Ali G
Ali G was the creation of young comedian Sacha Baron Cohen. Ali G is a member of the West Staines Massive, a wannabe gangsta with awful breakdancing ability and I.Q. points that could be counted on one hand. This character originally appeared doing interviews on the Channel 4 satirical show, 'The 11 O'Clock Show' in 1998. In this show, Ali G's clever interviews with distinctintly unwitting people, including many politicians, proved to be this show's strongest point. The character's flippant stupidity did nothing to convince the interviewees that he was a fictional creation, and this stupidity would prove such a surprise, they were often caught off guard, which made for plenty of comic gold. The deliberately awkward mixture of opposing cultures and personalities created a fine concoction of satire on culture, politics and other such topical subjects. The following year, a compilation of Ali G interviews, named 'Da Best Of Ali G' (possibly the finest compilation of satirical comedy I've ever seen) was broadcast in 1999, to evaluate on the character's success.
'The 11 O'Clock Show' ended in 2000, but Ali G continued to flourish, with his own show, entitled 'Da Ali G Show'. Here he expanded on his creation, building a talkshow format around his interviews, not only interviewing people in authority who were oblivious to his motives, but also interviewing celebrities inside a studio. In addition, the show featured a section where Ali G would discuss topical subjects in a forum. Very much like his interviews, but instead with several people, and it was studio based, but with his ignorant attitude very much intact.
Also featured was a new character, the reporter from Kazakhtan television, Borat Sagdiyev. Very similar to Ali G, Borat would perform interviews, this time in the style of a foreign cable show, but instead exploring and crossing more cultural borders, and learning about customs in different countries. Also the behaviour of Borat proved to be far more outrageous, and actually quite disturbing. Where Ali G's ignorance was born out of ghetto influence, Borat's ignorance was far more war-torn, being brought up on anti-Semitism and sexism. These were traits that he was brought up on in his country (it is worth mentioning that Sacha Baron Cohen himself is Jewish, just in case you were wondering why he hasn't been shot by now). In short, Borat was one seriously warped individual, and these traits were effectively his customs. So, when the cultural clash would occur during the interviews, the comedy was distinctly blacker, but still incredibly funny. Sacha Baron Cohen had successfully expanded his character, and the result was a big hit.
Ali G was now a household name in comedy, giving his very own Christmas message, interviewing Posh and Becks on Comic Relief, introducing now-classic catchphrases such as 'Boyakasha' and 'Is it because I is black?', and even having a hit single with R&B singer Shaggy in the charts, entitled 'Me Julie', which was the name of Ali G's unseen girlfriend. The single was released in March 2002, and peaked at No. 2 in the UK charts.
After such success, the next step would obviously be a move to the big screen, and in 2002, 'Ali G Indahouse' was released (I can't really comment on the movie since I haven't seen it yet, but I'll see if I can borrow it off my mate. What I do know is that Ali G's aformentioned girlfriend, 'me Julie', who had previously been unseen, was actually introduced in the movie. This doesn't sound like it may have been a good move, since the idea that 'me Julie' is unseen emphasises Ali G's 'wannabe gangsta' behaviour. He may as well have been making her up to boost his image. These sort of moves are cynical marketing ploys to win audiences. Nevertheless, it's still early days.)
With this character, Sacha Baron Cohen had taken Britain by storm. By now, it would have been impossible to do anymore interviews, because everyone would by now be in on the joke. So when you've gone as far as you can go in your home country, what do you normally do? Try and break America. So, in 2003, Cohen travelled stateside to create the American version of 'Da Ali G Show', or 'Ali G in da USAiii' as it was known over here. In this new series, the talk-show format was scrapped in favour of more interviews, including the man himself, Borat, and another new character, Bruno, a seemingly homosexual journalist from Austrian television whose reports mainly involved discussing fashion. However, 'Ali G in da USAiii' proved to be something of a hit-and-miss affair. In particular, some of Ali G's skits fell flat, mainly because of the interviewees' unwillingness to cope with his poor grammar, language and behaviour. The success of his British interviews was the interviewees' tolerance of his mind-numbing stupidity. However, even the fact that Ali G had lost his edge in America potentially served a purpose, showing the American regime's obsessive intolerance of dumb people (despite the fact that it's led by one). Nevertheless, there were some great moments, including his interview with Buzz Aldrin, where he asked 'do you think man will ever walk on the sun?', and an interview with the former head of the FBI, asking if he found out 'who shot JR?'. Borat was as funny as ever, and the move to America even gave Cohen the ability to stretch the Borat character, since they appeared more tolerant of Borat's behaviour than Ali G's. Also, there was the opportunity of creating comparisons between the two cultures as well as contrasts (a bit worrying from the Americans' point of view). As for Bruno, it was hard to see what Cohen was trying to do with this character. There were some interesting jokes about what should be done with people who aren't fashionable, but overall, these sketches hadn't really found any real ground yet.
In 2004, Cohen featured the two secondary characters, without Ali G, on 'Borat's Television Programme'. On this show, Borat's first interview featured US Congress candidate James Broadwater, a devout Christian. When the two are discussing his policies, he mentions that he is Christian:
Borat: 'What else your policies?'
Broadwater: 'Well, I'm a Christian. I've been a Christian since I was about 8 years old, I guess.'
Borat: 'Nice, I like.'
Later on, on the discussion of religion:
Borat: 'I want to go to this place, eh...Heaven? Which religion must I choose to go there?'
Broadwater: 'The Christian bible says that Jesus Christ is the only way to Heaven.'
Borat: 'If people choose the Jews, will they go to Heaven or Hell?'
Broadwater: 'Well....I would have to say that they would go to Hell.'
Later on, when he found out that he was duped, Broadwater denounced 'Da Ali G Show', effectively blaming the show for his own ignorance.
Also, the Bruno sketches appeared to find their feet. Cohen was now using the character to expose homophobia in the country, which even on-camera was distinctly evident, featured in interviews with American football players, surfing buddies, and people in political authority. One excellent, and particularly powerful interview featured Pastor Quinn, a gay converter. Bruno says that he thinks he might be becoming a little bit gay, because he had sex with a Brazilian guy. Later on, Bruno attempts to lap-dance to see if the pastor would be turned on:
Bruno: 'Shall I try it?'
Quinn: 'No.'
Bruno: 'Are you scared that you'll be turned on?'
Quinn: 'No, I'm a Christian minister, and it's entirely inappropriate.'
Quinn's uncomfortable reaction to the situation is quite evident, even to the point of frustration and anger, coming face to face with an example of the very type of behaviour that he's against.
With these characters, Cohen was now harnessing the Americans' intolerance to his advantage, something that the Ali G sketches couldn't do. In comparison, Ali G was a more home-grown, and lighter character, so he couldn't work with such heavy, dark material. So instead with both Borat and Bruno, Sacha Baron Cohen could open up the American regime, and explore the deeper, darker aspects of it. One of the highlights (or should that be lowlights?) of the show featured Borat singing a country song he wrote, entitled 'Throw the Jew Down the Well', in an American bar. The thing worth noting is the fact that the majority of the audience are quite happily singing the song with no sense of remorse (it even appears that Cohen is improvising, by repeating the chorus, to drill the point in ever deeper).
The key to Cohen's characters are the comparisons and contrasts between his characters and his guests, and the cultures they represent. Ali G, despite interviewing such important figures as politicians and members of the police, is very much in favour of the things these people are against. It seemed bizarre that such a stupid person had earnt the high responsibility of getting involved in these serious debates, such was the character's brilliance. A good example would be Ali G's interview with ex-Labour MP Tony Benn, featured on both 'The 11 O'Clock Show' and 'Da Best of Ali G' compilation. On the subject of unemployment:
Ali G: 'People go on about the right to work, but what about the right not to work?'
Tony Benn: 'That's not true of most people. You want to work. You wouldn't be here if you didn't!'
Ali G: 'No, me wanna work when me wanna work, but most of the time me wanna chill, me wanna hang with me bitches, whatever.'
In this case, Tony Benn gave as good as he got, making this one of Ali G's finest interviews, in terms of a serious statement concerning society. From Ali G's comments, including his observation that 'there is girls on me state' who get pregnant just to get welfare instead of getting a job, Benn says that a society like that simply has no hope.
Tony Benn: 'You think people are greedy, lazy, don't want to work, you call women bitches, and you're asking me about a society that's happy. I'll tell something, a society like that, somebody'll shoot you one day because you treat them like an animal.'
Ali G is an inspired mickey-take of the homeboy who doesn't know how to behave any different. He's lazy, selfish, shallow, and couldn't live without his spangly jewellry and designer gear, and possesses no knowledge of the outside world. Even the countryside proves to have it's problems. He doesn't know what sheep are, and he doesn't know that eggs come from chicken's bottoms.
In the case of Borat and Bruno, depending on his interviewees attitudes, they would either come off better, or worse, than they would in an Ali G interview. These skits were more daring, and sometimes could potentially prove the ignorance of his guests. An ignorance that would occasionally border on the frightening, asking you to ponder how someone like this got into a position of power, and if such a person was allowed to get power, what does it say about the regime as a whole?
Sometimes, you would find that Borat's guests would sometimes be comfortable and good-natured towards his bizarre behaviour. They would make him feel wanted, feel like he was part of a team, such was the character's sad background. Believe it or not, with this stuff, depending on your view, the success is in both it's hilarity and tragedy. The tragedy comes out of the fact that Borat's nature is born out of a culture allegedly war-torn and seeped in blood.
As a result of, the guests would either come off well as people who'd accept him despite the fact that he was different, or not so well if they genuinely agreed with his ideas, depending on your view. This theory would sometimes be tested to extremes, testing your viewpoint. This would initially make you wonder what they must be like as people, but it should be considered how they would really feel underneath their external appearance. Being faced with such a warped individual, the result is indeed both funny and scary, and these people are dealing with powers they can 't possibly face.
The secret of Cohen's vicious satire is making the 'important people' look foolish, by catching them out, and when it comes to the secondary characters, offering an inkling of exposure to what some of these people are really like. This would inevitably make his style of comedy an acquired taste. Nevertheless, Cohen is clearly a very talented comedy actor and satirist. Above all, though, he's just really bloody funny.
Resources
- BBC Comedy Guide, 'The 11 O'Clock Show', written and researched by Mark Lewisohn, 2004, URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/articles/e/elevenoclockshow_66601310.shtml
- Da Ali G Show, The Internet Movie Database, 2000, URL: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0057785/
- Da Ali G Show (US Version), TV Tome Guide, URL: http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/ShowMainServlet/showid-17920/Da_Ali_G_Show_US/
- 'Me Julie' chart position, URL: http://www.everyhit.com/
- Tony Benn - The Official Website, URL: www.tonybenn.com
- 'Borat's Television Programme', 2-part TV programme broadcast in July 2004, on Channel 4
- 'Da Best of Ali G', TV programme broadcast in 1999, on Channel 4
