Sacha distills wit — and keeps it strictly kosher

Jewish Telegraph, September 1996

SACHA Baron Cohen embarks on his mission to make all Britain’s children eat kosher in October.
The jovial Londoner has just landed a major job as a presenter on Granada Talk TV, which will be broadcast on satellite and cable from October 1.
“I’m very proud of Judaism and always eat kosher,” the former Habonim-Dror member said. “I’m going to make as many kids in the country eat kosher — whatever their religion.
“I look very Jewish — I’ve horns growing out of my head, launder money and belong to the world Zionist conspiracy!
“My last TV show went out early Friday evening, so after each show, I’d race around to my parents for Shabbat dinner like a good Jewish boy.
“I think calling me Sacha was my parents’ idea of a practical joke. My name makes me sound like an aristocratic Jewish girl.
“I was meant to be called Noam, which is Hebrew for very pleasant. But they were scared that I would turn out to be very unpleasant so they used it for my middle name — which means I’m a little pleasant.”
Sacha, 24, jokingly promises to start his five-times a week children’s show F2F with “laying tephillin and end with havdallah”.
The show, which will be broadcast from 4–5pm, is aimed at teenagers with interviews and debates about important youth subjects.
“It’ll be a cross between the Tango adverts and a teen magazine,” Sacha, of Camden, told the Jewish Telegraph. “We’ll have one celebrity a week, but I’m more interested in peculiar kids than boring celebrities.
“The producers have given me free rein on the content.”
Sacha’s career in entertainment began while he was at college. He starred in college productions of Fiddler on the Roof and was a member of the infamous Cambridge Footlights.
“I always thought I’d have a career on stage. I never really thought about television, but I got a job doing cable show Pump TV in the Windsor area.
“We had the potential for 250,000 viewers, but Granada Talk TV has a target audience of six million.”
His show was third in the cable charts with double the figures of MTV and Live! TV. He was last seen on television “eating a cactus” in the alternative Pepsi Slam advert.
If Sacha — who won the 1993 Guardian International Drama Award at the Edinburgh Festival — can establish himself in television, he’d like to take his skills to Israel.
While with Habonim, Sacha grew to love the Jewish state and visits at least twice a year.
“Habonim gave me a perfect start for F2F,” he said. “The programme will be just like a meeting — mucking around trying to get everyone’s attention for 20 minutes and then having a debate.”
Sacha knows one fan who will definitely be watching his new show — his mother.
“She’ll be watching to make sure I’m properly dressed and if anyone asks me a difficult question, she’ll be straight on the phone and round to the studio.
“My parents are qvelling and shlepping nachas, although they’d like me to have a second career as a doctor,” he joked.