Sort of proves that there's something there to think about. Or it proves that a lot of people over-think these things. Either way, SBC is frickin' hilarious, as Zacharek acknowledges. His shtick isn't always funny-I never thought Bruno was that great on DAGS, but I haven't seen the movie-but most of the time it slays me. He is the true heir to Peter Sellers and Andy Kaufman.

Are his targets too easy sometimes? Yes. Does that mean I should take pity on them? No, that'd be more condescending than laughing. Is he cruel sometimes? Hell, yeah. Lots of comedy is cruel. Is he crude? Duh. Is it offensive? Maybe. But isn't all of that the point? The ways SBC makes us laugh are multifarious and far too complex to reduce to offensive/inoffensive. He puts all of our cultural sensitivities, mores, foibles and everything else into one huge blender and spits out a giant, stinking fart in the middle of church. And who doesn't think farts are funny?

Brüno isn't a realistic portrail of a homosexual any more than Borat was a realistic portrail of a Kazakh. Lots of Kahakhs were offended by Borat and I'm expecting lots of homosexuals will be offended by Brüno if they take it even slightly seriously. Hint: it isn't meant to be taken seriously.

It's funny to me how you bring up the Anti Defamation League's concerns about Cohen's old movie "Borat" while completely ignoring how offensive that movie might be considered to people from Kazakhstan or, say, to Muslims generally? Or people from countries that end in "stan".

If people don't get the joke, isn't it more likely that the bigoted view that Muslims are a bunch of anti-woman, anti-Jewish zealots gets reinforced? After all, hasn't anti-Muslim bigotry been mainstreamed in the United States now? If you're gonna examine the potential repercussions of a movie like Borat, maybe include the most obvious victims -- the people Borat claims to represent. You certainly don't hestiate to examine how Bruno represents homosexuals.

I didn't think so. Of course, I didn't see the first movie - I read about it. But the pranks didn't seem very funny to me. Making fun of people isn't funny or illuminating. It's just nasty. "Exposing" people as racists is not funny. What does it accomplish? What is gained? Even the dumbest person among us knows that racism exists. Our goal should be to find reasons for them to NOT be racists. Humiliating them won't do that. It will only reinforce the authoritarian thinking that allows them to exclude the obvious - that all races are inherently equal. We need to crack the walls around them, not reinforce them. Cohen doesn't do that. He just mocks them in order to amuse their opponents.

I guess to those prudes who thought Janet Jackson's nipple was offensive.

My kids saw Janet Jackson nipple, and Brüno's routine, and they're okay.

It is violence on TV I try to keep my kids away from.

It is depressing how the Princess of Pop’s nipple, and a gay man acting provocative are offensive, but people getting shot-up and killed is completely acceptable.

I think we need more nipples and provocative acting gay men, and a lot less violence.

Ass-wich? Hilarious, particularly from a supposed Austrian. Borat was OK though I found myself cringing at times; the dinner party was hard to take; though I loved the line about all the women were hot (except the reverend’s) “maybe not so much”. The expose of the rodeo homophobe was priceless. SBC didn’t do it to him, he did it to himself. I haven't seen many of the Bruno appearances on AGS, but by all the same standards you could criticize the AGS which is original and stingingly apt. Reminds me of Monty Python as well as Peter Sellers.

I wonder about all the indignation though; Kasakh’s, gays? I’m a typical WASP and it doesn’t bother me when ethnic comedians bust on my type at all.

I agree that Cohen can be a bully. I have not liked this kind of cruel humor that seems to fuel the entire reality TV genre (ooo-let's watch this idiot make a fool of themselves, how funny!) What, are we all still in 3rd grade?

The only issue is it funny. I don't find him funny. He may be offensive, too, but I just can't laugh at cruelty. Stopped watching Letterman a few years ago for the same reason. Love Family Guy and South Park, so I DO have a sense of humor.

Norm Deplume: "Send him to Whole Foods to bother people.."

Norm, you've never been in a Whole Foods, have you.

just not a good one.

...otherwise we might all be watching "Home Alone 16" or "Legally Blonde 7"!

Hey Terry, your taste sucks! And you're stupid! Go away!

1. Borat was not a Muslim. Kazakhstan isn't a Muslim country. More than half the population is in fact Christian. Borat himself references a nameless religion that worships hawks.

2. Agrippina: I'm not sure what your definition of "little people" are but politicians and the Christian Right aren't "little people" in America - in fact, they pretty much ran things for the last 8 years..

Sam I am gave us a hint: "It isn't meant to be taken seriously"

I am going to give it to you straight on: It is not meant to be taken seriously. I am mexican american. We laughed at the joke. As a matter of fact, mexicans laugh a whole lot about whatever racist jokes come our way, especially mexican jokes, which are our favorite.

Cohen's idea, I presume, is to act as outlandish as possible to bring out the absurdities in the nature of seemingly NORMAL people. I remember watching "Bruno" first on "Da Ali G Show", where he pranced around at a fashion show in some insane get-up and casually asked a model, "We have to keep the ugly people out yes?" and she giggled and said "yeah, we do". That's the point. That, and I really think he likes wearing all that weird shit.