Bruno isn't about homosexuals or homophobia or Gay Panic Response. It's about the great obsessive subject of British Comedy; namely, humiliation. The suffering of it, the infliction of it, particularly humiliation when it comes to issues of money and class. Of course, Cohen goes to America, particularly the poor, less-educated states, to "expose" anti-semitism and homophobia. If he'd done it in the precincts of the hip and Oxbridge-educated, they would suddenly remember that he was just a risen tailor's son and they certainly couldn't give such a presumptuous arriviste air-time on the BBC or Channel Four. It Simply Isn't Done . . . A bunch of Alabama rednecks might be able to kill you or beat you to a pulp, but they can't derail your career as a comedy writer and performer.

What century are you telegraphing this from, Bertie? Really, a risen tailor's son? Arriviste?

I'm fairly certain the reason Cohen doesn't waste time and money exposing toffee-nosed snobbery is that that sort of provincial and dated humor would have no audience outside of the precincts of Oxbridge.

Sounds like someone's still smarting from that hot crumpet.