Funko Reveals New 'Borat' and 'Ted Lasso' Pop! Figures (Exclusive)
Funko has revealed two brand new Pop! figures from Borat and Ted Lasso, and PopCulture.com has your exclusive first look at both characters. The first is a new Borat, featuring everyone's favorite Kazakh television journalist holding an American flag and suitcase. The second figure is of Coach Beard (Brendan Hunt) from Season 2 of Ted Lasso, with the soccer football coach rocking a hula hoop and gold pants and hoping to finish his night strong. Scroll down for a look at both figures, which are New York Comic-Con exclusives.
Borat was created by Sacha Baron Cohen, who first debuted the character in his early 2000s series Da Ali G Show. In 2006, the world was reintroduced to the character in Borat! Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan — often simply referred to as Borat — a satirical film starring the fictional reporter. Then, in 2020, Amazon released the Borat sequel, fully titled Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. The film title is often shortened to Borat Subsequent Moviefilm. It debuted on Prime Video on Oct. 23 2020 and very quickly became one of the most talked-about movies of the year.
Ted Lasso stars Jason Sudeikis as the title character, a small-time college football coach who gets tapped to help revive AFC Richmond, a fledgling British soccer team. The show originally premiered its 10-episode first season on Aug. 14, 2020, on Apple TV+. The show's second season launched in 2021, and the series has been renewed for a third season which does not currently have an announced premiere date.
Sudeikis has been nominated for a number of awards for his role as the ever-positive Lasso, and has won many of them. Among the most notable, the actor garnered the Golden Globe award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy. He also took home the 2021 Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor, Comedy Series, as well as the Critics' Choice Television Awards for Best Actor in a Comedy Series. Actress Hannah Waddingham —who plays the team's owner, Rebecca Welton — has also won multiple awards for her role in the show, as has Brett Goldstein, who portrays Roy Kent, one of the team's players who later becomes a coach.
In a past interview with Collider, Sudeikis spoke about what it was like to play Lasso, an eternal nice guy, saying that he just "felt like it'd be nice to play someone [different] as a little bit of a challenge to myself." Sudeikis continued, "Someone who doesn't swear. A show that doesn't use snark as a currency. It was an exercise in trying to prove to myself that it's possible to be a good person and still be interesting." Seasons 1 and 2 of Ted Lasso are available to stream for subscribers of Apple TV+.