Perth was treated to not one, not two, but three “secret” stand-up comedy sets from Borat himself, Sacha Baron Cohen, this week.
As per 6PR, one of their listeners, Dan, confirmed the sighting, revealing that the Hollywood actor performed onstage for around 30 minutes. “We just brought a ticket expecting Perth amateur comedians, and then all of a sudden Rove McManus comes up on stage and says: I have got a special guest for everyone tonight,” he said.
Rather than parade around as Kazakhstan legend Borat, Dan revealed that Cohen decided to perform as one of his other classic characters, the Austrian TV presenter Brüno.
Everything was understandably kept on the down-low, and crowds were encouraged to try and keep Cohen’s performance secret. “We received an email during the day yesterday saying we had to hand our phones and cameras in,” Dan added. I don’t know about you but that would have set my alarm bells ringing. They don’t do that for any old stand-up night.
Cohen, of course, is married to an Australian, actor Isla Fisher, and the pair recently moved to Sydney with their three young children.
Should we take this to mean that Cohen fancies seriously having a go at stand-up? Or maybe he just had nothing to do on a weekday and thought he’d pop in for a quick set. If you’re reading this though, Sacha Baron Cohen, this is my demand: a national tour with a different character in each city, since Perth just got Brüno and Sydney recently had Borat.
Have Ali G surprising an audience in Melbourne; Admiral General Aladeen performing an authoritative set in Adelaide; The dude from Grimsby embarrassing himself in Brisbane; um, Super Greg, showing Adelaide a good time.
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Cohen’s last film, 2020’s Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, was both a critical and commercial success, being nominated for the Academy Award for Best Screenplay.
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Check out the trailer for Brüno:
