Sacha Baron Cohen reveals the character who has been fooling prominent U.S. political figures

Becoming famous was one of the biggest challenges Sacha Baron Cohen could have ever faced.

The comedian has made a name for himself by putting on disguises and duping unsuspecting guests, including Donald Trump before he was the U.S. president, in mock interviews, while portraying characters such as Ali G, Borat and Brüno. Naturally, the more famous Cohen became, the harder it was to fool people.

It's been almost a decade since Cohen portrayed his Brüno character (an Austrian fashion reporter) on film, but it would seem that enough time has now passed to allow for his return. This time, Cohen is portraying an American right-wing "citizen reporter" named Billy Wayne Ruddick Jr. Ruddick, according to the fake character's Twitter account, is the founder of the site Truthbrary.org. His mission is to "take control of our facts and our truth" and he's prone to tagging his tweets with the particularly ironic #stopfakenews.  

•  Is the new Sacha Baron Cohen series satire, or a cringeworthy prank show?

With Cohen's new show premiering on Showtime this Sunday called Who is America?, a number of prominent American politicians, from both the left and right, are revealing that they've been tricked by Cohen and his team into doing interviews. The names include Sarah Palin, former Alabama judge Roy Moore, retired U.S. Army general David Petraeus, Sen. Bernie Sanders, journalist Ted Koppel, radio host Joe Walsh and former Vice-President Dick Cheney, the latter of whom can be seen signing a "waterboarding kit" in the brief clip released.

As expected, many, including Walsh, Moore and Palin, are not happy after finding out that they had been tricked by Cohen.

"Out of respect for what I was led to believe would be a thoughtful discussion with someone who had served in uniform, I sat through a long 'interview' full of Hollywoodism's disrespect and sarcasm," Palin wrote on Facebook, adding that she flew to Washington, D.C., from Alaska to meet someone whom she believed was a disabled U.S. veteran.

Cohen's Ruddick character wasn't revealed until he tweeted in reply to Palin yesterday, claiming that "it was I that interviewed you. I did NOT say I was a War Vet. I was in the service — not military, but United Parcel, and I only fought for my country once: When I shot a Mexican who came onto my property."

Update: Cohen actually revealed a number of new characters, including the now much-talked-about Israeli gun expert Col. Erran Morad, who convinces many U.S. Republican lawmakers to support arming kids in kindergarten. 

However, not all of Cohen's victims are upset. Austin Rhodes, a popular conservative radio host in Augusta, Ga., expressed his admiration for another one of Cohen's convincing disguises.

"My hat is off to his crew, who kept my producer and I off-kilter the entire interview," he said of the time Cohen appeared on his live radio show, disguised as someone named Dr. Nira Cain, another character for Who Is America? Rhodes reveals many of the tricks that Cohen and his team used, and it's an interesting look into his method and worth the read.

"I have been a fan of Cohen's work for years, and I have seen Borat probably 20 times from start to finish. How in the hell did I miss that this was Sacha Baron Cohen?" he said. "I have been asked if I am concerned how I will be portrayed in what we now know to be Cohen's new show, Who Is America? … I am not worried at all. My biggest regret is not being able to shake his hand as Sacha Baron Cohen or interview him (as himself). I hope we can set that up. I would say he owes me one."  

Who is America? premieres on CraveTV, with a new release every Sunday at 10:00.