In a move teased on Twitter earlier this week, Sacha Baron Cohen seems to be coming back to television. The Ali G Show actor and comedian is reportedly in talks to star in a new Showtime comedy interview series, according to Variety.
The publication reports that the new series will be similar to Da Ali G Show, which aired on Channel 4 in the U.K. and on HBO in the U.S.
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Baron Cohen teased the project on the Fourth of July, releasing a cryptic video that said, in part, “He’s back as you’ve never seen him before.”
The clip featured real footage of President Donald Trump insulting Baron Cohen, who he calls a “third grade character.”
“This third grade character named Sacha Baron Cohen, I only wish that he would’ve been punched in the face so many times. Right now, he’d be in a hospital,” Trump says. He then suggests that Baron Cohen should “go to school” to “learn about being funny.”
“You don’t know s—,” Trump says in the clip.
The video concludes with the text “Sacha graduates soon,” followed by the logo for the now-defunct Trump University.
For his new project, Baron Cohen could be targeting other celebrities in addition to Trump. He was reported to have filmed a stunt with O.J. Simpson in his Las Vegas hotel room in February.
A source told the Daily Mail that Baron Cohen met with Simpson in the hotel room, wearing a curly dark wig and thick-rimmed glasses to film a prank. When questioned about the news, Simpson told the Daily Mail of Baron Cohen: “I know him well. I met him. Nice guy.”
Variety reports that while details are sparse about Baron Cohen’s new show, it’s believed that at least one or two episodes have already been produced or at least roughly assembled. Showtime declined to comment on the news, while representatives for Baron Cohen were not immediately reached by the publication.
Although Baron Cohen rose to fame as the character Ali G on both Da Ali G Show and The 11 O’Clock Show (as well as Borat and Brüno), in recent years he has starred in films like Alice Through the Looking Glass, Grimsby (also written and produced by him and also containing a Trump gag), Anchorman 2: the Legend Continues and Les Miserables. He’s also set to star as legendary secret agent Eli Cohen, a spy for Israel in Syria in the early 1960s in Netflix’s limited series The Spy.