TV Retrospective: "Who is America?" - Season 1

Scene from Who is America?

Ever since Borat hit theaters over a decade ago, the idea of Sacha Baron Cohen using his guerrilla comedy style to trick audiences has been of constant debate. When will he return with a character that will take hold of the zeitgeist and leave the modern politicians, sometimes literally, with their pants down? It's a world of wonder that works because of surprise as well as his ability to subvert expectations, most notably on the HBO hit series Da Ali G Show.Well, after a long period of silence, he has returned with Who is America?, a show that randomly appeared on Showtime last month and received the penchant immediate notoriety, including form politician Sarah Palin - of whom didn't even make it on the show. What works is that Cohen still knows how to bait and trap his targets with intriguing characters, though it's not always as fulfilling as his best work. While it's great to have him back, the show was more of a hodgepodge than Da Ali G Show, and that's a big issue.Da Ai G Show was a program that benefited from structure, relying on three characters who emphasized taboo areas of society: urban, foreign, and gay. For Who is America?, he wisely picks new characters, but there is no weekly order to the show in the way that white boy gangsta Ali G had when he got high society politicians to discuss policy while giving the most illogical scenario imaginable. In that way, the show is playing more into the skit side of Cohen's work. It's not the worst thing in the world, but the show is so anarchic that even its theme song is a booming energy of energetic screams. In some ways, it's for the best - especially given that Cohen hasn't met a character that he couldn't embody both physically and vocally. However, it also means that over just seven episodes, there is a lot of filler.

It is a miracle that Cohen was able to pull off a joke like this while under intense scrutiny. If anything, that makes the show all the more impressive. Add in that social media makes everyone, no matter how pedestrian, a celebrity also makes it tougher to get anything done. There have been shows like Nathan For You that have integrated real life media to the show's benefit. But for Cohen, it has been mostly a mystery as to what he'll do. It's the build up that makes the show all the more exciting. There's a concern about how things will turn out, like how he'll take defamed politicians and conservatives and make them look buffoonish. The thing is that this is what still works for the show. People who don't know where the punchline is will go along, such as when a group of men "fighting terrorism" dress up unconvincingly as little girls with fake female genitalia and guns hidden in dresses set up a quinceanera only to have the police consider them predators. There's a lot of subversion in the non-celebrity pieces especially, and it's when the show is at its best.

But who is doing the lampooning this time? Cohen has concocted six characters this time who rotate week-to-week. There are some who target conservatives, which is the easy target at the moment. It's partially why the liberal characters are a bit more disappointing, as they exist almost exclusively as heightened parodies. Characters like Dr. Nira Cain-N'Degeocello were among the show's weaker parts as an ultra-liberal whose embrace of cultural differences ranged from esoteric to downright baffling. While Cohen has written characters who have rich backstories, Cain-N'Degeocello is one who is more of an endurance test because of how obnoxiously progressive he thinks he is, bringing the series' low point of the season in which he performs a male version of giving birth that feels insufferably long. It's admirable that Cohen would put himself through it, but it still feels pointless. Unfortunately, almost every character has at least one segment that feels that way and since they're not on every week, the average episode has as many highs as they do lows.

In some ways, it's a bit of a pandering series meant more to troll the big figures of the moment. Considering that the show ends up by trying to get the recently O.J. Simpson to confess to murder, it's incredible to wonder how Cohen got into these circles. It's surreal to see him talk to figures like former Vice President Dick Cheney, Joe Arpaio, Bernie Sanders, and even rapper Bone Crusher about topics that are backdoor ways of getting bizarre reactions and quotes. It's the part that keeps the show worth watching, such as when Jason Spencer shouted racial epithets as a proposed form of self-defense (a move that lead to his immediate firing).In this way, there's still a danger in the unexpected ammo that Cohen has to make people be persuaded so easily into odd ways. Again, some of them are less interesting (Alt-Right parody Billy Wayne Ruddick relied on Alternative Facts for humor, so the mileage varies), but it just goes to show how timeless Cohen's character-based humor inevitably is. 

What makes Who is America? especially precious is that this could be the end. Much like how he had to retire Da Ali G Show characters, one has to wonder how many people will be fooled now that Cohen has gotten the reaction that he desired. It's definitely great to see everyone fooled, but eventually everyone will know where he's going. There's only so many people who will take Erran Morad's terrorism defense class after Spencer's headline-grabbing moment. In some ways, it's for the best that the show ends. However, it could still go on with maybe new characters. It's hard to tell, but Cohen is just as vital in 2018 as he was a decade ago. The only issue is that the element of surprise has to be there, and it's not. Then again, the heavily recorded culture of the moment makes everyone capable of fooling people, so it's not impossible to see him coming back in some significant ways.

Who is America? is both a welcomed return and a bit of a disappointment. On one hand, Cohen has once again scratched that raw nerve that is so engrossing to witness. He has gotten politicians fired, made people look bad, and created one of the most unexpected shows of 2018. The only issue is that for a limited run, it has a sad amount of filler that maybe is meant to reflect the limitless potential of how shameless America is as a country. Even then, Cohen had seven episodes to make a strong impact before potentially disappearing forever. It's hard not to wish that there was more at the center of these segments. While the best moments rival Da Ali G Show for transcendent comedy and commentary, it's inevitably a clone that mostly wants to troll those willing to fall for the joke. It's still funny, but some of the segments play like lesser episodes of a greater series. Hopefully those can be seen one of these days.

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5