So the first clips of Sacha Baron Cohen’s latest high-profile prank comedy production have been released — this time out, it’s a Showtime series called “Who Is America?”  (For those of you who don’t recognize his name, this is the same British entertainer who brought us faux interviewers like “Borat,” “Bruno,” and the long-ago “Ali G.”)

Oh. Dear. God. The latter five minutes of the last video are … particularly damning. No matter where you stand on gun issues, please tell me you understand that U. S. Congresspeople need to be less asininely, dangerously gullible.

Cohen’s talents are incredible — he seems to have an uncanny knack for eliciting the most preposterous responses from his interview subjects.  He and his film crew also have an astonishing ability to stay in character when you or I would want to laugh.  I can’t imagine for what he got out of Sarah Palin, who upbraided him publicly for his “evil, exploitative, sick ‘humor.'”  (You’ll recall that Palin needed no help in embarrassing herself in interviews when they were entirely on the level.)

Question — should I have saved my long-harbored “We Need to Talk About Kevin” pun for a post about Michael Cohen?  (Probably.)

Question 2 — is it ironic if I initially misspelled the word “asininely” above — twice?  (Probably.)