I just finished watching the first episode of Sasha Baron Cohen’s new Showtime series Who Is America? and laughed until it became too horrifying.

The premise is familiar. Cohen assumes various characters so that he can interview people without tipping them off that they are part of a comedy sketch.

Insights are few, but entertainment can be rich.

At least, that’s the case until one sketch leads to a variety of U.S. lawmakers advocating that children (even toddlers!) be trained to use guns.

I’m going to continue watching Who Is America? because even though some of the segments are more miss than hit–or at least too long–I suspect there will be some surprises if not insights.

As a huge fan of Borat, it’s not a problem for me that this series seems more reboot than innovation.

After all, there’s not a lot of new out there to combat the summer doldrums.