Joella Marano, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Why we think Sacha Baron Cohen is a Type 7
Demeanor. Cohen comes across as confident, free-spirited, and very animated when discussing his work or social issues that he's passionate about.
Fun-loving and spontaneous. Many of Cohen's characters, and the improvisational situations he creates for them, showcase his ability to find humor in unexpected places and to deal with unpredictable situations.
Bold, adventurous, and in pursuit of shock-value laughs. In 2020, he infiltrated a right-wing rally in Olympia, Washington, while filming for the sequel Borat Subsequent Moviefilm. Disguised as a bluegrass singer, he took on the risk of being recognized and potentially physically confronted. At the 2012 Academy Awards, he appeared in character and notoriously spilled "the ashes of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il" on Ryan Seacrest on the red carpet. In Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, he interrupted Mike Pence's speech at the CPAC conference. This willingness to take risks and seek out adventure aligns with a Type 7 (and Type 8) approach to life.
Pursuit of happiness and laughter. Cohen's work explores and pushes the boundaries of societal norms in the pursuit of truth and laughter. In his film Borat. Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, Cohen ventured across the United States under the persona of Borat, a fictional journalist from Kazakhstan. The stunts and social experiments performed during the movie showed a willingness to challenge norms and take risks in order to get people to laugh and have fun.
Pranks at award shows. At the 2009 MTV Movie Awards, Cohen, in character as Bruno, ventured from the ceiling of the auditorium and landed with his bare bottom in the face of rapper Eminem, who was in on the stunt.
Sacha Baron Cohen quotes that show he is a Type 7
"The success or failure of the show rests in how long I can keep my character interesting to me."
“Sex can lead to nasty things like herpes, gonorrhea, and something called relationships.”
"I think you can make fun of anything except things that are tragic."
"I think that essentially I'm a private person, and to reconcile that with being famous is a hard thing. So I've been trying to have my cake and eat it too – to have my characters be famous yet still live a normal life where I'm not trapped by fame and recognizability."
“I've never really done any interviews as myself.”
"I've been in a bizarre situation, where a country has declared war on me."
"All the stuff I do is my life."
"I guess Borat is a bit of a wildman."
"When I create a character, it's a character who's funny because he thinks he's changing the world but is actually messing it up."
"I do believe that fashion is an art form, and you know my hats had a tilt to them. They were cocked a certain way, and that was very important to me."