RIP Borat: A comedy legend bows out just in time

Sacha Baron Cohen must have at some point turned down a big bucket of cash before making this announcement, to which I can only say huzzah.

As he recently told London's Daily Telegraph, SBC is retiring both the characters of aspiring rapper Ali G and, more importantly, the belovedly clueless Kazakh journalist Borat Sagdiyev.

Now, don't get me wrong here. Like just about everyone who loves to laugh, I just adored "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan." I just can't imagine what hoops he would have had to jump through to have his encounters retain any spontaneity, or how much of it he would have been willing to give up had he chosen to make any kind of sequel. Here's what he had to say to Variety:

"When I was being Ali G and Borat I was in character sometimes 14 hours a day and I came to love them, so admitting I am never going to play them again is quite a sad thing. It is like saying goodbye to a loved one. It is hard, and the problem with success, although it's fantastic, is that every new person who sees the Borat movie is one less person I `get' with Borat again, so it's a kind of self-defeating form, really."

Well, it's certainly refreshing to see someone in the entertainment business knows when to move on, but what does that mean now for SBC fans? Well, everyone should see him as Signor Adolfo Pirelli in Tim Burton's blood-spattered-but-brilliant "Sweeney Todd," and he has some more potentially very funny stuff coming after that.

First up will be "Bruno," the fashionista journalist based on another Ali G character, which I can't say I enjoy nearly as much as I did Borat. After that, however, things should only get better.

His next credit is for something called "Curly Oxide and Vic Thrill," which just sounds like tons of fun. Apparently based on a book by little-known punker Thrill and written by Tina Fey, it's the autobiographical tale of Thrill's partnership with a Hasidic musician, who I can only assume will be played by SBC. After that will be "Dinner for Schmucks," which has this tagline that sounds tailormade for his comedic talents: "An extraordinarily stupid man possesses the ability to ruin the life of anyone who spends more than a few minutes in his company." (Actually, I think I have some of that talent myself.)

So, RIP Borat, and thanks for knowing exactly when to exit the stage.

Rainn Wilson's got the "Spirit"

Even if there is some kind of Golden Globes ceremony broadcast Jan. 13, you certainly won't find me tuning in if there's any kind of writers' strike still going on (and, let's face it, there really doesn't seem to be any kind of progress being made.) For those of you who get the Independent Film Channel, though (which I do not), there will be some awards season respite on the way.

The very funny Rainn Wilson, who stars as Dwight Schrute on "The Office" and appeared for, oh, about 30 seconds or so in "Juno," has received a WGA waiver and will be hosting the 2008 Spirit Awards, set to take place at 5 p.m. Feb. 23 (one day before the Oscars, if there are any this year) and broadcast live by IFC.

Since I've already got to make a cable switch to pick up HBO again in time for the Sunday, Jan. 6, return of "The Wire," a k a the greatest television show of all time, I may as well dump the sports tier of my digital cable and pick up the movie tier instead, which would give me IFC again and, of course, lots of movies, which I've never yet found to be anything approaching a bad thing.

New trailer for "The Forbidden Kingdom"

If you're returning to work today like me (though I'm off again starting Friday and headed to NYC for four days of movies and more with the family), the silliness that is this new trailer for Rob Minkoff's (yes, the director of "Stuart Little") upcoming kung fu epic starring both Jackie Chan and Jet Li will hopefully make it a little easier. I do have to wonder, though, just how much Mr. Li is going to have to do with this, since he makes no appearance in this new trailer. Even so, enjoy, and have a perfectly pleasant Boxing Day. Peace out.

Can Bill Maher be the next Borat? God help us!

Although it pains me to admit it, I've never much cared for Bill Maher.

Now, don't get me wrong. It was a high crime when "Politically Incorrect" was pulled off the air by ABC (as Lorelai Gilmore put it so well, "the show's called 'Politically Incorrect,' what did they expect?")

If memory serves me right, he was fired from that gig for saying the very evil men who flew those planes into the World Trade Center weren't "cowards." Well, that probably wasn't the wisest thing to say, but in an extremely limited way he was probably right, and he paid the price for it.

But my beef was never with Maher's alleged lack of patriotism. I've just never liked the guy because he always thinks he's right about everything and seeks to prove it by being as big a wiseass as possible, and usually shouting to make his point (it's the same reason I can't listen to most talk radio for more than five minutes at a time.)

And that's a shame, because he usually is right. Maher essentially follows a libertarian path, and I would follow him just about anywhere if it wouldn't make me go deaf along the way.

Which, in an admittedly roundabout way, finally brings us to the point of this post. Larry Charles, perhaps seeking his next "Borat"-style hit, has made a documentary in which he follows Maher around the world as he talks to people about God and religion. The film will be distributed by Lionsgate next Spring.

Maher said: "Comedically, the topic of religion is hitting the side of a barn; it's literally hard to miss. This movie will make you laugh so hard you'll pray for it to stop."

Maybe. And for the record, I'm hoping so. Maher's name alone should get this one a wide enough release to reach my little corner of the world.

There is, however, one key difference between Bill Maher and Sacha Baron Cohen's Borat. When "Borat" worked, and it very often did, Cohen just set people up and let them roll to make asses of themselves. I can't imagine Maher will be able to shut up long enough to let anyone he interviews do that.

But, I've been wrong at least once before, and hopefully I will be here too. One thing I'm fairly certain of, though: At least we won't have to watch Maher bed-wrestling with the extremely hairy Ken Davitian.

Sorkin and Spielberg? Yes, please

One man who is clearly more than a little obsessed with God (or more accurately religion) is Aaron Sorkin. His clear hatred of the religious right, and his inability to get through an episode of "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" without putting it on clear display, was one big reason that show was such a nobel failure.

When he's able to focus, however, Sorkin is able to write topical dialogue better than just about anyone in the game. I've just started watching "West Wing" again from the beginning, and for a long time it was at least as good as all the hype made it out to be. And before that, his "Sports Night" was a criminally underappreciated comedic gem.

Now, after being burned by NBC with "Studio 60," Sorkin's getting the last laugh. He's just signed with DreamWorks to write three films, the first of which will be "The Trial of the Chicago 7," probably for Steven Spielberg to direct. The saga of the protestors who tried to take down the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago should be a perfect fit for both of them.

And in case you still had doubts that Sorkin leads a charmed (and well-deserved) life, he recently adapted the George Crile book "Charlie Wilson's War" into a serving of December Oscar bait directed by Mike Nichols and starring a certain man you may have heard of named Tom Hanks.

What will Michael Moore do now?

After "Sicko" finishes its run, Michael Moore has hinted to The Advocate that he might just be ready to take on another hot topic: Homophobia in America. Here, courtesy of the always reliable (and very funny) Iwatchstuff.com, is what he had to say:

"I am not sure what I am going to do for my next film, but I certainly believe that I have no right to tell another couple whether they can or cannot be married. There is nowhere in the four Gospels where Jesus uses the word homosexual, nor the word abortion. The right wing has appropriated this guy. It makes you think, what someone can do in your name a thousand years from now. [Laughs] And they have used him to attack gays and lesbians, when he never said a single word against people who are homosexual."

I'm not gonna touch that last point because, well, I simply don't want to open that can of worms. That's what we have Michael Moore for, and I can only say thank God for that. And he's clearly been concerned about this subject for a long time. At the end of this post is a YouTube clip I uncovered from his often funny "Awful Truth" TV show in which he takes on the idiot Fred Phelps (be warned, this clip is very long and it contains, gasp!, footage of men kissing men and women kissing women; if any of that offends you, please don't watch it.)

And now I'll simply leave you with the very funny (and, of course, snarky) sentiments of whoever it is that does the writing at Iwatchstuff:

Personally, I always thought homophobia was despicable. But I have to admit, the Hairspray posters give me second thoughts.

I definitely couldn't put it better myself. Peace out.