Who is America? has a smattering of good jokes, but they’re lost in the sea of boorish characters and oversimplistic politics.
Sacha Baron Cohen has had a rather tumultuous comedic career. His signature style of creating extravagant and controversial figures has had mixed results: for every genius Da Ali G Show and Borat he creates, he also chooses to star in things like Grimsby and The Dictator. It’s clear he has trouble understanding what works about his own creations.
Who is America? is a non-fiction comedy series in which Cohen plays a huge cast of exaggerated characters and interviews various famous figures from America, with an emphasis on political icons. He interviews them as characters that bring out the worst of them, tricking them into saying vile comments and acting in bizarre and humiliating ways.
The idea for Who is America? seemed perfect – it played on Cohen’s strengths by letting him create confrontational characters and putting them in dynamic situations, and it seemed prevalent at a time of political and societal unrest in America. Unfortunately, the final product isn’t funny, profound, or even controversial – it’s just tiresome.
Who is Laughing?
A comedy series lives or dies by how funny it is, and Who is America? isn’t reliably funny enough to be engaging. There are some interesting scenes, but it seems most of the intended humour comes from the mismatched pairings of interviews and interviewees, such as a right wing conspiracy theorist interviewing Bernie Sanders, or an ex-convict making music from sex sounds and then trying to sell it to a serious music promoter. However, the interviews have no more depth or humour than that, and quickly grow repetitive.
Instead, shock humour used by the characters ends up becoming trite, and rarely actually shocks. The character Erran Morrad, who appears in every episode, simply goads right-wing politicians and supporters into embarrassing situations, for example getting Jason Spencer to shout racial slurs or using a ‘device’ to uncover Roy Moore as a pedophile. These segments feel a stone’s throw away from simple name calling, especially the aforementioned Roy Moore interview, which makes the humour feel childish and pathetic. Morrad interviews some horrible people, and the schoolyard insults used don’t challenge or criticise them in any meaningful way.
A way to understand this shortcoming is to compare the characters from Who is America? to Ali G, Cohen’s most well-known character. When Ali G conducted interviews he did so with subjects from walks of life far different to Ali – the humour comes not from this mismatch, however, but the jokes and comedy that Ali injects into these conversations. For example, in an interview with a group of religious figures on Da Ali G Show, Ali confuses Jesus with Santa Claus, compares God to David Blaine, and assumes Mary and Joseph found no room at the inn to birth Jesus because it was busy due to the Christmas holidays – all jokes based on Ali’s character and that character’s relationship and understanding with religion. Instead, the characters of Who is America? simply taunt their interviewees into saying controversial and embarrassing things. While genuine complaints can be levelled at some of the characterisations of Ali G, at least he was endearing and entertaining.
The few rays of true humour come through the ludicrous juxtapositions from some of the skits, for example when the vlog unboxer character OMGWhizzBoyOMG!, a pure and innocent representation of internet content for young audiences, hosts on his show controversial gun control figure Joe Arpaio. The stark contrasts between innocence and horror while unboxing kids’ toys is briefly hilarious, but the joke doesn’t progress beyond this contrast and the novelty is quickly lost.
The Trump in the Room
Who is America? is clearly a show aimed at criticising right-wing characters and making a political statement, with Donald Trump featured heavily in the introduction to each episode and many interviews picking him as a topic of conversation. However, instead of delivering incisive and cutting commentary, as Cohen has managed at times, the show’s message could best be described as ‘muddled and doddering’.
Besides making a fool out of many of the right-wing interview targets, none of Cohen’s satirical characters are used to make any sort of cohesive argument against their beliefs. While it’s amusing to watch the exploits of Billy Wayne Ruddick Jr., a character that spoofs internet ‘truthers’ and their absurd views, the show never tries to use him as a way to challenge people like this or try to understand why they act this way. Instead, he simply says outlandish statements to popular politicians, much to their chagrin.
Cohen’s shows have typically been relatively apolitical, and the character of Dr. Nira Cain, a collection of everything deemed vaguely ‘liberal’, is the attempt to keep that spirit. There are some great scenes with this character, such as when he tries to remain politically correct to a group of black rappers, which exposes biases related to acting this way. Apart from this, the character is rarely used to explore some of the negative aspects of liberal movements – instead he simply exists to give the semblance of an apolitical viewpoint.
Cohen’s Character Conundrum
Perhaps the reason the message and the humour of the show fall flat is that none of the characters are convincing or empathetic enough to carry any deliberate meaning. In Cohen’s previous shows he had a smaller cast of characters, and each was fleshed out with reference to – and rebellion against – certain stereotypes. They were human enough to lure their interviewees into a sense of security, and well-written enough to convince these interviewees to say unspeakable things, all while saying jokes that seemed in-character.
On the other hand, the characters of Who is America? seem to be little more than one-world descriptions – Moran is violent, Ruddick is a conspiracy theorist, Cain is a liberal. The traits of each character are every word associated with these descriptions, and there’s never any effort to define who these characters really are. Since most of the humour and messages from Cohen’s other works come from the relationships between the characters and their subjects, having no real character means the humour and message is equally vague.
This can be seen most clearly in the last scene of the series in which the character Gio Monaldo, a fashion photographer and rich playboy, is having a conversation with O.J. Simpson and trying to coerce a confession from him. Instead of using tact, guile, or playing an empathetic character, Monaldo repeatedly asks Simpson to admit to it, despite the fact Simpson is clearly aware of what is going on. It’s an embarrassing and unfunny scene, and an example of the series’ lowest points.
Who is America: Conclusion
It’s a little rich of Cohen to ask Who is America? when he clearly doesn’t even know who his characters are. The lack of interesting, incisive or well-written characters means that, even when the series has its sights set on a particular target or topic, it never manages to make a coherent statement on the political climate. Everyone loves Borat, Ali G and Bruno, but no-one’s going to be talking about OMGWhizzBoyOMG! in ten years.
Who is America? had the potential to be one of the most important TV shows of recent years, with Cohen’s incredible (though fluctuating) talent, and a hugely relevant topic. Yet it doesn’t know if it wants to remain apolitical, embarrass right-wing figures, or take down the president – and its lack of focus is its downfall. The few great jokes don’t make up for the tiresome shock humour.
Hopefully subsequent seasons of the show (if there are any) can address the listless nature of the overarching narrative. If they can’t, at least maybe they can start to be funny.
What angle should the series have taken – an apolitical stance or a concerted political attack?
Who is America? Premiered on July 16 2018 and finished on August 27 2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Us8AEcK76Q
Does content like this matter to you?
Become a Member and support film journalism. Unlock access to all of Film Inquiry`s great articles. Join a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about cinema - get access to our private members Network, give back to independent filmmakers, and more.