Australia has finally put new arrival Sacha Baron Cohen to use via the same time-honoured tradition given to Magda Szubanski: whacking him in an Uber Eats ad.
Cohen stars as a tennis umpire at the Australian Open, complete with his best attempt at an Aussie accent. It’s not terrible. The flame-wrapped speed dealers are a nice touch, too.
Australia’s own tennis king Nick Kyrgios also stars alongside Cohen in the skits, and we can apparently expect Cohen’s character to call Kyrgios out for everything from sweating too much to a “visible panty line violation.”
So far we’ve just seen a teaser of what’s to come. Expect an entire series of ads to be aired throughout the Australian Open, similar to the whole Sharon Strzelecki/Kim Kardashian shebang.
“I’ve been a massive fan of Sacha from his Ali G days all the way through to now,” Kyrgios told the Herald Sun on Saturday.
“I have pure respect for him and went on set knowing he was hilarious, but I was still surprised by how sharp he was with his freestyle comedy.
“Sacha’s Aussie accent and rogue antics really threw me off my game.”
Cohen touched town in Aus with his wife Isla Fisher late last year and explained that actors have been flocking here mainly because we’ve come out of the pandemic relatively unscathed.
But until now, he appeared to just be living here and keeping to himself. Let’s hope there are even more local opportunities for him in future.
