Sacha Baron Cohen Needed a Bulletproof Vest to Play Borat

Jimmy Fallon broke out the fake mustaches last night, convincing Sacha Baron Cohen to lampoon election debates by pretending to moderate as two of his iconic characters — Ali G. and Borat. Very nice!

While that seems like an entirely predictable bit for Cohen to perform on The Tonight Show, the comic actor had vowed in recent years never to perform as Borat again. In 2021, he revealed that appearing as the character in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm had proved “too dangerous” and he was hanging up the lime-green mankini for good.

“There were a couple of times I had to put on a bulletproof vest to go and shoot a scene, and you don’t want to do that too many times in your life,” he told Entertainment Tonight three years ago. “I was pretty lucky to get out this time, so no, I’m not doing it again. I’m going to stay with the scripted stuff.”

Instead of focusing on his performance, Cohen said, he spent most of that movie fixated on escape hatches. “The night before something like (that far-right rally) — you’re trying to go through everything that can go wrong,” he explained. “In a normal scene like what we’re doing, we’re trying to make sure, ‘How do I make sure my performance is real? Have I done my research? How do I make sure the accent’s perfect?’ In this one you’re going, ‘Okay, if a bunch of guys with guns come from that side of the stage, have I got a way to get out? What happens if someone shoots me? What if a bunch of people start shooting me?’”

Apparently, Cohen found The Tonight Show studios to be less threatening than a far-right political rally. At Fallon’s urging, Cohen “reluctantly” agreed to put on a mustache and jacket for what was clearly a pre-planned bit. 

How would Borat moderate a debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris? Cohen acted out the whole thing for “Jimmy Phallus” and his viewers, especially “the womans in the audience.” 

His questions for the Republican candidate? “Mr. Trump, sir, you say in Ohio that people eat the cats and the dogs. Which restaurant do they serve them at? Can you get me a reservation, please? In my country, we have KFC — Kazakh Fried Cat. It pussy-licking good!”

He also had questions for Kamala Harris. “You are a woman, a person of colors, and are married to a Jew. I advise you not to come to Kazakhstan. You have already made three out of the four crimes punishable by death. Please do not tell me that you have also made sexy time with an underage bear.”

Maybe he should have worn that bulletproof vest after all.