Series / Who Is America?

Tropes:

• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Morad has Dick Cheney sign a "waterboarding kit" that was previously signed by the likes of Ariel Sharon, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Demi Lovato.
• Aside Glance: Morad gives a split-second but priceless one to the camera after successfully tricking Jason Spencer into screaming the N-word at the top of his lungs, on camera.
• Asian Speekee Engrish: Jason Spencer trying to imitate a Chinese tourist.
• Ass Kicks You: Morad convinces Spencer that this is the best way to defend yourself against terrorists.
• Bait-and-Switch:
  • "Picture this scene. You are chained to a radiator, naked, with a bag over your head. All of a sudden, terrorists break in and kidnap you...completely ruining your birthday party."
  • Baron Cohen often pulls the strings on many of his interviewees, such as when Billy Ruddick interviewed Corey Lewandowski and started praising Trump with Corey endorsing his behavior up until Ruddick brought up the fact that Trump called Miss Venezuela "Miss Piggy" and that must be a compliment to which not even Corey could defend that insult.
• Bait-and-Switch Comment: Nira gives one to the people of Kingman.
  Dr. Nira Cain-N'Degeocello: Let me assure you that I share your concerns about terrorism, and we will do everything we can to protect these Muslims from it.
• Big Ol' Unibrow: Morad has one that you could launch a fleet of aircraft off of.
• Card-Carrying Villain: To whit, when Dr. Nira met the people of Kingman, Arizona:
  Dr. Nira: I didn't imply anyone here was racist.
  Guy in the back: I am! I'm racist against Muslims.
• Cringe Comedy: The humor from the series mostly comes from placing Baron Cohen's interviewees in the most embarrassing situations possible, or having them say the most awkward or offensive thing possible (which is shockingly frequent).
• Eagleland: The premise of the series is that most of the interviewees, and some of Baron Cohen's characters (like Billy Ruddick) are a hard Type 2.
• Everyone Has Standards: Morad, the slightly-crazed Mossad agent who supports arming 4-year-old children, admonishes Jason Spencer (without breaking character!) for screaming the N-word at the top of his lungs, calling it "disgusting."
• Gilligan Cut: In the "Kinderguardians" segment, Matt Gaetz tells Morad that no legislator is going to go on TV to endorse a policy they just heard of. Cut to several political figures (including Trent Lott, Dana Rohrabacher, Joe Wilson, and Joe Walsh) doing exactly that.^note Remember, these are real people.
  Matt Gaetz: You want me to say on television that I support three- and four-year-olds with firearms? Is that what you're asking me to do?
  Erran Morad: Uh, yes.
  Matt Gaetz: Typically members of congress don't just hear a story about a program and then indicate whether they support it or not.
  [cut]
  Trent Lott: I support the "Kinderguardians" program.
• I Am a Humanitarian: Rick Sherman offers Bill Jilla what he claims to is the flesh of a Chinese dissident. Jilla ends up eating it quite willingly.
• Insane Troll Logic: Sacha's characters are quite abnormal and so is their logic. First interview, he played Billy Wayne Ruddick and "interviewed" Bernie Sanders. They discussed the 1% and 99% in which Ruddick claims if you take one of the 9s from the 99% to the 1% then it makes 19%.
• Insistent Terminology: Jason Spencer doesn't call it a "burkha ban", it's an "anti-masking statute."
• Interchangeable Asian Cultures: Quoth Jason Spencer when asked to portray a Chinese tourist. Remember that Sushi and "konnichiwa" are Japanese and Ho Chi Minh City is Vietnamese:
  Jason Spencer: (faux-Chinese accent) Oh, (unintelligible) Konichiwa, Red Dragon Bejing, (unintelligible), sushi, (unintelligible), Red Dragon, Ho Chi Minh City...
• Manipulative Bastard: Corey Lewandowski, who claims that Trump is not a sexist or misogynist. When Billy points out Trump called a Miss Venezuela pageant girl "Miss Piggy" for being fat, Corey claims Trump was still reacting in a way that was necessary (not true, that joke was a jab at her weight). Billy then asks if Miss Piggy is supposed to be some sort of feminist icon.
• Never My Fault: While playing Ruddick, Sacha complained to Bernie that Obamacare is to blame for the fact he suddenly, spontaneously got diagnosed with both Type 1 and 2 diabetes and chalky deposits. Bernie did seem confused, but his reply was "Billy, I'm not your doctor".
• N-Word Privileges: Morad tells Jason Spencer that shouting "the N-word" out loud is the best way to attract attention to yourself (and consequently scare off kidnappers.) Spencer then immediately starts screaming the N-word. (The word Morad was thinking of was "noonie", by the way.)
• Only Sane Man: Perhaps unsurprisingly, Bernie Sanders is the only politician interviewed by Cohen (as Billy Ruddick) who comes across in a good light, as he very calmly explains his positions to Billy without ever losing his patience, and never loses his cool even when Billy makes utterly ludicrous claims like that combining 1 percent and 99 percent together you get 19%.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: The people of Kingman, Arizona are not big fans of Islam.
• Reality Show Genre Blindness: Whatever possessed Jason Spencer ^note Who was at the time of filming a serving member of the Georgia House of Representatives to agree to drop his pants and scream the N-word on camera has to qualify.
• Refuge in Audacity: As usual for Baron Cohen. His goal seems to be to make every character more extreme and impossible to believe than the one before.
• Running Gag: A surprisingly subtle one, in that Erran Morad's military rank changes every episode he appears in.
• Take That!: Done to the target's face, no less. Morad meets with Alabama politician Roy Moore to demonstrate a device he claims that can detect pedophiles, only to have the machine beep for a positive reading every time he points it at Moore. Moore is not amused.
• Troll: Sacha Baron Cohen deliberately fools around with American politicians like Bernie Sanders to create comedy under the guise that they were going to do serious interviews.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Par for the course with Cohen's prank shows, most (if not all) of his marks end up going along with outlandish situations with only a bit of hesitation. This is especially the case for Rick Sherman, where a woman provided him with her own pubic hair for one of his art pieces without blinking an eye.
• Vulgar Humor: No surprise, considering who's behind the show. Rick Sherman making art out of invoked ejaculate and pubic hair is only the tip of the iceberg, so to speak.