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Showtime President David Nevins said the
channel had taken a "leap of faith" with the series "Who is
America?" in which Baron Cohen adopts different personas and
pranks American politicians, pop culture figures and others into
saying outrageous things.
"It has generated a lot of controversy and a lot of new
sign-ups. It's a risk I'm really glad that we took," Nevins told
the Television Critics Association while promoting the upcoming
lineup for Showtime, a unit of CBS Corp.
Nevins said the audience for the seven-episode series had "grown
dramatically" over the first month but did not provide details.
"I think Sacha is one of the great comedians of our time. I
think he is the Daniel Day-Lewis of comedy," said Nevins,
referring to the three time Oscar-winning British star of
"Lincoln."
The series, in which a disguised Cohen interviews subjects who
do not realize they are working with a comedian, has featured a
congressman supporting the idea of arming children as young as 3
to stop school shootings and former Vice President Dick Cheney
signing a jug described as a "waterboarding kit."
Last month, Georgia state lawmaker Jason Spencer resigned after
being seen yelling racial slurs and dropping his pants on the
show after being told by one of Cohen's personas that it would
intimidate terrorists.
Although the show has attracted the most controversy because of
the episodes featuring conservative politicians and public
figures, Baron Cohen has also taken aim at political correctness
and the cult of celebrity.
"I don't know what he is saying about America. Clearly we are
living in a time of extremes - no question about that," Nevins
said.
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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