It seems weird, after all, to suggest that it hasn’t been long enough since Baron Cohen’s last reign of undercover terror. Bruno is nine years old at this point, and it’s clear that he and his team are as good as ever at working their ways into places they really aren’t supposed to be. (Case in point: This Hollywood Reporter piece about their infiltration of the show of conservative radio host Austin Rhodes, which includes a firsthand account of the tactics Cohen’s team uses to make sure their targets stay disoriented and wrong-footed.)

But here’s the thing: When Baron Cohen was first doing his thing, making a fool of Newt Gingrich and tricking people into revealing their secret prejudices for the ever-watchful camera, it was back in an era where people were at least surface-level interested in keeping those prejudices secret. But the sad fact is that we no longer need elaborate stings or disguises to prove that people like Palin or Roy Moore are small-minded, xenophobic, frequently racist idiots; these days, that’s the makings of a moderately successful political brand. It makes the comedian’s antics feel a bit like yelling that the emperor’s got no clothes on, when we’ve spent the last two years knowingly staring, dead-eyed and helpless, at his wrinkled genitals as they flop around hatefully in our face.

Of course, Baron Cohen has surprised us before; it’s entirely possible that his series will tease something legitimately shocking or revelatory out of his encounters with America’s political elite. Hopefully we’ll be awake to see it.