Please forgive me if he’s been discussed before; “Ali G” is too short to search on here. I just caught wind of this guy through segments of his program available on an internet site. I’d never heard of him, and watched his “interviews” with Beckham the soccer player and his Spice Girl wife, and a drug-enforcement expert. Both were hysterical!
I see from a Wikipedia article that he may be seen on HBO, but I don’t have it–and I haven’t heard anybody talking about him.
Is he a phenomenon in Britain? Universally funny? He seems analogous to Dave Letterman, but in reading this article, he seems a species all unto himself.
He was pretty popular a couple of years ago. I’m not sure that he has such a huge profile these days but I always found him amusing. You should watch out for Sascha Baron-Cohen’s other characters too - Borat is great.
He was huge a few years ago but has gone of the boil of late. Characters like that only have a short shelf life.
He started off interviewing people who thought he was a real person. Then went on to interview celebs ala Becks and Posh were everyone was in on the joke.
He did a series or two in the states after that as nobody knew him there so he could stretch it out for a few years.
Not to sure what Sacha Cohen (his real name) is up to now apart from getting married to the beautiful Isla Fisher. The lucky divil.
Ali G is old, old news in the UK. But otherwise that Wikipedia article tells you all you need to know. It was funny for a while when he went to America and people weren’t catching on that he was a fictional parody character.
His Kazakhstan character ‘Borat’ presented the MTV Europe awards last year, and succeeded in upsetting the Kazakhstan nation. Hardly suprising really, given the way he presents the country. Cohen (his real name) makes some outrageous statements about his backward ‘home country’ and unfortunately, again, some people are stupid enough not to realise he’s not for real.
Ali G. kills me. “Da Ali G. Show” used to tun on HBO but there haven’t been any new episodes for a while and I don’t know if any more seasoned or planned. Ali G is only one of the characters created by Sacha Baron Cohen (Ali’s real name). On the HBO show he regularly performed as “Borat” (an anti-semitic Kazikstani immigrant) and a gay character called Bruno as well as Ali G. The format of the show was basically to do interviews and mess with people in character. Sometimes people seemed to get that it was a joke, other times not.
A few memorable examples include Ali G’s interviews with the head of the CIA (“What’s the biggest secret you know?” “What if somebody were to hijack a train and drive it into the White House?”), Pat Buchanan (who seemed to get the joke and just smiled and rolled with it when Ali kept asking about whether we were ever going to find any “BLT’s” in Iraq. Buchanan actually started calling the BLT’s right along with him) and Andy Rooney (who was completely humorless, kept trying to correct Ali’s grammar and eventually ended the interview, at which time, Ali hilariously began accusing Rooney of being “racialist.” Rooney, still not getting it, even tried to correct “racialist” to “racist” but to no avail).
Another memorable moment was when “Borat” played guitar and sang a “traditional song from Kazakhstan” at a redneck bar in Arizona. The song turned out to be a blatantly anti-semitic piece of doggerel called “Throw the Jew Down the Well” (Cohen himself is Jewish). The amazing thing is that he got the entire bar to clap and sing along with it without any of them apparently objecting to the lyrical content or thinking there was anything wrong with it.
I think Cohen is brilliant. I hope he does some more HBO episodes.
"In my country we some problems,
The problem is the ;j
Through the Jew down the well…"
The programme was hysterical especially with people that don’t have a sense of humour but I always wonder whether he reveals that he’s faking afterwords.
I’d hate to think of American politicians thinking British youth is really like that
Oh yeah, Kazakhstan banned Borats website after the MTV appearance.
(I wish I had the balls to pull of the stuff he does.)
Ali G is kind of like crack in that the first time you watch the show, it’s the funniest thing you’ve ever seen, and each subsequent viewing is an attempt to get back to that first high. Still hilarious while it lasts, though.
My favorite Borat moments:
(gesturing to the black servant at a wine tasting in an aristocratic southern country club) “He is your slave?”
(later, same segment) When he shows the sexual pictures of his sister to the men and says, “We pretend to be husband and wife! HAHAHAHA!”
My favorite character is Bruno, the Austrian fashion/music host. His visit to Fort Lauderdale spring break with the macho college guys was hysterical. “Ok, now all of you scream, ‘Hello, Austria Gay-T.V.!’”
If you are interested in watching the show, all episodes are avilable on Netflix, as is the movie Ali G Indahouse which I have not seen so I can’t say how good or bad it may be.
one of my favourites, (I think he was interviewing some high profile British judge:)
Ali: When is it alright to murder someone? Judge: (briefly explains the laws regarding self defence) Ali: What about if someone calls your mother a slag? Judge: (explains that it would never be grounds for self defence, although in certain situations it could reduce a murder charge to one of manslaughter) Ali: A’ight, what about if they called her a bitch?
Ali G is an acquired taste that for me, took some time to acquire.
Now that I “get” the joke, I find his material hilarious if not sometimes inspired.
Some time back Sports Illustrated wrote a blurb about how G in his Borat character Punk’d the crowd at a rodeo. He made a little speech complimenting the American progress in the Iraq war, saying “I hope you kill every man, woman and child of Iraq –down to the lizards” and then went on to butcher the national anthem resulting in the predictably less-than-enthusiastic response from the crowd, who considering the population, I’m surprised that they allowed him to escape with his life.
Has this segment ever aired? I looked out for it constantly on HBO and I believe I’ve seen all of his shows when they were briefly offered through On-Demand. I have yet to spot this one.
My favorite moment not yet mentioned was a panel discussion he led on Creationism vs. Evolution. He was being an idiot throughout it, of course, which was funny as the guests (who were clearly not in on the joke) uncomfortably tried to work around their idiot host.
At some point the smarmy creationist smirked and repeated an offer to give a million dollars or some such to anyone who could prove that humans were descended from apes.
Ali G: Okay. Okay, do you like bananas?
Creationist: What?
Ali G: Do. You. Like. Bananas?
Creationist: Yes, of course.
Ali G: [says nothing, just holds his hand out for the money and stares at the Creationist for a very long, silent time].
The Creationist was baffled, then incredulous, then really angry, and you could see the scientists watching, on the one hand kind of wanting to say that it was a ridiculous argument, and on the other hand highly amused at the Creationist’s discomfiture. Wonderful TV!
When he got Ralph Nader talking about cow assholes, it was pretty cool, too. And his interview with Bhoutros Bhoutros, Bhoutros Bhoutros Bhoutros Gali was a hoot.
Dylan Moran is great – Black Books is funny and my sister brought home a copy of one of his stand up routines once – but he is in no way like Ali G. I can’t see any kind of connection between them.
