Does Sacha Baron Cohen think satire is dead in the Trump era?

Sacha Baron Cohen told Pivot he does not think satire is dead, only that satirists must keep recalibrating toward what has not yet been exposed. He gave the example of leading a bar in a sing-along of an antisemitic song as Borat around 2001, which was revealing then but would not be today because antisemitism has grown. He also said Donald Trump is genuinely funny and uses humor, like much of the far right, as a way to brush off criticism.

• Baron Cohen said he nearly made a film with David O. Russell after Trump's first win, but Russell felt satire was impossible.
• For Who Is America, his team chose who they wanted to interview first and then built characters those people would talk to.
• Baron Cohen said everyone in Ali G, Who Is I? is a real, unsuspecting person apart from a few actors, including A$AP Rocky.

▸In their words

“I don't think it is dead. No, I think you have to recalibrate.” Sacha Baron Cohen · at 41:17 — open in the transcript →

Source: our own transcription of the episode. The full conversation is on Pivot (2026-10-23). Read the whole episode summary →

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