Alpher said he was led down a winding staircase and through long corridors to the interview site in Jerusalem, but only learned later that the interviewer was Cohen's latest character, Bruno.
Cohen's other characters include rude-boy Ali G and the Kazakh journalist Borat.
Due to the sheer inanity of the questions, Mr Alpher and his Palestinian counterpart began to suspect the interview was a scam, but it was too late to pull out as the two had signed release forms and received payment for the interview.
In answering one question, the interviewees had to explain the difference between Hamas - an Islamic group ruling Gaza - and hummus - a chickpea paste eaten throughout the region.