Top 10 Outrageous Sacha Baron Cohen Moments

He may not be the first comedian to make light of 9/11, but Baron Cohen went further than most mainstream comics for this scene in 2012’s “The Dictator”. Sharing an NYC helicopter tour with an unsuspecting couple, his character and accomplice engage in a fairly innocent conversation, only to trigger a series of hilarious misunderstandings. And as the onlookers’ faces drop, Baron Cohen’s enthusiastic, erratic and unyielding style only makes matters worse.

As Ali G, Baron Cohen regularly breaches topical issues in controversial ways. But this interview with the feminist author Naomi Wolf sees the comic character let loose. Whether it’s the offensive questions, misogynistic opinions or simply his uncouth demeanour, Ali G represents everything Wolf is against. She’s left bewildered and visibly shocked by almost everything he says, and though we all know it’s a wind-up, the conversation gets increasingly (and excruciatingly) awkward to watch.

Sacha usually has something up his sleeve when it comes to awards shows, but he truly outdid himself at the MTV Movie Awards in 2009. Entering the auditorium on a wire, and in character as the title star of his latest movie “Brüno”, the stunt soon took a turn for the worse - with Eminem getting a faceful. The rapper later claimed to be in on the gag, but going by the reactions of everyone else, the rest of the crowd certainly were not.

Duping feminists and rap stars is one thing, but Baron Cohen stepped up his game for this famous “Borat” scene, by taking on a rowdy crowd of more than four thousand rodeo-lovin’ Americans. After declaring his support for the War on Terror, the Kazakh character seems to get the spectators on side... But then he ups the ante, until he almost incites a riot by rehashing the national anthem. It’s easily one of Baron Cohen’s most infamous moments, with the incident even making the local news.

From almost causing a riot to actually causing one. We’re with Brüno again, at the finale of his film, and the flamboyant character reunites with his boyfriend for a scene filled with passion and intimacy. Unfortunately for them, they’re surrounded by nearly two thousand locals who had turned up ready for a red-blooded cage fight. Baron Cohen and his co-star were quickly pelted with beer cups and broken ringside chairs, as onlooking macho men were brought to tears. It makes for a funny story, though.

As the soundtrack single to accompany the Ali G feature-length film, “Ali G Indahouse”, “Me Julie” sees Baron Cohen team up with the Grammy Award winning rapper Shaggy. And the song is everything you might expect. With overtly sexual lyrics and a video accompaniment which features the disembodied heads of both performers set against the gyrating bodies of bikini-clad women, it proved a genuine hit - reaching number 2 in the UK singles charts.

Sacha doesn’t have to be meddling in mockumentaries to create outrageous moments, and this scene for “Grimsby” is one you won’t forget in a hurry. Baron Cohen plays Nobby Butcher, the football hooligan older brother to Mark Strong’s MI6 agent, Sebastian. Here, the pair are trying to outrun some gunmen, so Nobby finds an unconventional hiding place. But, although the bad guys lose their trail, the brothers have another big problem on their hands. It’s graphic, relentless and Mark Strong must be wondering if Hollywood’s all it’s cracked up to be.

As we’ve seen, Baron Cohen has history with award show stunts, and this is an acceptance speech unlike any other. On stage to receive the 2013 Charlie Chaplin Britannia Award for Excellence in Comedy, the presentation supposedly involves an 87-year old actor who starred with Chaplin as a kid. But the special guest is soon at the centre of apparent tragedy, when Sacha slips, and kills her. The whole thing’s a prank, of course, but he had us going for a second there.

Sacha’s made a career out of pushing the boundaries for comedy, but this “Brüno” interview seemed to seriously overstep the mark. The scene sees Brüno talk with a supposed member of a dangerous terrorist group, but the man had no such links. With Sacha maintaining the facade for the promo trail as well, the outraged interviewee reportedly received death threats, and eventually filed a lawsuit against Baron Cohen for defamation of character. A settlement was agreed in 2012.

It’s probably Sacha’s most memorable scene, and easily his most outrageous. And nothing shows the all-out insanity of Borat better than this moment. Enraged when his producer pleasures himself over pictures of Pamela Anderson, the crazed Kazakh launches a no-holds-barred, naked attack. And the full-on fight can’t be contained to just one hotel room, as the action moves from the corridors to the foyer, and to a conference room packed with bewildered onlookers. Little did they know they were watching classic comedy in the making.