Beck Gets Some Help From Sacha Baron Cohen For ‘Tonight Show’ Performance: Watch

Sacha Baron Cohen can go to the deepest well of characters, both comedic and dramatic.

Think Ali G, Borat, Brüno, and… cellist.

On Tuesday night (Oct.

20), the British funnyman showed us another side, as he slipped into Beck ’s strings ensemble for a performance on NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

For a change, Cohen didn’t play for laughs.

Or play anyone, for that matter.

The Dictator actor flexed his musician muscles for a surprise back seat spot on the cello, supporting Beck on “In the Night.” “In the Night” appears on Beck’s Ride Lonesome , a sweeping and delicate album that captures the sonic textures of his 2015 Grammy Award-winning album of the Year Morning Phase and its spiritual companion, Sea Change from 2002.

Ride Lonesome (via Capitol Records ) dropped last month and is Beck’s first collection of all-new material since 2019’s Hyperspace .

Watch Beck’s late night performance below, with a little help from Sasha Baron Cohen.

Earlier, Beck and Cohen sat for separate chats with Fallon.

Beck spoke with the host on the inspiration behind his latest LP, the “austere” design of his tour in support of it, and recounted how Luke Wilson’s Hansel character in Zoolander was (maybe) based on him.

“It’s a moody kinda stuff,” he reflects on Ride Lonesome .

“It’s the mood of like when you’re in your house, it’s almost dark but you haven’t turned the lights on.

It’s kinda like blue hour.” Also, Beck was asked to be in Zoolander , but he “stupidly said no.” Instead, the producers got David Bowie.