calc(100% - 2px)"><div style="padding:8px"><div style="background:#F8F8F8;line-height:0;margin-top:40px;padding:50.0% 0;text-align:center;width:100%"><div style="background:url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAACwAAAAsCAMAAAApWqozAAAABGdBTUEAALGPC/xhBQAAAAFzUkdCAK7OHOkAAAAMUExURczMzPf399fX1+bm5mzY9AMAAADiSURBVDjLvZXbEsMgCES5/P8/t9FuRVCRmU73JWlzosgSIIZURCjo/ad+EQJJB4Hv8BFt+IDpQoCx1wjOSBFhh2XssxEIYn3ulI/6MNReE07UIWJEv8UEOWDS88LY97kqyTliJKKtuYBbruAyVh5wOHiXmpi5we58Ek028czwyuQdLKPG1Bkb4NnM+VeAnfHqn1k4+GPT6uGQcvu2h2OVuIf/gWUFyy8OWEpdyZSa3aVCqpVoVvzZZ2VTnn2wU8qzVjDDetO90GSy9mVLqtgYSy231MxrY6I2gGqjrTY0L8fxCxfCBbhWrsYYAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC);display:block;height:44px;margin:0 auto -44px;position:relative;top:-22px;width:44px"> </div></div><p style="color:#c9c8cd;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:17px;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:8px;overflow:hidden;padding:8px 0 7px;text-align:center;text-overflow:ellipsis;white-space:nowrap"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bk_I7LdD3w9/" style="color:#c9c8cd;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;line-height:17px;text-decoration:none" target="_blank">A post shared by Aligboratbrunodictator (@sachabaroncohen)</a> on <time dateTime="2018-07-08T22:04:35+00:00" style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:17px">Jul 8, 2018 at 3:04pm PDT</time></p></div></blockquote><div><script async="" defer="" src="https://www.instagram.com/embed.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div><p>Palin, the former vice presidential nominee and ex-Alaska governor who did not appear in the first episode, slammed the comedian&#x27;s &quot;evil, exploitive, sick &#x27;humor.&#x27;&quot;</p><blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/BlJOXpsD8gs/" data-instgrm-version="9" style="background:#FFF;border:0;border-radius:3px;box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15);margin:1px;max-width:540px;min-width:326px;padding:0;width:calc(100% - 2px)"><div style="padding:8px"><div style="background:#F8F8F8;line-height:0;margin-top:40px;padding:62.5% 0;text-align:center;width:100%"><div style="background:url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAACwAAAAsCAMAAAApWqozAAAABGdBTUEAALGPC/xhBQAAAAFzUkdCAK7OHOkAAAAMUExURczMzPf399fX1+bm5mzY9AMAAADiSURBVDjLvZXbEsMgCES5/P8/t9FuRVCRmU73JWlzosgSIIZURCjo/ad+EQJJB4Hv8BFt+IDpQoCx1wjOSBFhh2XssxEIYn3ulI/6MNReE07UIWJEv8UEOWDS88LY97kqyTliJKKtuYBbruAyVh5wOHiXmpi5we58Ek028czwyuQdLKPG1Bkb4NnM+VeAnfHqn1k4+GPT6uGQcvu2h2OVuIf/gWUFyy8OWEpdyZSa3aVCqpVoVvzZZ2VTnn2wU8qzVjDDetO90GSy9mVLqtgYSy231MxrY6I2gGqjrTY0L8fxCxfCBbhWrsYYAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC);display:block;height:44px;margin:0 auto -44px;position:relative;top:-22px;width:44px"> </div></div><p style="color:#c9c8cd;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:17px;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:8px;overflow:hidden;padding:8px 0 7px;text-align:center;text-overflow:ellipsis;white-space:nowrap"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BlJOXpsD8gs/" style="color:#c9c8cd;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;line-height:17px;text-decoration:none" target="_blank">A post shared by Aligboratbrunodictator (@sachabaroncohen)</a> on <time dateTime="2018-07-12T19:56:33+00:00" style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:17px">Jul 12, 2018 at 12:56pm PDT</time></p></div></blockquote><div><script async="" defer="" src="https://www.instagram.com/embed.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div><p>But if early reviews are more muted, they are also mixed.</p><p>The New York Times called the first episode &quot;tepid and inconsequential,&quot; and ill-suited to the times.</p><p>If The New Yorker waxed lyrical about &quot;sporadically excellent conceptual art,&quot; trade magazine Variety warned Cohen&#x27;s nihilism can &quot;itch and irritate more than enlighten and entertain.&quot;</p><p>The Guardian praised &quot;one moment of viral gold&quot; but otherwise lamented &quot;mostly a frustrating experience.&quot;</p><p>After &quot;Da Ali G Show,&quot; which transferred from Britain to America, Cohen found success with hit movie characters such as bumbling Kazakh reporter Borat and gay Austrian fashionista Bruno.</p><p>His 2012 movie, &quot;The Dictator,&quot; starring himself as a Moamer Kadhafi style tyrant was less well reviewed.</p><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div>

<p>Its splashy debut won most attention Sunday for hoodwinking Republican politicians into endorsing a made-up plan to train pre-schoolers how to fire a gun.</p>

Its splashy debut won most attention Sunday for hoodwinking Republican politicians into endorsing a made-up plan to train pre-schoolers how to fire a gun.