Sacha Baron Cohen & Don Cheadle - Actors on Actors - Full Conversation

[Music] please share with me share with everyone watching how is it that you who to me a very popular and famous and I would recognize you anywhere for no other reason that you're a giant and I don't mean personality wise I mean literally height wise and your hair is fantastic and your eyebrows are you know iconic they all look so on who is America how is it that people have you ever been busted is anyone ever gone Oh your allergy or your your Borat today do they know they so we did tests beforehand with who's America at sea with whether there was a way of me just wearing a wig or a mustache or that kind of thing to see whether people would see through it and I was a massive wig for one thing and sort of Mustafa and then I walked him to this gun store actually and the guy immediately lifts me and I could see his eyes go figure yeah and he immediately he goes I know you so with recognition it happens within the first second ah you know it's like those algorithms you know so the facial recognition systems there's a part of the brain that actually recognizes the face it works out right the kind of you know algorithm and the architecture your face yes between the eyes and the angles between or that kind of thought so as a result I realize I'd have to do more extreme staff and after Bruno which was a movie I did yeah I realized oh I can't do this kind of stuff anymore because it's a very little makeup and Bruno right I mean yeah it was just the prosthetics is just a wig yeah I mean Bruno was really hot cuz ball wrapped which I thought was gonna be this kind of tiny indie movie exploded exploded and then a year afterwards I'm going undercover again and we thought how the hell do I do this and one of the simplest things we did was I wore a wig that lowered my the size of my forehead so ball rats got a really big forehead some have you got a lower forehead it was somehow that Wow confused people right but as was up when I was shooting Bruno because I was so scared of getting recognizing because it was so easy to recognize me I ended up basically living in this kind of trailer for about six months and it's a horrible experience because we are you know in West Virginia in this tiny little RV not able to go outside when everyone is having lunch or oh man so I went to Rick Baker who was this mysterious a sounds it looked like a Rick Baker job yes'm Rick Baker and as the guys have their probably know was like the six or seven time us kerr winning prosthetics and makeup guy who did with the eddie murphy stuff and I said listen do you think you've got the technology to have prosthetics but outside in the real world and this was I think 2009 and he said it's not there yet cut to three years ago one of his prodigies who's this brilliant guy called Tony gardener who created actually prosthetics for this musical bad grandpa mm-hmm which was fantastic he should have got nominated but I went to him I go what do you think do you think you know you could create prosthetics good enough that they would exist in the real world because I can't be touched really for like three hours there's no ya can exist and can we even do it outside and so really I mean the prosthetics achievement in this I think is unrivaled there's has been incredible prosthetics beforehand but the idea that you could full real people in broad daylight yeah it's like it's really close you know sleight of hand card tricks magic trick I mean you're their Israeli character that you played I mean that's an extreme yes look there's a lot going on yes so they'll those prosthetic looks are you know you get up at 3:30 in the morning yeah and it's five to six hours you know transfer because you put on an entirely new head yeah you know so and it's layers and layers and layers and then it's are now taking off it and in the sweat inside of that you sweat and so when you take it off it's actually really good for your skin because if you're very happy completely wet yeah yeah and you're originally Caucasian right exactly and you felt there was this nation this it's great I mean up close it's you know I can still see some of the bits going through but it's so good so who does it well I can't reveal his name yeah he's working with he's worked with a lot of actors in business losses he don't Eddie Murphy like you mentioned he was also he was originally so he's Asian yeah so he had to go through you imagine what he had to go through for the class four years so first he had to get to Eddie and then he had to get to and when he plays you know the guys that he plays in the barbershop two women it's a pony Eddie Murphy originally actually is an old Jewish man right and I'm Jewish yes yeah which was a lot of work it seemed like for just a couple of jokes in a movie yeah but I respect that good yeah okay so thank you very much thanks guys not every strange man you meet gonna be friendly and non-threatening like me today we're gonna teach you how you can stop these naughty men and have them take a long nap that's right and that's why you're going to meet a friend of mine his name is poppy pistol for me like the visuals of the character like really important you know I know like some actors you know it's the shoes where they walk what about with you when you're creating a character and obviously black Mondays it's an extreme character I mean great in Spain it's completely believable but it's it's definitely you went all the way this far so how do you create a character well it depends on the character from mo in Black Monday it was a process of that of like going through hair transformation you're going through facial hair and and trying to figure out is this mustache too big what's the right size you know because as you well know you can go to clown size and it's like it loses all you know reality and you know it's it's now it's it's some sort of a comment on the thing as opposed to trying to really be the person so all of that stuff is very to attenuate that and like try to figure what that is is very there's no science to it you're just trying to figure out what you feel yeah you know and and the clothes are always a huge part of it too right you get into a certain costume you're like oh I feel like this guy and we never know what it's gonna be but sometimes you're like just that jacket and not that jacket it just I think you feel when you put it on the character comes out there or is it well or are you driving it more from the words it's definitely what's on the page first it's definitely what the writers have created and as much source material as you can get you know if there's you know you interviewed people that were in the field of you write read the books that they've written or you know you just there was a guy that I that I as a friend of mine who was a Wall Street trader that I really tried to download a lot of your stories and and him to give me some just sort of his real-life experience in the in the world so was it based on or wasn't based on there was no real carrying out that he was this no huge no it's it's it's very much of what if you know what if the this group of traders at this time we're in this too in this time period and what all the things they would have to deal with yeah and and if they what if this group of traders are going to trade that's so toxic it triggered yeah you know so yeah so that's where it was and so it's obvious it's comedy everything's pushed but you find it in different ways it's it's you know I'll music sometimes does it there's there's a piece of music that just somehow speaks to the character in it like so tell me about that so you playing it in your ear before the scene or no it's just more in the preparation of kind of finding him and putting them together and you read with the certain I know you write like when I write sometimes I write with certain music on yeah and or there will be a piece of art that just somehow chunks to you and it's it's not it's kind of nebulous how it all comes together all you sort of cobble together a bunch of stuff and go oh those shoes you put on those shoes and you're like I feel like this dude bet you didn't think you'd see this me again this guy me I am very glad you're here Billy yeah I would like a tuna fish sandwich hold the carrots in a Crystal Pepsi anybody know I'm the guy from the floor with the cocaine oh hey coke guys here yeah I know it's an interesting because I'm thinking the first time I ever performed Borat I was I knew I wanted to do a foreign character and I was this was early in my career you know I'm 24 years old I'm driving in the car down to the East End of London and in the back of my car I find this hat that I bought in the south of Russia and Astra Hana hair uh-huh I stuck it on my head as I looked in the mirror yes I'm from although over television because I didn't know the nationality Hey until I stuck something on my head and out it happened to be in the back of my car see there you go yeah and everything happens for a reason yeah and and and and you're playing these characters who that are rather you know you go to some dangerous places it's very you know you you it's very provocative and you tend to the ones that I see especially on who is America you're that's sort of where it lives it seems like that's the goal you're trying to get people to that place where they're sort of vibrating in this area where it's very dangerous and you don't I mean I don't know if you have busted takes where you break character but it doesn't seem like you come out of character it seems like I don't when you get there that's when you're locked in and you these prompts come that that you couldn't have anticipated but it looks like well did he plan that he couldn't have planned it to go will you cut your pubes I mean is this artwork with me but it's like boom there it's the opportunities there and you just seize on it it's like you're not planning on that but you're sort of planning for those moments how does that kind of work so my attitude has always been I want to do as much preparation as I can for a scene but in the scene you know you never know exactly what they're going to say right you don't you know they're human beings yeah they don't know spin hmm follow me so if they've got over here yeah I just got carried away at the emotion that was wow that was a yeah that was an emotion no no that was really just a character creation process and you should change it so then so you come with as much preparation as you can you know covering every possibility that you think then if something arises in a scene you go okay forget all he prepared to throw it all away and I'm going wear it you know I remember I once tit as seen in the original Ali G show I was playing this character Bruno this gay Austrian fashionista we were rien a New York Club where there was some you know so runway show was happening and I was minute you know we had a whole plan for what I was going to do great but then basically security got on me they knew that I was causing trouble elsewhere and they were looking for me I ended up having to go hide I hid him went backstage right with the models and actually I remember Paris Hilton was there she was a model at the time and I just had to make it all up I was like okay okay what do you doing back here I go I'm actually a model I'm guys I created this Austrian design prize those mules you know it's really good if could I joins the fashion show like wahoo I spoke to their head designer you go I'm cries as meals you know you even really kind of lucky for me to be here and in the end you know meanwhile my crews outside they don't know where I've gone they start shooting the fashion show and I appear as one of the models because I was like how do I save the scene I can't go outside because I'm really looking really yeah so I managed to convince them that I was this you know famous you know designers Muse in Austria and I ended up in this fashion show so that's like a high that's like high wire act stuff I mean obviously we improv in our show and we find our ways into seeing some sometimes that way but we always have the you know the safety of cut let's go again yeah but you're kind of hanging out there I mean you've gone you know the scenes on here America you know at minimum are going to take an hour and a half but they can there was one scene that lasted went over two days she was a group of people who you have to keep yeah insistent with for two days is the thing I did with the women's March wide train up a group of people to combat an infiltrate and Tifa the anti-fascist group because they're the biggest threat in America yes yeah and must be stopped yeah and then I take one of them actually to the women's March in San Francisco undercover to stop this terrorist threat and he ends up murdering three liberals well he thought he did yeah what said there is so basically so it's quite interesting because it says operating on a few levels so we get a group of people through you guys here on social media who are spouting kind of racist and misogynistic staff and repeating some of the president's staff you know if his saying they're kind of good people on both sides there in Charlottesville and they start you know there are people here kind of believing these conspiracy theories online and one of the conspiracies theories is that and Tifa the yeah which is kind of a disparate group of people who've just come out and stand up against a alright right they are somehow a dangerous group and they're very violent and they are you know actually a terrorist group I get them in a gym three of these guys I trained them up in how to infiltrate this group anti-fur then I choose one of them I brought him to the women's March in San Francisco and I told him I said listen there's actually yeah there's gonna be a terrorist attack today and I was like auntie for getting these vials they're gonna put it in all the dye pills so full ditch babies the babies will put on the diapers and then they will become cons again there and he goes oh my god you know all the babies America and basically I get him to put tracking devices on members of mt4 they were just like yeah general kind of 9-volt battery yeah they're like nice women in woman's mode and then at one point I say okay we're gonna have to blow them up now and I get out this iPad I go they're actually tracking devices we can see where they are and they've got the small little explosive device I'm gonna put if you just press it it's gonna make a tiny little explosion enough to deactivate the hunk but no one will tack it to me or you let's just do it and get a little bit and amazing I mean that's a real kind of question to me whether I could get somebody who believed in this conspiracy theory that had actually been partly spread by the president yeah okay there's this conspiracy theory that the people who are standing up against fascists are the Rangers they're the real bad yeah you know what's the logical conclusion from that so what you know there's this big debate in society at the moment which is what's the level of free speech that we should have should social media allow anyone to say anything that's right or should there be some limits you know we operate on channels where there are standards and practices so should there be standards and practices so that's the kind of big debate so one of the arguments against any restriction is well listen it's just words yes moments just words my question with what we're trying to see is what the what's the effect of allowing conspiracy theories to spread and having the most powerful man in the world help spread those conspiracy theories and so the ultimate test was could you get somebody who believed in this conspiracy theory to murder people as a result of that conspiracy theory you can't you know the two were you know there's a there's a long line yeah so what is the effect you know off you know all these conspiracy theories actually dangerous and the amazing thing it was amazing to us was he was ready to murder but only because he believed that an Tifa the anti-fascists were dangerous so so in that moment when you've actually exposed that that's kind of I mean internally you're not doing an outset but that's kind of a victory lap yes side I mean I mean it's depressing but exactly is it both yes I in the city you must experience stuff like this as well I'll be interested to find out if you do where so you're operating on two levels where you're going you're in character you're carrying on with the scene not breaking character but internally part of you is going Bing that's great that's a really we're gonna that minute and a half is going to be great yeah you know when you and your sins do you also have that where you know you're improvising or you're doing a scene you are you aware that it's a great take or a great improv but you're still staying character do you have no yeah I'm a litter you obviously were there we can third-eye these things you want to not do that you wouldn't hopefully just be a part of it and be caught up in the thing but we know what the scenes gonna be you know you know how it's built where you want it to peek in or to fall away and it doesn't always do that there sometimes it does it here sometimes it does it here and you go back and try to fix it as many times as you can which is not that many times on TV because you got to move yeah but yeah I think you have a feeling of when something kind of works but but you know I say it to people a lot it's like it's kind of I like to wash dishes and I like to sweep and I like to do very sort of basic things because I know it's done I wash this cup put it over there the cup is dirty now it's clean that's not amorphous it's not something like did I wash the cup yeah did it really get you know you can you know in our thing sometimes you just you don't know you you hope it works you're not sure if it's all gonna come together and you have to go through a whole post process and yes somebody else is gonna touch it and they're gonna try to make it and tweet you you just never know and so things done sir in the kind of undercover stuff that I've done you almost what's going on is there is this you know in character I'm trying everything I can not to break her and done otherwise the scenes over but I'm also editing in my mind at the same time and saying okay have we got this can I move on now because I don't have you know the great thing you know when I've done you know scripted stuff is you have a direct going got it moving on so I internally have to be that guy who says got it moving on I'm doing that well you're editing it but you're also it's you're also conducting in a way yeah you're directing while you're in the moment because I'm your I think you're probably doing both you can tell me but it seems like you're trying to allow it to go where you want it to go yeah but you also have an idea about where it where it fits inside the whole landscape of what you're trying to do so without totally manipulating it you're trying to lead it it seems like in a certain direction too and you have to kind of be trying to do both at the same time and in this atmosphere you already spoke to a little bit but in this atmosphere where you have yes the person who sits in the highest office supercharging a lot of this stuff is is that what gave the inspiration to this is America was it was it specifically about Trump's the election that we went through in the election process that we went through that you would I have all this fodder now yes it was specifically that so America not the Senate but under Obama there was no motivation to do it I thought I would never do this kind of undercover stuff again because is it's exhausting it's terrifying for me it's occasionally dangerous and then Trump gets in and I immediately felt disappointed and then angry hm and as you know you know we're creative people and you go what how do we get rid of this anger I started like a lot of my friends sending articles forwarding whom to other people it wasn't doing anything and I was you know there was some people Trump code in and they you know they couldn't sleep this was a guy who'd got in who I'd been I'd had no respect for for you know for a long time I'd interviewed him as Ali G you know prior to them yes I did you know in the prior movie he ends up contracting HIV and that would self was a process with the studio allowing that to happen and in Borat I defecated in front of the Trump Tower so this was somebody who I had had it was in you on your radar is my radius of women that guy becomes the president and he gets it gets to be the president through adopting and pushing forward these despicable views that was so reprehensible that everyone dismissed him and thought there's no way yeah there he'll get to be present because of that that was so upsetting and then also those first 30 or so days the presence he was so unsettling when he was with Bannon and oh yeah there it was kind of this shock and awe policy where I remember you know Saturday morning there suddenly a ban on you know these countries which have very Muslim countries okay and it was completely unsettling and you've I think people felt powerless and I thought I have to do something just for myself I did not and a not for a moment thing they would have any impact I thought I have to do something with this anger and frustration yourself and disgust me I have to do something and so there was an attempt to target some of the people around him who he had championed and spoken up for and given respect to Joe Arpaio and judge Roy Moore and Corey Lewandowski and even people who had been tenuously connected you know with like Congress Rohrabacher who ended up losing his seat to there had been a comment beforehand that the only two people who the Kremlin had paid were wrong about her in here and Trump so there was a there was a decision to go after these people for yeah but it was a person with it when you do have someone that you want to go after somebody who you want to put in the hot seat that seems to not realize they're in the hot and you go I want to go after them for a certain how do you pick a character how do you figure out what's the door or how do you get to them how did you get past their team because how aren't you vetted more properly where people go you can't talk to this guy how do get in there I can't tell you any of that you can't I can't tell you some of it actually but yes I mean I would say in terms inner aliy generally see yet their characters are designed to appeal to some of the people that I was trying to speak to right so the character creation is a kind of reverse character correction isn't I'm gonna create a funny character and what can I do with the character is more like who do you want sick yes who would Dick Cheney sit across yeah and ultimately then sign there waterboard kit yes exactly and no one jump up and go starve in a commute right now yeah so that's the yeah that that's kind of how it works and then you have to think which is stage two which is okay we've got Dick Cheney the Chaney's agreed to do this how am I going to convince one of the most cynical suspicious yeah brilliant minds that I'm real and how am I going to convince him to say some things that he's altima t going to regret and that then become just a process of fully learning your character mm-hmm so making sure that there are no holes in your character I use this term sometimes when I start seeing that I'm locked in so it means there when you inhabit a character and I want to talk to you about this as well as when I go into in a happier character I want to ensure that there's no way to perceive that the characters not real mm-hmm so there any question asked if you or any performance or any movement or any story has to be consistent with the overall character right otherwise yeah somebody goes wait a minute hold on you're are you from yeah yeah you're walking a strange way for somebody who was an Israeli army special right you know or women you're staying in that hotel there doesn't make you never stay there right and Dick Cheney who's a smart guy before he started the interview said listen before we start I want to know something about who's interviewing me he goes soldier will you sit down and I was wearing a military uniform and he said tell me about your military career and luckily I now did you get a hint when he was saying this that he was suspicious and there had a whiff of something yeah that he just generally wanted this was the general test this was the litmus test he's an extremely smart guy right and one thing he knows about is you know to judge it right so he knew it was the best way to find out whether I was talking nonsense or not whether I was a fake or not so I think yes he was slightly suspicious luckily an hour and a half before hand I'd sat with the guy whose uniform I had borrowed who used to be in the special or not am awesome goodbye like you know he'd be a special ops Israeli army guy who we brought in we had so many weapons that we were carrying around DC for three days because we were doing this thing on guns and all right yeah so we had a truck full of you know semi-automatic and automatic weapons that would hang around DC so we brought in a weapons expert he happened to be an Israeli guy and I said him I go listen I'm gonna sit here and get made up for the next hour tell me everything about your military history and it goes okay he goes at the age of seven and I went to school like every day lunch books in one hand and a gas mask in the are there and then he tells me about his military history you know every operation he did every Dick Cheney comes in he goes you know tell me about your military career I go mr. Turney when I was seven years old I went to school there they got some mouth and one hand a lunchbox in the other right and then I went through the operations and he knew about some of the operations they haven't made it out and so he was convinced that was real Wow and and is your team sitting there or is there ever a moment where they're going we need to start it now where it's like you're they that you're risking that the cover is gonna be blown that we're thinking we they were terrified they're you know there's not many people you know on set but they are obviously terrified you know Vice President Cheney is quits and yes gone for now yeah you know and they didn't know that I bet you he downloaded with all this military history so you know honey you remember your prayer I mean clearly I'm trying to when that guy's downloading stuff to me I'm trying to remember everything and I'm trying to kind of a short term yeah memory and I'll drop down you know five or six words and those would be kind of memory you reminders I know some of you thinking okay this is just another typical mask this guy's is going to be the world's largest mosque outside of the Middle East when you did Hotel Rwanda mm-hmm what's your kind of preparation for a part like that well that was a very interesting movie because Paul Rusesabagina the the the man that I was portraying the movie was there the whole time I really yeah that's which was very daunting yeah you know to to finish a take and come over to him and you know say was that what do you think you know her or not say what do you think and not make eye contact with me just go right to the trailer and it was very it was very challenging and there were survivors from the Rwandan genocide who were extras in the film so there was a lot of pressure that we felt too to get it right and yes especially with the accent the the just the entire characterization sort of being locked in like you're talking about staying in that character all day long and and you would say that offsets as well yeah I was not not when I went home that I would decompress because you know you kind of have to you just have to but but on the set with my family with the other people around me you know I would always stay stay in as much as I could stay in the character and one day one of the the guys that plays one of the characters in it Dube came up and he started speaking to me and can you Wanda well he just forgot you can start and I said you know that I was like yeah ultimate compliment but but yet to try to to try to get as many as many pieces of of research as you can and it's invaluable having Paul there having his wife Tatiana there their kids were there so there was a lot of resources which made that that's what she needs that you fully inhabit the characters there's no way you could see those two characters as being played by the same person you know don't tell Rondo and Black Monday so that's what you're saying it's what your spuds you have that total buy-in you know you just buy in its we are able to as actors go to that place where we were like I'm just in there I get driven you know Lamborghini limousine a ka a Lambo limo aka a limbo so you get none of the speed of a Lamborghini and none of the comfort of a limousine yeah but it cost twice as much as both this guy is not a car guy you're not a car guy you don't know about cracks who are you fast so what is it Mon ma no Marvel Marvel mommy are via the mug with a bouquet tell me about the marbles you're no marvel it's a V you're a your yeah play also you marva ma r ve ellika marvel whoa yeah MC marvel cinematic universe so tell me actually say you're in the biggest movie of all time it looks like it maybe I don't know I think the results are still out that's it seemed came off almost as modest I was trying to be glitter yeah yeah so how does that how's that experience okay so you've done you know brilliant oscar-winning fair and then you were in this you know there quality movies but how do you take them as seriously or the what's the atmosphere and set in the preparation for well what's so funny is that you know we are there's never been an experience on a film that I've ever had that's a shared experience with all the actors you know we're looking around going what are we doing you know there's so much of of that process that is unknown because you're in 360-degree you know green screen and and they're totally you have a previous you know the pre-visualization and it's showing you what's going to happen but that's not what's happening when you're on the set so you're having to really normal green tennis by smoking is nebula you know but there's so much trust that you have to have with the filmmakers because you you don't know you're totally in their hands but we have good ones so there's a whole to take the scenes seriously no I think I think for all of I think if you're gonna do it you're always trying to find that buy-in and if it is hard to believe and we don't believe it press them to change it you know you really ultimately you're in a big well a lot of times you're in a big hangar you're a big soundstage with you know 360-degree and and and characters that aren't there actors that aren't there you're doing scenes sometimes with stand-ins for characters because they're second-unit doing other things that they have to do big stunt scenes over here yeah and it's that harder to perform it can be it's very technical it can be a very technical experience some days some days all the actors are there and you're just dealing with people and it's great I mean do you prefer to act opposite or opposite a tennis ball pretending babe I thought you can say a mirror yeah no it's good when Roberts there the tennis ball doesn't have his great hair yeah it's rather amazing yeah but yeah sometimes it's a tennis ball dad jr. I have one last question for you mr. Cohen I mean I don't know if you can talk about it what is your was there ever a time on the show where you were I mean they're probably several times but what was the time when you went okay this is probably I probably went too far I mean I remember a moment where it seemed where I saw you and there go like how far am I gonna push this where the guy said and if you say it one more goddamn time I'm gonna punch you right in the face you're like do I do I say it again or what do I do when you were saying he was in Bruno I think don't say it again yeah you're like am I gonna go again I remember them yeah what is or they I mean there are there many moments like that where there are moments where you going I may have cross the line and I'm a it now I'm kind of actually nervous about my safety well there were two things there there are things where I am worried about my safety so there was scene where I was pitching a mega mosque in place called Kingman where yeah answer and we had to take a lot of weapons of the people in the room because they came with their weapons they came with their weapons a right to carry state you yes yeah yeah so we you know removed a lot there took their weapons away from them which is itself a difficult thing and then we did a scene again and the problem was they had cars parked outside they have they kept the weapons in the car so we were concern that people would bring in their weapons into the room and they were getting very very angry that the idea of we would build the world's second biggest mosque in their state even you're pushing it yeah and I'm pushing it you know the idea is to you know you want to reveal stuff right you know because what I wanted to tap into there was okay it was the the lack of self-interest in prejudice so these are poor white people you know and they are going to be made wealthier it's in their self-interest in the economic self-interest for the this huge tourist attraction to happen for their town to have you know one of the wonders of the world in we're going to build the biggest mosque outside of Mecca right in their town and we were explaining you know how much money they don't care that be you know be a tourism hard influx and yes you know they would become wealthy and the only downside was that there would be a lot of Muslims in the area and so that was the kind of question which is you know when something is clearly better for you and your family like okay we're gonna have a good standard of living you know and it will mean a different ethnicity coming to our town how do we feel about that and the interesting result was there some people saying well you know if that happens we're going to blow up the mosque and not only that one person said we're going to blow the dam nearby and that was a really interesting thing to me about prejudice that there that this person was so Islamophobic that he was ready to destroy no the Muslims yeah but themselves the hotel it's actually the self-defeating nature of prejudice right they ultimately those people who support racists or racist leaders ultimately its self-defeating you know poor white men are not going to do better if Muslims don't enter the country if black people don't get equal rides if negative Mexicans can't come in yeah if you look at the economic data you know immigration helps helps the economy you know creates more independent businesses you know so prejudice is actually inhibits growth so that you know that was the thing I wanted to kind of look at and obviously in a scene like that people start saying you know first you started threatening me with with violence and there were you know I was asking ok you sir you Muslim and yeah I remember they say if you say that I'm gonna yeah people got up to find me and this part of you the obviously wants to run out the rim Pantani me wants to actually I want to push it to the edge where just before a punch or a gun is pulled out and I'm fortunate of being in the situations where guns have been pulled out but you want to push it that because that's where it's really fascinating actly and you want to provoke them in that particular incident you know to one person said we'll listen black people are lucky to be here right now oh yeah well yeah of course the lucky because you know we we benefit from you know their culture and like know like they're lucky that we allowed we allowed them to be here ya know so that was kind of you know fascinating so what I'm trying to do is actually push it to the limit off you know before this I don't want anyone to get hurt but I want to see what people's real thoughts on real beliefs are on what they would say you know what what you've never seen on television or so that's you know I'm they're provoking them sometimes or goading them sometimes to see what's really the effect of this new political culture that we're in and it's not just Trump you know we're in you know the biggest revolution that's happening in history of civilization we are in the Internet age it's bigger than in the industrial revolution it's transformed you know the way people think not just in the attention span they're also you know there's this theory that we're in this post truth age mm-hm in that there are so many different sources of truth yeah that no one knows what facts are anymore so it allows people who are spreading lies to actually seem like they're legitimate you know and what I want to see what's the effect of somebody who's kind of spreading lies with this kind of these new means of proliferating proliferating yeah you know Twitter you know Trump without Twitter probably would not have become president which is why Jack Dorsey is in the White House having a meeting with Trump right well can't get rid of of extreme-right Twitter accounts because it might affect some of the Republican base exactly so you know what was that on there so yes so what's fascinating about that is you know he's sitting opposite the president who was actually the biggest celebrity endorser off his corporation that's right and you know Jack Dorsey and Twitter cannot implement any restrictions against white supremacist racist because it might affect their big cash cow it will look at that cash cow and also their whole business model says they get rid of the racist they're gonna have less you had a subscriber yeah so obviously he can claim oh I believe in freedom of speech and obviously I won't you know I won't but you know be biased against anyone when really in society you know we want to be biased against those who want to kill people like you people like me yeah just because of the color of our skin our ethnicity well because we are different it's ok to not give those people who want to murder people for being different absolutely right and that we're living in a dangerous society now we're living in a society where the the space that we grew up in which is you know the idea that society is getting better you know where black people can get full rights they can vote where people are equal despite their differences that concept is being disintegrated democracy is being disintegrated and that's that's terrifying for me and that was kind of the reason why you know I went ahead and did it and I'm gonna say all of this with a caveat that I'm a comedian I don't really know what I'm talking about but this is just the stuff that's going on in my head [Music] you

Channel: Variety

Views: 594,738

Rating: 4.8884292 out of 5

Keywords: Variety, Variety Studio, Sacha Baron Cohen, Who Is America?, Don Cheadle, Black Monday, Actors On Actors, Donald Trump, Politics

Id: iaNB0PnbKAg

Length: 43min 8sec (2588 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 06 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/KevTravels]

can someone please get Don Cheadle some starring roles again (in film)?

[u/hotairbabboon]

I mean if you watch Who is America it’s pretty easy to tell the majority isn’t scripted. There are times I thought Nathan For You maybe refilmed some bits so the regular people weren’t completely caught off guard, but these shows are master class when it comes to using regular people.

Shows like impractical jokers or anything on Tru-TV that does these types of shows are so clearly scripted it hurts.

[u/Nordalin]

That was an interesting conversation, thanks for sharing, OP!

[u/jojowiththeflow]

“Marvel... M-A-R-V-E-L” “Marble?”