British comedian Sascha Baron Cohen is known for being one of the best in the world at creating characters for himself. He has invented a huge number of characters over the years and is somehow able to remain perfectly unphased as he torments his unsuspecting victims. Beyond his portrayal of characters he has invented, Baron Cohen has landed a number of film roles.
We’ve ranked ten of his most well-known appearances across film and TV based on how much they made us laugh.
Inspector Gustav Daste
One of the Baron Cohen’s more serious (though of course, still not totally straight-faced) characters appears in one of Martin Scorsese’s most forgotten about films. Hugo was his first venture into 3D and received an incredible eleven Academy Award nominations despite bombing at the box office. Unsurprisingly, this means that his character here takes the bottom spot.
Thenadier
Taking on one of his many roles opposite Helena Bonham Carter, Baron Cohen provides 50% of the comic relief in the otherwise incredibly depressing Les Misérables. They may be funny, but the Thenadiers are secondary antagonists who cheat their customers, and although the film is brilliant, it's not going to make it to the top of a comedy list.
Father Time
Playing any character in any film centering on the mad world of Alice In Wonderland requires at least a little bit of a comedic side.
Considering Baron Cohen plays the physical embodiment of the concept of time in this Alice In Wonderland sequel, that’s exactly what we get. He’s a hybrid of human and clockwork with a strong German accent (?) that rules Wonderland.
Admiral General Aladeen
After running out of ways to use Ali G, Borat, and Bruno without being rumbled by those he is speaking to straight away, the next character Sascha Baron Cohen came up with for himself to play was Admiral General Aladeen. As expected, he drew just as much controversy as he was used to, pretending to be an oppressive North African dictator. He doesn’t end up too high on our list simply because the existence of this character was a lot more scripted.
Jean Girard
Taking on one of the more expectable sides of Baron Cohen’s personality and characterization, Jean Girard is a flamboyant, gay, Formula One driver at the heart of Talladega Nights: The Ballad Of Ricky And Bobby, which features Will Ferrel and John C Reilly in the lead roles. Baron Cohen and Ferrel won an MTV award for Best Kiss, too.
Bruno
The almost unfathomably flamboyant Bruno is one of Baron Cohen’s earlier creations. He appeared on Da Ali G Show back in 2003, before landing a feature film of his very own in 2009.
The lewd sexual references and parody of homosexuality drew a huge amount of criticism - and while Bruno is funny, there's no denying that he's problematic on many levels. However, his funniest stunt came at the MTV Awards in 2009, where Baron Cohen and Eminem had planned an impressively well-rehearsed prank.
Erran Morad
One of the lesser-known Sascha Baron Cohen ventures was Who Is America? in 2018. He invented a whole host of new characters, each used to interview those at the far ends of the political and social spectrum. The show wasn’t as well-loved as his past work, but the ‘anti-terrorism expert’ Erran Morad was just as funny as any of Baron Cohen’s classics.
Ali G
Ali G was the first character Baron Cohen was able to take to America with success. He has become a legendary figure on British TV, and one of the few that Baron Cohen is still yet to retire completely.
He is a walking, talking, piece of youth culture satire who has somehow managed to land interviews with the likes of Donald Trump, David Beckham and Buzz Aldrin.
King Julian
The first major film role Baron Cohen landed was Madagascar. The film was received very well and spawned two sequels, with King Julian quickly becoming the highlight of the franchise.
Whether it was his inspirational speeches about grabbing life by the horns to Melmen, or his dramatic re-enactment of how the Gods were hungry and needed to be fed, he was able to turn any scene into a piece of comedy genius. Plus, this is one of the least controversial characters the actor has ever taken on.
Borat
The best character Sascha Baron Cohen ever created has to be Borat Sagdiyev. The level of offensiveness, cluelessness and downright stupidity of the Kazak caricature seems almost impossible to appear on a TV screen, let alone a cinema screen. No matter how outrageous the character is, however, it’s impossible to argue with results. His film, Borat, won award after award and is considered one of the greatest British comedies of all time. Thanks to the truly incredible (real) situations Borat ends up in, it’s very easy to see why.