IF YOU had said 10 years ago that Sacha Baron Cohen would become a worldwide household name, someone would probably have told you to “check yourself”.

He’s come a long way since Ali G burst onto the scene on the 11 O’clock show in 1998, but even then the foundation of his satirical comedy was already being laid.

Baron Cohen’s Borat was an international hit and had audiences rolling in the aisles, unsure of whether to laugh or to cringe and Bruno offers much the same fare; you’ll be sat there creasing up in laughter whilst at the same time sinking into your seat in shared embarrassment.

When flamboyant Austrian fashion designer Bruno has his TV show cancelled after a disastrous incident at a catwalk show, he decides he would fare much better in Hollywood and boards a plane with his assistant Lutz in order to find fame and fortune.

In his quest for public adoration, he films a pilot for a TV series, adopts an African baby and travels to the Middle East to do his bit for world peace.

He engages minor celebrities and members of the public in typical Cohen style, putting people in uncomfortable situations with frank questions and flagrant displays of his sexuality.

On the surface, Bruno is very similar to Borat; they both involve road-trip style adventures and they both rely on cringe-inducing humour and his victims unwittingly making fools of themselves.

But whilst Borat was quite happy to be himself and let other people dig themselves into a hole, Bruno is much more antagonistic in his approach.

He deliberately provokes reactions by getting in people’s faces and you do sometimes wonder how much of it was scripted reaction, some of the responses seeming a bit too convenient.

This doesn’t make it any less funny though and for the large part it doesn’t matter, you’ll be both laughing your head off and watching with gob-smacked astonishment at the lengths he’s willing to go.

Just when you think it could get any worse, he cranks it up a bit higher – Cohen has this incredible knack to push comedy just a little bit past comfortable and still keep it funny.

It might not be for everyone though – not every movie has full frontal male nudity, a talking penis and mimed blow jobs.

Actually the funniest scenes are those where Sacha Baron Cohen goes back to his roots as an interviewer, holding a casting session for toddlers in a new music video. Ambitious parents’ reactions to his requests are not only hilarious but absolutely mind-boggling.

You often have to wonder at the protection the camera gives him.

There are several scenes which put him in genuine life-threatening situations; the comedy generated from the scenes is largely because of the very palpable sense of danger only kept at bay by the presence of the camera crew.

It’s unlikely that there will be another movie in this style made – Baron Cohen is now simply too recognisable to be able to get away with these kinds of stunts.

But Bruno marks a triumphant conclusion to this format – satirical, outrageous and willing to push the boundaries of not only taste, but of comedy too.

Bruno (18) is released in cinemas on July 10