Not only are Cohen's pranks far more subtle and artful than such crude and merciless booby traps, they take their aim at those whose hypocrisy or double talk make them a fair target. Take Broadwater, the congressional candidate, who must have felt free to cut loose during an interview with Kazakh TV.

Borat: So, which is the party of the homosexuals?

Broadwater: They tend to go to the Democratic Party.

Borat: I want to go to this place heaven. Which religion must I choose to go there?

Broadwater: The Christian Bible says that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven.

Borat: If people choose the Jews, will they go heaven or hell?

Broadwater: Well, I would have to say that they would go to hell.

Now compare the way Cohen brings the rotten core of Broadwater's beliefs front and center to the interview that current public enemy/liberal poster boy Michael Moore has with Charlton Heston at the end of "Bowling for Columbine":

Moore: Here's my question: Why is it that [Canadians] got all these guns lying around, but they don't kill each other at the level that we kill each other?

Heston: I think American history has a lot of blood on its hands.

Moore: Oh, and German history doesn't? British history?

Heston: I don't think as much.

Moore: Germans don't have as much blood on their hands?

Heston: Ah, they do, yes.

Moore: The Brits? They ruled the world for 300 years with the barrel of a gun. These are all violent people. They have bad guys, they have crime, they have lots of guns ...

Heston: Well, that's an interesting point, which can be explored, and you're good to explore it at great length, but I think that's about all I have to say on it.

It is curious how, instead of inspiring Heston to speak -- and potentially giving him even more rope to hang himself with -- Moore seems more intent on embarrassing him. If Moore himself could explain the surplus of gun-related violence in America, he'd do so in his film instead of offering up some vague riffs on the culture of fear. While Moore's interviews with members of Congress in "Fahrenheit 9/11" -- especially his great ambush interviews in front of the Capitol -- made more sense, bringing the realities of the Iraq war to those who allowed it to happen, it often seems that his aim is to repeat the "Roger & Me" stunt of making people get fed up, so that he can film them walking away.

Footage of embarrassed or harassed human beings ultimately just makes them seem frail and pitiable. When Heston hobbles away from the camera, it's tough not to feel a little sorry for him, especially watching it now, knowing that at the time Heston was beginning to show the early stages of Alzheimer's. Not dissimilarly, it's difficult to enjoy watching Jennifer Love Hewitt fall apart, or watching shy boyfriend Frank at home in a crappy apartment in Downey, Calif., slumped on the couch as a video of his girlfriend and her ex frolicking on the beach loops endlessly in front of him.

Cohen by contrast inhabits such strangely naive characters, who seem genuinely receptive to the opinions of their subjects, that he manages to cajole the most strident views out of them. The mix of cultural rubbernecking and pure silliness that results is both entertaining and eye-opening.

When Bruno interviews Pastor Quinn, the "converter" who teaches young people of the evils of homosexuality, the results are unforgettable. In order to establish where, exactly, homosexual behavior crosses the line ("So, hypothetically, according to you, I can admire a man's penis in the shower, but the moment I put it in my mouth, some sort of line has been crossed"), Bruno asks Quinn to weigh in on various lifestyle choices by responding "ach, ja!" if they are OK, and "nicht, nicht" if not.

Bruno: So. Showering with a friend. Ach, ja or nicht, nicht?

Quinn: Absolutely not. It's forbidden by God's word.

Bruno: Which one is it, ach, ja or nicht, nicht?

Quinn: Nicht, nicht.

Bruno: So. Watching "Will und Grace."

Quinn: It's ungodly. Nicht, nicht.

Bruno: Being fabulous.

Quinn: What does that mean?

Bruno: You know, just being fabulous.

Quinn: That's nicht, nicht because 1st Corinthians 6 says that's an effeminate lifestyle. That's forbidden by God's word.

Bruno: Eating brunch.

Quinn: If you're eating brunch with Christian friends and there's no one else around that's gonna seduce you into sin, it's OK. It's "ach, ja."

Bruno: Eating very, very chocolatey stuff all the time.

Quinn: If in fact you are doing it because that's part of a homosexual lifestyle, nicht, nicht. If you're eating chocolate dessert after a meal and you're doing it with the fellowship of Christian friends, ach, ja.

Cohen's strategy is pure genius. First he convinces Quinn that he's very interested in his views, and that his expertise is fully respected. Then he invites Quinn to pass judgment -- what could be more tempting for a pastor than that? Finally, he asks that Quinn employ Bruno's lingo in passing judgment, so that, instead of having to hear this flatly hateful rhetoric, audiences share in the joke.

While the new wave of televised gags may feature elaborate setups and layers of complicated lies, most offer little more than tripping someone and pointing a camera at them as they hit the ground. That's not to say Cohen can't go overboard; there is a feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when you watch him, particularly as Borat, who tends to cross the line with strangers much more aggressively than any of Cohen's other alter egos. But when he's dealing with a candidate who tells him Jews end up in hell, or a pastor who says that "Will and Grace" is immoral, he's not just fooling them, he's exposing them, and that takes real talent.

Besides, who else but Ali G could make Pat Buchanan call weapons of mass destruction "BLTs," or get him to joke around about "having a little puff" before coming on the air?

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