I think if you come from a history of persecution you have to develop a sense of humour.
Sacha Baron CohenFollow your dreams, work hard, practice and persevere. Get plenty of exercise and maintain a healthy lifestyle.
Sacha Baron CohenI remember, when I was in university I studied history, and there was this one major historian of the Third Reich, Ian Kershaw. And his quote was, 'The path to Auschwitz was paved with indifference.' I know it's not very funny being a comedian talking about the Holocaust, but I think it's an interesting idea that not everyone in Germany had to be a raving anti-Semite. They just had to be apathetic.
Sacha Baron CohenOn the other side of the spectrum, you see someone like Donald Trump, who is using as the basis of his campaign political incorrectness. It's clearly intentional. He'd have to be a complete moron just to coincidentally insult Mexicans, and women, and disabled people, and Muslims. So clearly he's using it as a vote winner. But I think with comedians there's a responsibility.
Sacha Baron CohenI think you can be politically incorrect, but there's some responsibility with that. You've got to make sure that you are not condoning or bolstering any racial or other stereotypes. You've got to be free to make jokes, but just make sure...you don't want to go and black face somewhere to just prove a point. If it's insulting and offensive just for the sake of it that's problematic.
Sacha Baron CohenThe worrying thing is there's so much latent hatred of the guy [Donald Trump] and this guy isn't even president yet.
Sacha Baron CohenDictators are ludicrous characters, and, you know, in my career and in my life, I've always enjoyed sort of inhabiting these ludicrous, larger-than-life characters that somehow exist in the real world.
Sacha Baron CohenThere's a joke in the movie...it's got a fairytale ending, and this is a spoiler: Donald Trump does contract HIV. I think people are upset about that, mainly because they feel the reputation of AIDS has been destroyed by associating it with Donald Trump.
Sacha Baron CohenI think I think in the moment. So when I'm in character, I'm in character, and I'm obviously thinking about what's going on around me, but it's easier to do stuff when you're in character.
Sacha Baron CohenSex can lead to nasty things like herpes, gonorrhea, and something called relationships.
Sacha Baron CohenI think pulling off, pulling off a kind of fake documentary of me being a, you know, actual dictator would have been extremely difficult, if not impossible.
Sacha Baron CohenDon't listen to me. I'm not a politician. I know nothing about politics. But people are cheering when something very bad happens to him [Donald Trump]. So that's got to make you think before voting for him.
Sacha Baron CohenI have been incredibly fortunate to be able to work with good directors and for me it's not really a plan each time I'm on a set with one of them; I think about what I can learn from them because I'm very aware that my filmmaking skills are very modest.
Sacha Baron CohenI think in all small towns, all kind of working class communities around the world. They are kind of similar.
Sacha Baron Cohen