Sacha Baron Cohen: The 60 Minutes Interview

Sacha Baron Cohen has made a career in. entertainment out of rendering himself. unrecognizable. As the lovable but ignorant Kazakhstani. reporter Borat, the fashion and. fame-obsessed narcissist Bruno, and the. hip-hop idiot Ali G. Hilarious fools he. deploys to trick real people into. exposing their real beliefs. At 55, Baron Cohen has been doing his. undercover comedy for more than half his.

life. In that time, the complexity, moral stakes, and physical danger. entailed in his deceptions has. increased. He sometimes requires. trapdoors and getaway vans to escape the. situations he's created. He's a rare combination, a. mission-driven public intellectual and. an adrenaline junkie who has invented. his own genre of comedy in the hopes of. making us laugh and waking us up. We talked to him at his alma mater,

Cambridge University, where his parents. sent him in the hopes that he would. become a lawyer. >> I wanted to be a comedian. But, I was embarrassed to tell anyone. that I wanted to be a comedian. Because it's a bit like saying, "I want. to be a supermodel." You know, then. people go, "Well, you're not actually. very good-looking, so you look like. people.". >> It's a secret. >> So, exactly. No one knows it. >> But, Baron Cohen had been experimenting. with a version of the character who. would become Ali G for years. >> Yo, what's up, homie? This is MC Justin.

here, chilling with you, making it real. >> He was this upper-class kid. who did all the same catchphrases as Ali. G. Booyakasha. But, he was upper-class, so it was booyakasha, you know. Junglist. massive. >> Baron Cohen took his prototype of Ali G. for a test drive among the skateboarders. of London with the intention of airing. the sketch on a youth culture show he. was hosting on cable. >> And I start skateboarding terribly, and. they go, "You're You're crap, man. You're wack." After about 5 minutes, I. went back to my real voice. I said,

"Guys, I'm. pretending. This is a This is a. character." They were shocked. At the end of the hour, I get called by. the head. boss. >> Mhm. >> He says, "If you try that again, you're. fired.". >> Oh, wow. >> And then I knew I was onto something. >> That something was honed into the. character millions have come to know as. Ali G. A white imbecile and hip-hop journalist. who wants to be a black rapper. And whose debut on a satirical. late-night talk show in 1998 was the.

stepping stone to Da Ali G Show. >> Check it. >> A smash hit in the UK that spawned an. HBO series and a feature film. >> So, the core idea of Ali G was I. thought, "Would it be funny. to have. the world expert in something with the. biggest idiot in the world?". >> Mhm. >> You know, would that juxtaposition be. really funny. >> Mhm. >> if the world expert takes it seriously? >> Right. And apparently, yes. Baron Cohen.

went on to unleash Ali G on dozens of. credulous authorities. >> Is it cuz I was black? >> You're black? >> I've got some business idea that I would. just want to tell you about, and I'd be. a fool if. >> Very quickly. >> Boom boom shake the mo-. >> Case in point, the former Surgeon. General of the United States, C. Everett. Koop. >> I kept on telling him these stupid. questions like, you know, "Ain't the heart a bit. crap? You know, don't Shouldn't it have. a different rhythm? Cuz at moment, it's. boom boom boom boom, but what about a.

Then they would look after and go, "Yo, this is me heart. Respect it.". >> No, you're way off base there. >> So, Ali, >> now, after more than 20 years in. remission, Ali G is back. >> Yo, where is it now? This is called Buckingham Palace. And people from around the world come. here. to take photos and to wait and get boned.

by Prince Edward. Um. >> Like if I play my cards right, that. could be me. >> How old is you? >> 52. >> No. >> Okay. >> Even if you switch those numbers around, they ain't going to work. By the way, you look well. Well, up there is Big. Ben. >> We went along as Ali G commandeered a. double-decker bus and took us to see his. version of the London landmarks. >> The big hand is on the II. And the little hand is on the III.

>> Do you feel like you bring any element. of of your actual self to some of the. characters? >> If I knew who I was, then I could answer. that. But, I don't know. I mean, Ali G, definitely, because. in a way, at the age of 11, I was a an. Ali G of sorts. >> The youngest of three boys, Baron Cohen. grew up in northwest London, the son of. a fitness instructor and an accountant. >> My mom was hilarious, but probably not. intentionally so.

>> Like, can you give me an example? >> Well, she has a voice like this. Sorry if you're watching this. Um and she had such a. distinct voice that everyone in my high. school could imitate it. So, everyone. would go, "Sacha, telephone!". Because that's what she would say when. people would call me. >> He had a passion for breakdancing and. early hip-hop, even providing the. entertainment for his own bar mitzvah. He went on to study history at Cambridge.

University, where Baron Cohen discovered. the stage. >> I realized I loved making people laugh, but I also really like making them cry. Um on stage. I don't know if you like. >> the full emotional workout. >> give them their Yeah, bang for their. buck. I really do. I do. >> And how do your parents react when you. finish Cambridge and you say, "I think I. want to be a actor."? >> They thought it was a ridiculous idea. It was just an impossibility. They were. right. They were actually correct. >> Well, no. >> Well, it was so it would have been.

irresponsible for them to support me. Because the likelihood of success was. seemed impossible. >> He pursued his goal by studying with the. Stanislavski of clowns, a man named. Philippe Gaulier. >> His idea of clown was the stupidest. creature that can ever be on stage. He. used to say, "More stupid than this and. you die.". Uh sorry for the cultural appropriation. of the French accent. >> And what did you learn? >> Everything. Everything. He was my. mentor. >> And Baron Cohen brought it all to Borat.

>> Yakshemash. I'm not a Borat. >> The beloved, bumbling, anti-semite. Kazakh reporter who made his grand. entrance touring America in 2006. >> We are actually live on the air right. now. >> I am very excite. >> Yes, it's a nice. >> Hello, you listen to my. Hello, you listen to my I am very. excited. >> So, when you're making Borat, obviously. you meticulously. plan ahead and, you know, it's not like. you and your merry band of producers is.

just going into antique stores. >> And there's a huge amount of stuff that. you don't see, which is us behind the. scenes looking at who we were. interviewing and going, "They not them. Not them.". Who is this lady you have shrunk? Was she the owner of this house that you. camped in front of? >> The movie was both hysterical and. revealing. An experiment, he says, where. interactions with real people move the.

plot forward. What's more, Borat made. $260 million. >> You know, Borat is, again, a funny. character, but also to. He also shows the kindness of people as. well who are so nice to him. >> Mhm. >> But also can expose, you know, the layer. of hate and bigotry below the surface. that people normally wouldn't go on air. and. and show. >> Baron Cohen's undercover comedy ventures.

into morally complex territory. In many. cases, his incognito encounters with. unsuspecting people create an ethically. questionable bargain. The worse they. look, the better it is for him. >> Come on and make my day, Jew. >> I guess what I wonder is have you felt. conflicted or guilty about. baiting someone into making a complete. fool of themselves? >> Okay, well, I think a lot of the times.

they're not making fools of themselves. Uh I think a lot of those in the Ali G. interviews they come across across well, actually. >> Uh-huh. >> Uh I think it's the same with Borat. >> The encore of Borat was Bruno. >> [ __ ] off. I'm Bruno. >> A flamboyant fashion reporter who wanted. to become the quote biggest Austrian. superstar since Hitler. Baron Cohen says. the movie was conceived as a gay rom-com. and rom-coms need to end with a kiss, usually in a setting that's scenic and. sentimental.

>> Instead of that, we did it in a cage. match. It is me and my love interest and we. kiss. We wanted to see what would happen with. the crowd, would they become violent, really. >> [screaming]. >> No, it seemed like they wanted to kill. you. >> Yes. >> What's the sort of ratio of fear. to thrill for you while that's. happening? How much are you worried. about dying and how much are you.

thinking, "Oh my god, this is going to. be the best scene?". >> I'm thinking about the scene almost. entirely in that moment. I mean, I can remember it vividly now. Yeah, I remember Well, I remember lying. down and I'm kissing him and I'm looking. at the chairs. And I'm thinking this is great. >> Baron Cohen's work has earned Golden. Globes and BAFTA Awards, as well as. Oscar nominations for Borat. And for his. dramatic role as the '60s activist Abbie. Hoffman in The Trial of the Chicago 7. >> We carried certain ideas across state.

lines. >> Before that, he played Israeli Mossad. agent Eli Cohen in a mini-series called. The Spy. >> We shoot Bobby. >> And starred opposite Will Ferrell as the. French NASCAR driver Jean Girard in. Talladega Nights. >> I was in the middle of shooting Borat, and on the plane over I thought, I need. to do a French character. Why don't I do. my old French clown teacher? >> Ah, yes. So, that it is that, you know, you like Bobby, you know. Yes, Bobby.

I thought you just said your dick did. not bad. Is that a snot my [ __ ]. >> Peter Sellers, in all his absurdity, faux Frenchness, and physicality, was the first and remains the greatest. influence of Baron Cohen's career. >> I mean, Sellers is still my favorite. comedian. >> Of all time? >> Yes. >> Uh-huh. >> Yeah, because he completely inhabited. the character. >> Uh-huh. >> And it's laugh-out-loud funny. And they are silly voices. >> In Baron Cohen's new movie, Ali G Who Is.

I, his directorial debut out later this. week, he plays Ali G, a deranged leftist. professor, and a former Mossad agent, who all interact with unsuspecting. strangers. The result, designed to. expose the extremism at both ends of the. political spectrum, is as disturbing as. it is funny. >> These immigrants are not coming here to. mow your lawn, trim your trees, rake. your leaves, clean your house. >> Did you go into this movie with any kind.

of question you wanted to answer. >> Yes. I mean, number one, I wanted the. people to. laugh. really, really hard. And I wanted to. also just examine this idea of. conspiracies and lies. Whether we, in a. matter of hours, could turn intelligent. people who believed in. the theory of race replacement into. murderers. Doesn't sound that funny. There's loads. of laughs in the movie as well. >> The scale of the challenge was unlike. anything Baron Cohen had undertaken.

before. >> We had to have, you know, prosthetic. teams working on this for years. We had. animatronic teams. There are hundreds. and hundreds of things that can go. wrong. And each of them has to go right. >> Do you feel like you're holding up a. mirror to society, plain and simple? Or. is it like a like a weird, warped. funhouse mirror that gives us a. distorted perspective of how scary. things actually are? >> Again, the primary objective of all of.

this is to get people to laugh really. hard. Um. and smuggled in there is a bit of. satire. It's a bit of hopefully people. come out of the movie theater and think. >> Baron Cohen is trying to show us that. democracies depend on shared truths and. autocracies survive on shared lies. He. says he's just doing silly voices, but. for more than half his life, his. characters' curiosity, stupidity, and. charm have also revealed our character. >> You know, my dream was.

could I make one classic comedy? And I felt like with Borat, I was like, I did it. You know, so anything else is. is really gravy and. yeah, I feel very, very lucky. >> Ah. King in the castle, king in the castle.