Sacha Baron Cohen says Dick Cheney liked his 'Who is America?' character because 'I was a guy who’d killed a lot of people'

Cohen believes the former vice president had a 'man crush' on his character Erran Morad, an Israeli anti-terrorism expert

Sacha Baron Cohen, who got Dick Cheney to autograph a "waterboarding kit" in his satire series Who is America? believes the former vice president had a "man crush" on his character.

Cohen has opened up about the Golden-Globe-nominated programme and its making in a new interview, offering a behind-the-scenes look at the show that premiered in July 2018.

In Who is America?, Cohen plays several characters and interacts with guests such as Sarah Palin, Roy Moore, OJ Simpson and Cheney. His goal, as he told Deadline, was to use his brand of comedy to get people to "reveal their true selves".

Cohen said he spoke with an Israeli former army officer right before spending three hours with Cheney. He asked the ex officer to tell him everything about his time in the force, later using that conversation for inspiration during his time with George W Bush's former vice president.

The comedian, who is nominated for a Golden Globe in the Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy category for Who is America? said Cheney was "unflappable" throughout the segment.

During the sequence, Cohen plays Erran Morad, an Israeli anti-terrorism expert with an apparent taste for torture and other extreme methods.

"Looking back at it, I think he felt happy and almost excited to sit in a room next to my character because I had done the one thing that he hadn’t actually done," Cohen said of Cheney.

"He’d ordered people to be killed but he never actually killed someone with his bare hands.

"In his mind, I was a guy who’d killed a lot of people. It’s a bit like a virgin sitting next to a womanizer and being enamoured by them. I think he had a kind of man crush on me, on my character."

During the segment featuring Cheney, Cohen's character claimed to have once waterboarded his wife because he suspected she had cheated on him – and asked the former vice president to sign his "waterboard kit".

Cheney signed the item Cohen handed him, which later went up for sale on eBay.