To wit: "I say breasts because I love women and I don't call them cans or big fat titties because I love my mother and I respect women."

Bobby Bottleservice: Jersey Shore Audition Tape [Funny or Die]

Jon Gosselin Turns Back Time with Funny or Die [Just Jared]

Of course, he's also making fun of the stereotypical asshole actor whose investment in the brand-names he represents is superficial, at best. Touché, Franco. Touché.

James Franco: Gucci Commercial Outtakes [Funny Or Die]

Meet Peter Paparazzo (Jon Daly) and Bobby Bottleservice (Nick Kroll). They manage to make fun of Christian Audigier, Michael Jackson, John Gosselin, structured water, and the Hardy Boys. Assigned a mystery by Christian, they investigate, write clues in their Ed Hardy notebooks, make passes at girls, shout, "Red carpet paparazzi! Red carpet paparazzi!" apropos of nothing, and eventually take the thief down.

The Ed Hardy Boyz: The Case of the Missing Sick Belt Buckle [Funny Or Die]

It's always awkward when your partner forgets to introduce you, but that may be the least of Amy Poehler's worries. Clip at left. [Funny Or Die]

Rashad Robinson, senior director of media programs for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation tells the Times: "Some people in our community may like this movie, but many are not going to be O.K. with it. Sacha Baron Cohen's well-meaning attempt at satire is problematic in many places and outright offensive in others."

Aaron Hicklin, the editor of Out magazine, is not as concerned: "The movie does something hugely important, which is showing that people's attitudes can turn on a dime when they realize you're gay. The multiplex crowd wouldn't normally sit down for a two-hour lecture on homophobia, but that's exactly what's going to happen. I'm excited about that."

Except Brüno is not a lecture. Sacha Baron Cohen lies in order to land interviews, disrupts events and infiltrates situations. Cohen is being sued by one California woman who claims she was injured at a bingo tournament he hijacked.

The Telegraph points out that from Zoolander to Absolutely Fabulous to Ugly Betty, the image of the silly, shallow fashion industry as freak show has been done. So Brüno is not breaking ground there. It's the depiction of an aggressively gay character that's the point.

From the Times:

The filmmakers wanted to play [an Elton John] song during a scene in which the title character, participating in a cage-fighting match, pulls down his opponent's pants and kisses him on the mouth, prompting a horrified crowd to throw garbage at him. The answer was no… But then Mr. John reversed himself - kind of. He didn't want to be associated with the provocative scene, but he ultimately agreed to perform part of another song that functions as a coda to the film.

If your movie makes an openly gay man pause, are you treading as carefully as you should? Does kissing a man in a cage-fighting match expose the audience's homophobia? Or tap into the stereotype that gay men are lascivious, libidinous, promiscuous and wild?

While Cohen prances in lederhosen, California and other states are banning gay marriage. In a world where civil rights are at stake, does Brüno — played as a "limp-wristed, sex-crazed queen" wearing hot pants, leopard bikini underwear and riding nude on a unicorn — shatter or reinforce stereotypes?

A Plea for Tolerance in Tight Shorts. Or Not. [NY Times]
Sacha Baron Cohen's Brüno: Why fashionistas Are Beyond Parody [Telegraph]

She continues: ''I like being underestimated, though. My grandmother used to say, 'More than a handful is wasted.'... She was talking about my boobs.'' There's no doubt that Amy Poehler is funny, but there's an insane amount of pressure on her to succeed: With Parks And Recreation, which premieres tonight, in the coveted timeslot after The Office, everyone will be watching to see if the former Saturday Night Live "Weekend Update" co-host will turn the show into a hit. In an interview with The Daily Beast, Poehler is sure to explain that Parks and Office are each their own thing: "Once you watch the first episode, you'll realize the different world we're in. Besides, a lot of people don't know that there's a Ukrainian Parks and Recreation that going to come out after ours. So they're the ones that are gonna have to work hard." Additionally, costar Rashida Jones points out that the women of Parks give it something The Office lacks: ''There is a female buddy-comedy element to it, which The Office doesn't have. Our world is a little bigger.... So much of this has to do with this thing that exists outside - a big hole. Get ready to look at a big hole, America!''

Of her character, civil servant Leslie Knope, Poehler tells EW: ''She's like [Election's] Tracy Flick meets your soccer coach meets a baby calf. She's not savvy at all, but she's smart, she's capable, she works hard. I want her so badly to succeed. I just wanna pick her up like a little baby and tell her how to flirt with guys and take her away from the Dress Barn.''

As for the early reports that test audiences were "meh" on the show, executive producer Michael Schur does spin control: "By the time we had even gotten the results of the testing back, we had done, like, five more edits of the pilot. The only thing that matters at all is the final product, and it's going to be very, very different from the version that was thrown in front of a group of people."

While it would be great if the talented and hilarious Amy Poehler had a hit show, she seems to have a plan if Parks And Recreation fails. She tells the Beast: "Tina Fey and I have 15 things in development: Laverne and Shirley, Starsky and Hutch 3, Cagney and Lacey, Wonder Twins Activate From Two Hot Broads, Little House on the Prairie: The Musical: The Movie." Plus, she tells EW she has a five -year plan:

"I'm going to take all my money out and invest it in gold. Then melt that gold down and then build a gold hotel. Then have people stay in the hotel, paying only in gold. And then light the whole thing on fire, melt it again, and start from scratch,'' she explains. ''That's my five-year plan.''

Amy Poehler On Her New Sitcom [EW]
Amy Poehler: The Seriously Funny Interview [The Daily Beast]

Goth Barbie [Funny Or Die]

Pregnant! [Funny Or Die]