Borat in the news

I found this fascinating profile of the man behind the increasingly famous character of Borat and Ali G, Sacha Baron Cohen, on the Guardian's website. I am intrigued by a lot of comedians because you know they have to be wicked smart to be that funny. Baron Cohen is 34, and a graduate of Christ's College, Cambridge. Here is the full link:

http://film.guardian.co.uk/features/featurepages/0,,1869802,00.html

And an excerpt:

"He was born in 1971, the second of three sons, to Gerald and Daniella. His father, who is Welsh, runs a successful clothing shop in Piccadilly, London, while his mother is Israeli. After a private education at Haberdashers' Aske's School in Elstree, also the alma mater of comedians David Baddiel and Matt Lucas, where he was much liked and well-behaved, he attended Christ's College, Cambridge, to read history. University friends remember him as belonging to the fringes of the extrovert Footlights drama society set. 'He was a decent enough actor. I recall him doing very well in Cyrano de Bergerac,' says one. 'But he was never exactly a leading light.' At the same time, he was involved with Habonim, a Zionist youth movement.

In his third year at Cambridge, Baron Cohen wrote a thesis about the role of Jews in the American civil rights movement. 'He took it very seriously,' remembers a contemporary. 'He spent time in the USA researching it during the summer holidays; it was extremely well received.' The existence of this thesis suggests that Baron Cohen has more than a passing interest both in Borat's specific American targets and in the wider challenges of social integration and bigotry with which his comedy deals. His description of a black American southerner as having a 'chocolate face' retains its capacity to shock and the method Baron Cohen employs to expose the prejudices of others is still amusing."

-Oliver Marre, Sunday, September 10, 2006 The Observer