Sacha Baron Cohen takes on Trump’s America in ‘perhaps the most dangerous show in TV history’ Unlike that of the compulsively messaging President of the United States, the Twitter account of Sacha Baron Cohen – the […]

Unlike that of the compulsively messaging President of the United States, the Twitter account of Sacha Baron Cohen – the confrontational prankster behind Ali G, Borat and other satirical alter egos – has long lain dormant.

That was until July 4th, American Independence Day, when Baron Cohen posted a video taken from Donald Trump’s old and mostly deleted “From the Desk of Donald Trump” vlog.

“This third-rate character named Sacha Baron Cohen”, Trump snarls with trademark restraint in the 2012 clip, “I only wish that you had been punched so many times in the face that right now you’d be in hospital. Sacha Baron Cohen go to school… learn about being funny.”

i's TV newsletter: what you should watch next Email address is invalid Email address is invalid Thank you for subscribing! Sorry, there was a problem with your subscription.

The British comedian’s video concludes impishly with the words “Sacha Graduates Soon” and the logo of Trump University, which has been defunct since 2010 and was revealed in multiple lawsuits to have been something of a scam.

‘Waterboarding’ Trump

Speculation was immediately rife that Baron Cohen was returning with his first TV show in ten years – conjecture that was quickly strengthened by Showtime in a mysterious advert that proclaimed “Perhaps the most dangerous show in the history of television… something huge is coming”.

The final stage of a masterful teaser campaign has been Baron Cohen himself posting a clip stating that he has been working undercover for a year. In the trailer, the former Vice President Dick Cheney cheerfully signs a “waterboarding kit” for Baron Cohen’s unidentified reporter (Cheney has been an advocate of this form of “enhanced interrogation” technique that simulates drowning).

The first episode of ‘Who Is America?’ will premier in the US on Sunday, and be shown in the UK on Channel 4 on the following night, the series “exploring the diverse individuals, from the infamous to the unknown across the political and cultural spectrum, who populate the unique nation”.

To what extent it will engage with Trump himself remains to be seen, although the President and the prankster have a long history, ever since Baron Cohen interviewed Trump in a 2003 edition of Da Ali G Show and tried to interest the businessman in “ice-cream gloves”. Years later, Trump tweeted that he immediately walked out of the interview (“I never fall for scams”), a claim refuted by Baron Cohen who noted that the conversation lasted for seven minutes, a long time for an Ali G interview.

Close to the bone

Trump has obviously followed Baron Cohen’s career with interest, tweeting for example that he was glad that his 2012 film, The Dictator (in which the comedian played a Gaddafi-like figure) “is not only a dud but not too good at the box-office”.

So while the US satire industry – the likes of Stephen Colbert and Samantha Bee – have had to undertake a crash course in Trump-spoofing, Baron Cohen has long known his target, his weak spots and nerve endings, and for that reason alone will prove a formidable foe. But is Trump impervious to really effective satire?

He was mocked for a long time before he became President and Trump is in any case almost self-satirising – one reason why programmes like Comedy Central’s The President Show, Showtime’s Our Cartoon President and even Alec Baldwin’s Emmy-winning Trump caricature on Saturday Night Live haven’t really managed to get under the Commander in Chief’s notoriously thin skin.

The true effect on Trump of Who Is America? will be measured on social media. Trump won’t be able to help himself and will tweet about the show. And the more angry his outbursts, the closer we will know that Sacha Baron has come to the bone.

‘Who Is America?’ starts on Monday on Channel 4 at 10pm.