Lew--since you bring up Sacha Baron Cohen, I would like to comment on Cohen's foremost creative "achievement": As far as his Borat movie is concerned, it was 84 minutes of my life that I will never get back. I knew it was going to be awful from the preview, but some friends of mine wanted to see it--so I was willing to give it the benefit of the doubt. That Americans find this elementary school-type "humor" funny--along with such inane "comedies" as those made by Adam Sandler, Will Farrell, Jim Carrey, and Jack Black--is just one more glaring example of how low the cultural taste and mentality of Americans have sunk.

UPDATE: Gary Halpin writes:

"Honestly, the easiest job in the world is to make fun of others when they are completely unsuspecting. How is that funny, or clever, or have anything to do with talent?"

[By the way, Cohen's "Borat" character is obviously trying to show what "yokels" many people are, i.e., not as "sophisticated" as the real-life Cohen. In fact, Cohen is so "sophisticated" that:

"Baron Cohen first acted in theatrical productions featuring the Socialist-Zionist [emphasis mine] youth movement Habonim Dror."

Judging from the slant of his professional work, I'm guessing that his "sophisticated" political economy views haven't changed since then.]