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Columbia Pictures has announced that Sacha Baron Cohen, the actor who put Kazakhstan on the map and Will Ferrell, the master at portraying self important losers, will team up as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.

Etan Cohen will write the screenplay and Judd Apatow and Jimmy Miller will produce this comic version of the Arthur Conan Doyle detective and his side kick Dr. Watson.

One must ask: What would Arthur Conan Doyle think of this turn of events?

He could never have imagined, even in his wildest dreams, his deepest darkest nightmares, his most anxious moments that his beloved Holmes and Watson would be interpreted or perhaps deconstructed by two hugely popular comic actors.

In 2006 Baron Cohen and Ferrell teamed up to do damage to another revered icon, NASCAR in the hit Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. Both comic actors have recently ventured into unusual territory.  Sacha Baron Cohen gave musical theater a try in Sweeney Todd. Baron Cohen was a rival barber and Sweeney’s victim in the film, but not before he demonstrated his way with a song. Will Ferrell stepped outside his box when he took on the role of Harold Crick, Emma Thompson’s creation in Stranger than Fiction in 2006.

Will this work? Is this going to be funny? Will the movie going public embrace the two as comic versions of Conan Doyle’s famous characters? Matt Tolmach, one of the presidents of Columbia Pictures is already laughing:

“Just the idea of Sacha and Will as Sherlock Holmes and Watson makes us laugh.  Sacha and Will are two of  the  funniest and most talented guys on the planet and having them take on these two iconic characters is frankly hilarious.”

It’s easy to see how some of Conan Doyle’s famous quotes such as “It’s elementary, my dear Watson” could become comic setups for the two actors. Now we get to see if we’ll be laughing and if Columbia Pictures will be laughing all the way to the bank.

What do you think of Cohen and Ferrell as Holmes and Watson?