Who Is America? episode 2 recap: Sacha Baron Cohen lays his liberal cards on the table, to chilling effect

Self-righteous anger had trumped humour in episode one of Who Is America?, Sacha Baron Cohen’s pummelling return to the fake interview format he pioneered with Ali G and Borat.

But the arch-prankster came closer striking a balance between liberal indignation and actual comedy in part two, in which the targets included former Vice President Dick Cheney, a reality TV star from The Bachelor, a Georgia state representative and the pitchfork-wielding citizens of a small Arizona town.

As the opening credits make clear as they hiccup from JFK and Franklin D. Roosevelt to Donald Trump mimicking a disabled man, Who Is America? is intended as a ferocious broadside against extremism in the United States at a time of unprecedented (in recent history) ideological splintering. 

Theoretically, the satirist is taking aim at both sides. But the ambition to skewer liberals and conservatives with equal zeal was revealed in episode one as a weakness with former Democratic Presidential hopeful  Bernie Sanders calmly swatting aside Cohen’s right wing conspiracy nut, Billy Wayne Ruddick Jr.

So it was a relief that the second of seven instalments parked any pretence that Who Is America? is an equal opportunities offender. Instead Baron Cohen essentially laid his cards on the table – he’s self-evidently a left-leaner who thinks the sort of people who put Trump in power are at best despicable, at worst certifiable – and had at it. 

The emerging star of the series, prosthetically-enhanced Israel terrorism expert Erran Morad, one again served up the shiniest nuggets. His sly pranking of Dick Cheney, whom he had sign his “waterboarding kit”, was satirical gold. Cheney didn’t exactly bite when, as Morad, Baron Cohen enthused about the “700,000 potential terrorists” killed in the two Iraq wars and the Afghan conflict of which the politician was happy to be identified as a key instigator. 

But nor did Cheney protest as Morad enthused about waterboarding – it had made his wife so much more compliant – and said that he had “loved being Secretary of Defence” when the United States was going to war. 

Other victims included Jason Spencer, a conservative Georgia politician who, judging by American media reports following the episode’s airing, may have fatally compromised his career. Goaded by Morad into shouting the n-word and using a racial slur against Arabs he came across as both credulous and farcically prejudiced. 

However, in contrast to last week’s chuckle-free instalment, there were also Borat-levels of inane hilarity, such as when Morad convinced Spencer to participate in an anti-terrorism measure in which, posing as a Chinese tourist, he used a selfie stick to take an “up-skirt” shot of a woman in a burka. 

“Sushi…red dragon..chopstick, Ho Chi Minh City,” said Spencer, in his best approximation of fluent Chinese. The coup de grace, meanwhile, came when he was talked into waggling his bared posterior at Baron Cohen (the Isis terrorist in this scenario) roaring “USA motherf_____”. After a disappointing opening episode this was a reminder that Baron Cohen’s scatalogical mojo had not deserted him. 

Aim was also taken at the facile world of celebrity charity endorsements as Baron Cohen – as Italian playboy photographer Gio Monaldo – persuaded Bachelor contestant Corrine Olympios to participate in an Ebola photoshoot (her smiling visage to be photoshopped into a picture of charity workers in the field). Later, she gave her support to an “adopt a child soldier” charity with the tagline “when you launch a grenade you launch a dream”. 

Olympios, in her defence, looked deeply uncomfortable reading from the autocue and has since spoken of her upset. The fact she continued to participate despite her misgivings surely tells its own story.

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The giggle-to-groaner ratio was far healthier than in week one, though Baron Cohen came unstuck in his half-hearted attempt to hoist liberals. A sit-down with veteran news broadcaster Ted Koppel in his Wayne Ruddick Jr guise once again portrayed the supposed target of the prank in a positive light (also the case with Sanders). 

Confronted with inane witterings about Trump’s inauguration crowd eclipsing that of Obama, Koppel re-asserted the facts and ended the interview. It reflected well on him but resulted in a skit that, by Baron Cohen’s own ground rules, failed to work and should have probably been binned. 

Arguably most chilling of all – and also the best prank – was a presentation by “cisgender white male”  Nira Cain-N'Degeocello  to the residents of a small Arizona town about the new mosque to be built in their community. 

The idea of hundreds of Muslims holidaying in their midst did not sit well. “I am racist towards Muslims,” said one outraged homesteader. “There are black people that aren’t welcome either,” chimed another. “We tolerate them.” Once again the viewer was torn between wanting to laugh and the urge to rip their hair out while howling at the sky – or, as Baron Cohen would call it, “mission accomplished”. 

Episode two of Who Is America? will be broadcast on Channel 4 at 10pm​