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Coming to your TV this Sunday, July 15th, on Showtime at 10pm ET/9pm CT (and I assume weekly at the same time for awhile and available on demand)

 

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Comedian Sacha Baron Cohen explores the diverse individuals, from the infamous to the unknown across the political and cultural spectrum, who populate our unique nation. Series premiere.

We are starting to learn who is in it, as they figure out that they are in it.

We've got Dick Cheney in the released teaser.

That 'genius'  Sarah Palin admitting she was duped. She claims he mocked the vets, says he heavily disguised himself as a disabled US Veteran with a fake wheelchair (what does a fake one look like). Sacha says he told her he was in the service, the United Parcel Service and served his country when he shot a mexican on his property. I'm sure the truth is somewhere in between with Palin trying to garner sympathy by coming off as a retard.

 

And the perennial candidate for everything in Alabama, Roy Moore , says that he was duped by a group asking for him to come to Israel to receive an award for his support. 

 

I Cannot wait to watch this show. It gonna be good.

 

 

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41 minutes ago, relapse98 said:

Coming to your TV this Sunday, July 15th, on Showtime at 10pm ET/9pm CT (and I assume weekly at the same time for awhile and available on demand)

 

We are starting to learn who is in it, as they figure out that they are in it.

We've got Dick Cheney in the released teaser.

That 'genius'  Sarah Palin admitting she was duped. She claims he mocked the vets, says he heavily disguised himself as a disabled US Veteran with a fake wheelchair (what does a fake one look like). Sacha says he told her he was in the service, the United Parcel Service and served his country when he shot a mexican on his property. I'm sure the truth is somewhere in between with Palin trying to garner sympathy by coming off as a retard.

 

And the perennial candidate for everything in Alabama, Roy Moore , says that he was duped by a group asking for him to come to Israel to receive an award for his support. 

 

I Cannot wait to watch this show. It gonna be good.

 

 

Seems very middle of the road...

- the surly centrists.

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There is a Hollywood Reporter article from a (legitimately taking it well) Georgia conservative radio host who was also duped.  He told the same story that Sheriff Joe does above about "some sort of contract."  He says they showed up just seconds before air time and threw the contract in front of him in a panic to get him to sign without really understanding what was going on.

 

Seems some enterprising attorney could get the waivers/contracts and whatever else thrown out on those under some duress or fraud theory.  A dude lying about who he is and sneaking a contract in front of you under facts in which it is virtually impossible to read and understand seems like a bad set of facts to start with.  I bet there are law suits about this claiming the very causes of action that the waivers purport to surrender.

 

Also, the AV Club makes a good point on this.  Back with Borat, we lived in the hoary times of people actually trying to hide their prejudices.  That was part of the fun of the movies is sneakily exposing those.  Now, MAGA waves their bigotry with pride.  Is it even worth it any more to trick people into saying it?

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Seems some enterprising attorney could get the waivers/contracts and whatever else thrown out on those under some duress or fraud theory.  A dude lying about who he is and sneaking a contract in front of you under facts in which it is virtually impossible to read and understand seems like a bad set of facts to start with.  I bet there are law suits about this claiming the very causes of action that the waivers purport to surrender. 

Anything can happen in court, but I'd put my money on the guy that does this for a living. Hell, how many times has SBC (who pretty much makes a living off duping people, and great acting in films such as Hugo) been successfully sued? The innernets says a whopping once out of a bazillion cases.

 

Edit: And what are they going to argue? That they were dipshits and said stupid stuff because they didn't know who he was and didn't have time to read the contract? Good arguments, let's see how they work.

 

Edit2: Reading Hollywood Reporter article , it sounds like SBC's team did their recording during a live broadcast of Austin Rhode's own show. They showed up on his turf and were still able to bamboozle him, and 40-50 viewers even emailed to alert him that it was 'performance art'. Sorry, but this is all on Rhodes. Teehee.

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4 minutes ago, relapse98 said:

Anything can happen in court, but I'd put my money on the guy that does this for a living. Hell, how many times has SBC (who pretty much makes a living off duping people, and great acting in films such as Borat) been successfully sued? The innernets says a whopping once out of a bazillion cases.

Just read an article where Sheriff Joe said he doesn't have the media team he used to have to comb over the contracts, which is pretty standard in these cases. Guessing the conservative shock jock is inserting the "seconds before air time" part to minimize the damage.... 

 

Man I forgot Trump pardoned that piece of shit Joe... 

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7 minutes ago, relapse98 said:

Anything can happen in court, but I'd put my money on the guy that does this for a living. Hell, how many times has SBC (who pretty much makes a living off duping people, and great acting in films such as Borat) been successfully sued? The innernets says a whopping once out of a bazillion cases.

 

Edit: And what are they going to argue? That they were dipshits and said stupid stuff because they didn't know who he was and didn't have time to read the contract? Good arguments, let's see how they work.

I don't know.  But it seemed to me they were trying to get something that they did not think they had the legal right to by the very fact that they presented the contract as they did and they sought a signature.  Maybe just a waiver to use his image in a film, and he now wants to pull that back.

 

Here is the Hollywood Reporter article:  https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/how-sacha-baron-cohen-pranked-radio-host-austin-rhodes-1126709

 

Austin Rhodes is a conservative radio host based in Augusta, Georgia. In early August 2017, Rhodes conducted an on-air interview with a long-haired man identified to him as Dr. Nira Cain, a professor of gender and women's studies at Reed College in Portland, Oregon. 

To his surprise, Rhodes later learned that he had actually interviewed the comedian Sacha Baron Cohen. Rhodes says now that the interview was "definitely" for Cohen's new Showtime show, Who Is America?, which debuts Sunday.

Rhodes, who shared his story with local media when it happened, was the first known political conservative to admit publicly to have been snookered for Cohen's new project. This week, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, congressman turned radio host Joe Walsh and former Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore all said they were tricked by Cohen. Former ABC News anchor Ted Koppel also shared his story with The Hollywood Reporter.

Rhodes said the ruse began with a July 26 email from a producer named "Sarah Taylor" that he shared exclusively with THR. Taylor said she was working on a series called Bridging the Divide, which would air on either CBS or CBS-owned Showtime. "The show is centered around trying to find common ground in the midst of our deeply divided partisan times," she said.

Taylor's full email, which was also addressed to Rhodes' producer, is reproduced below:

Hi Bill and Austin,

Austin, I understand you are on vacation this week but I wanted to make sure this opportunity was not missed. Bill, hoping you'll be able to help me out?

I'm a former television news producer based out of Los Angeles and San Francisco. I'm currently working with Bright Harbor Media to produce a series tentatively called 'BRIDGING THE DIVIDE' for CBS Corp. The show is centered around trying to find common ground in the midst of our deeply divided partisan times. It's slated to air in the fall on either CBS or Showtime.

As part of this project, we're bringing a staunch liberal to conservative areas of Georgia, and having him or her actually converse with the hard working people that elected President Trump. We'll be filming his/her interactions and basically seeing what happens in this "fish out of water" experience. We hope there is middle ground to be found, but we are also realistic. The goal of the show is just to get the two sides to dialogue.

We'd love it if you would also talk with him live on air. As a conservative leader and talk radio icon in Georgia, we'd love for you to ask him/her if he/she has learned anything and allow our liberal to ask and answer questions. Like you, our liberal has strong views. It should be a very lively conversation, and our liberal is open to anything that comes his/her way. We truly believe you and your radio station would be perfect for our TV show.

We'll be filming 'BRIDGING THE DIVIDE' next week! Could you allot some radio air time to talk directly with our liberal, live on the air? 

I'm happy to explain more or answer any questions you may have. You can reach me at: [redacted]

Thank you!

Sarah Taylor

www.brightharbormedia.com

Rhodes also shared his version of events with THR:

Contrary to what many critics would say about talk radio, hosts worth their salt actively seek guests and callers that espouse dissenting opinions and viewpoints and stand out from the usual fare. That is certainly the approach I have taken in the 26 years I have hosted Augusta, Georgia's most popular radio talk show. Listeners are well-acquainted with my right-of-center viewpoint, and quite frankly, exchanging high fives and attaboys in an echo chamber makes for a pretty boring afternoon drive.

So, last year, when my producer was contacted by a publicist working with a documentary film crew chronicling the "great American political divide," highlighted by the election of President Trump, we were intrigued.

According to the project pitched by Sarah Taylor (as she called herself), her team was sending "liberal academics" out into the heart of Trump country to discuss their differences with conservatives with the goal of improving communication and striving for a more constructive coexistence. All of this would be recorded by a professional documentary film crew, so the conversations and exchange of viewpoints could be edited together for a Showtime series called Bridging the Divide. (This is actually an intriguing idea — too bad someone isn't really doing it!)

There was limited communication between the initial agreement to participate in the segment and the day the crew actually arrived with "Dr. Cain" in tow.

"Dr. Cain" arrived shortly after the 3 p.m. broadcast began, and his accompanying crew apologized profusely for running late. We now know that this was part of their ingenious plan to keep my team slightly off balance, and it worked like a charm. Broadcast release forms were hastily put in front of myself and my producer as we were navigating complicated light and sound equipment being set up all around us. This was all going on during a three-minute commercial and news break we actively and simultaneously produced and engineered ourselves.

I wasn't given the actual name of the interview subject until we were on the air, but I immediately Googled him, and came across what I now know was a sham website pushing a few oddly named books and several lecture series. The books did show up on Amazon, but the links to purchase them went nowhere.

And what a sight he was! When I first met this very tall, oddly dressed man, I said live on air: "Well, my goodness. You look like you are coming in straight from central casting. If I didn't know better I would say you could be Fred Armisen in disguise."

Well, he wasn't Armisen, but I wasn't too far off.

What followed was 90 minutes of my first and only trip into the radio version of The Twilight Zone, with a guest that was either the most amazingly bizarre left-wing extremist in the country or a complete lunatic. To be honest, I believed at the time he was both.

My hat is off to his crew, who kept my producer and I off-kilter the entire interview by constantly adjusting our hardwired microphones (for the documentary) and lights every moment we were off air. "Dr. Cain" dashed out at every commercial and news break to seek relief in the bathroom due to what he described as some sort of intestinal distress. (There, a professional crew adjusted his makeup.)

Some of "Dr. Cain's" best hits from the interview included calling the U.S. Army "an active terrorist organization," saying that "'The Dukes of Hazzard' is like the Southern version of Roots," and my favorite, claiming that "white supremacists are responsible for most of the gun deaths in America."

At some point it occurred to me that the silliness of his remarks meant we were likely being "put on," but it never occurred to me to what extent. 

The interview abruptly ended, without prior notice, when he failed to return from his latest sprint to the restroom. We made it through roughly 90 minutes, and his producer apologized for Dr. Cain's gastrointestinal meltdown and subsequent exit to seek relief.

Throughout his outrageous appearance, many of my listeners thought the absurdities they were hearing from "Dr. Cain" had to be made up. We probably received 40 to 50 emails during Cain's interview speculating that his appearance was "performance art" — either that or the greatest vindication of conservatism ever broadcast over the air.

Then we received an off-air call from one listener, who specifically asked that we not name him, that quickly solved the mystery. At some point, my producer had mentioned the name of the supervising producer of the "documentary" on the air: Todd Schulman. The listener told us that Schulman was the man who had secured his participation as a guest in the infamous "Southern dinner scene" in the hilarious Cohen movie Borat. A quick IMDB check revealed Schulman to be connected to virtually every project Cohen had starred in dating back to the Da Ali G Show, including Cohen's new show.

I was flummoxed.

I have been a fan of Cohen's work for years, and I have seen Borat probably 20 times from start to finish. How in the hell did I miss that this was Sacha Baron Cohen? When I replayed the show, literally the very next day, his voice was obvious, despite a clever attempt to disguise the voice we have heard in countless dialects and characters.

I have been asked if I am concerned how I will be portrayed in what we now know to be Cohen's new show, Who Is America? That all depends on the editing of the piece, if they even use it at all. Obviously, my conversation with the "Dr. Nira Cain" character was broadcast live as it happened, so whatever we hear or see, we still have the original program to clarify context or tone if needed.

I am not worried at all. My biggest regret is not being able to shake his hand as Sacha Baron Cohen or interview him (as himself). 

I hope we can set that up. I would say he owes me one.  

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38 minutes ago, SuingToGetAMessageBoard? said:

There is a Hollywood Reporter article from a (legitimately taking it well) Georgia conservative radio host who was also duped.  He told the same story that Sheriff Joe does above about "some sort of contract."  He says they showed up just seconds before air time and threw the contract in front of him in a panic to get him to sign without really understanding what was going on.

 

Seems some enterprising attorney could get the waivers/contracts and whatever else thrown out on those under some duress or fraud theory.  A dude lying about who he is and sneaking a contract in front of you under facts in which it is virtually impossible to read and understand seems like a bad set of facts to start with.  I bet there are law suits about this claiming the very causes of action that the waivers purport to surrender.

 

Also, the AV Club makes a good point on this.  Back with Borat, we lived in the hoary times of people actually trying to hide their prejudices.  That was part of the fun of the movies is sneakily exposing those.  Now, MAGA waves their bigotry with pride.  Is it even worth it any more to trick people into saying it?

He did the exact same thing years ago with the Ali G show. I'm sure his lawyers have it down better than whatever asshole Roy Moore could find to represent him. 

Also, it was hilarious on Ali G and will probably be hilarious now. I'm definitely in. 

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6 minutes ago, YChang said:

Nothing middle of the road about it and it's going to be hilarious.  

No shit, who gives a flying fuck if its middle of the road. You either 'get' SBC or you don't. You either 'get' Andy Kaufman or you don't. Its funny. Enjoy it for what it is.

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Just now, relapse98 said:

No shit, who gives a flying fuck if its middle of the road. You either 'get' SBC or you don't. You either 'get' Andy Kaufman or you don't. Its funny. Enjoy it for what it is.

Also the conservatives are bitching because they know they acted like shit in the interviews. He probably also interviewed plenty of left and middle of the road people. He did with Ali G. One of the best episodes was with C Everett Koop where Ali G was talking to him about implanting a cell phone in his body. 

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28 minutes ago, relapse98 said:

No shit, who gives a flying fuck if its middle of the road. You either 'get' SBC or you don't. You either 'get' Andy Kaufman or you don't. Its funny. Enjoy it for what it is.

Whooooossssshhhh!!

 

Go ahead and assume the comment wasn’t about Surly, but rather SBC.

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27 minutes ago, slorch said:

Woooooooooosh!!!!!!!!!!

Apologies if I missed your joke. Truthfully, I can't tell if you were poking fun of the posters here or if you were serious because my perception is that you provide a lot of "both sides" commentary regarding issues these days. 

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2 hours ago, SuingToGetAMessageBoard? said:

Seems some enterprising attorney could get the waivers/contracts and whatever else thrown out on those under some duress or fraud theory.  A dude lying about who he is and sneaking a contract in front of you under facts in which it is virtually impossible to read and understand seems like a bad set of facts to start with.  I bet there are law suits about this claiming the very causes of action that the waivers purport to surrender.

 

THATS WHY YOU DON'T SIGN IT.  JFC.

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Most of these people will have sense enough to lie low.

Palin will go have a meltdown in a Walmart beauty products aisle, but she might have done that anyway.

Moore will dig in, beg money, make things 100 times worse for himself. It'll be a spectacle, like bull-baiting, and in the end just as cruel to the poor dumb animal.

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24 minutes ago, RDCanecutter said:

Most of these people will have sense enough to lie low.

Palin will go have a meltdown in a Walmart beauty products aisle, but she might have done that anyway.

Moore will dig in, beg money, make things 100 times worse for himself. It'll be a spectacle, like bull-baiting, and in the end just as cruel to the poor dumb animal.

RIP Sassy.

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3 hours ago, slorch said:

Seems very middle of the road...

- the surly centrists.

It's entertainment, you dolt.  You getting mad about this being biased would be like me going to a movie theater, buying a ticket for "God's Not Dead" and whining about how it doesn't present atheism in a positive light.  

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3 hours ago, SuingToGetAMessageBoard? said:

Seems some enterprising attorney could get the waivers/contracts and whatever else thrown out on those under some duress or fraud theory.  

Good thing Roy Moore has that Jew lawyer up his sleeve! 

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2 hours ago, Continental Op said:

It's entertainment, you dolt.  You getting mad about this being biased would be like me going to a movie theater, buying a ticket for "God's Not Dead" and whining about how it doesn't present atheism in a positive light.  

whooooooooooossssshhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

For the last time.  I'm not commenting on the show, but some of the Surly collective's perception of 'centrist.'

 

I'm sure it will be real Euro funny.

 

Enjoy.

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4 hours ago, seven said:

Bernie sanders is one of his interviews, he just doesn't complain about it. 

Yeah because his words don't make him look like a POS human being.  Which is why the right wing dipshits are preemptively screaming about it.  Why are these fucking idiots always crying that their own words are unfairly being used against them?

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8 hours ago, mdmost said:

slorch is worried the humor hits too close to the mark since he’s Surly’s version of Sarah Palin.

I have the weirdest boner right now...

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18 hours ago, slorch said:

whooooooooooossssshhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

For the last time.  I'm not commenting on the show, but some of the Surly collective's perception of 'centrist.'

 

I'm sure it will be real Euro funny.

 

Enjoy.

When literally no one is interpreting what you are saying as you intended, maybe it’s time to be more clear next time. Or actually funny. One of the two. 

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4 hours ago, SubliminalHorn said:

When literally no one is interpreting what you are saying as you intended, maybe it’s time to be more clear next time. Or actually funny. One of the two. 

Those who took it the wrong way are in hyper-defensive mode.

 

Always on the ready to be offended.

 

"He said somethin bout our comic show.  He stoopid."

 

That is the Surly leftist circle jerk again.

 

Nothing about my original post implored SBC to change his show.  Read it again, sir.  It was a shot at people's self-assessed objectivity or "middle of the road" nature when it comes to politics on here. 

 

The reactions are telling. The only time you ever post towards me is when you get pissy about politics. Thank you for the confirmation.

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On July 13, 2018 at 10:18 AM, Bat Guano said:

He needs to get Ted Nugent. Although if he got Mitch McConnell I'd get Showtime.

Is that what this is all about? "Getting" people? Is that the game we've chosen to play in this country? Don't get me wrong, I could give two solid sh!ts about Nugent or Palin, but if the goal here is to try and humiliate one side or the other, that's a zero sum game. As a true centrist and constitutionalist I fail to see how playing "gotcha" with people helps anything. Is this what we've become? A nation divided into two tribes that only care about keeping score of slights? What about those of us with no tribe? I can't join the right because I don't care who marries who and I feel a woman's body is her own damn business. I can't join the left because I refuse to cave on gun registration that could one day harm law abiding citizens AND I see the left careening toward full blown socialism. 

 

So as I sit here only hands waiting on one political party to pull their head completely out of their a$$es, I must also be subjected to the daily artillery of "gotcha" tactics. It's childish and beneath us. 

 

People need to grow the fvck up. 

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3 hours ago, Clob94 said:

 

So as I sit here only hands waiting on one political party to pull their head completely out of their a$$es, I must also be subjected to the daily artillery of "gotcha" tactics. It's childish and beneath us. 

Which party are you waiting on to pull their head out of their ass?

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On 7/13/2018 at 10:35 AM, FondrenRoad said:

He did the exact same thing years ago with the Ali G show. I'm sure his lawyers have it down better than whatever asshole Jew Roy Moore could find to represent him. 

Also, it was hilarious on Ali G and will probably be hilarious now. I'm definitely in. 

FIFY.

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Fuck Palin, Moore and everyone else he humiliates.  Of course, the republicans long proven show of playing a victim because of their terrible beliefs will no doubt benefit  some of them. Mean libruls. 

The enemy of my enemy is my friend

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3 hours ago, slorch said:

LOLz. it's like a very good SNL skit.

 

So when do these get used out of context?

Out of context? Gaetz actually looks intelligent here, the other inbred morons are so eager to arm kids with guns they didn't even care about what they were about to say.

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53 minutes ago, GSU&UT said:

Out of context? Gaetz actually looks intelligent here, the other inbred morons are so eager to arm kids with guns they didn't even care about what they were about to say.

exactly my point.

 

Do you think Payton Manning cusses little kids and drills them in the back with footballs? because I've seen him do it on TV...

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