A longtime favorite of British TV, comedian Sacha Baron Cohen rose to popularity via his hilarious alter ego, slang-spouting "hip-hop journalist" Ali G. By the time Cohen's Da Ali G Show was brought to America courtesy of HBO, the star had added two other alternate personalities to his repertoire: Borat, a chatty but incredibly naïve Kazakstani TV personality, and Bruno, a flighty Austrian fashion reporter. Though highlights included such nonsense as Ali G posing as a recruit for the Philadelphia Police Department, the main attraction of the series was Cohen's satirical interviews of such high-profile personalities as Newt Gingrich, Ed Meese, and Buzz Aldrin, none of whom were aware that the whole enterprise was a big joke (and most of whom were outraged when their interviews were broadcast without their permission). The six-episode American incarnation of Da Ali G Show premiered February 21, 2003.