Sacha Baron Cohen to host new US prank show, and it may be his 'secret' Trump project
Sacha Baron Cohen made his name through putting important people through squirm-inducing interviews at the start of the Noughties, and now it looks like the British comedian could be back on the pranks in a new show.
Cohen is reportedly working on a new series that will have a similar format to Da Ali G Show, in which he skewered people such as Donald Trump and John Humphries by interviewing while in character as the aspiring rapper. The news comes hours after Cohen released an intriguing video through his Twitter account that said: “He’s back as you’ve never seen him before.”
Variety claims that Cohen, who has lived and worked in Hollywood for more than a decade, is in talks with US network Showtime to air the series, of which at least two episodes have “already been produced or at least roughly assembled.”
Showtime have released a teaser for a mysterious new series described as “perhaps the most dangerous show in the history of television", starring a “shameless”, “unhinged” and “cold-blooded” lead character. It will debut on July 13.
Neither Showtime nor Cohen's representatives have confirmed it, but the series is thought to be the project teased by Baron Cohen in a video released on July 4.
Sacha Baron Cohen and Donald Trump: the history of the feud that refuses to die
If the teaser is to be believed, Cohen could well be continuing his 15-year-old feud with Trump, who claims he walked out of an interview with Ali G in 2003. Trump's now-deleted video lambasting Cohen as a "moron" was revived for Cohen's comeback video.
Baron Cohen was previously thought to be playing a Philip Green-like billionaire in Greed, a satire on the world of the super-rich. That film now appears to be on hold.
