Booyakasha: Da Ali G Show Returns [Archive]

thuh Freak

2004-07-17, 10:26

oh shit oh shit!!!!

He's the best. He manages to seemingly act stupid and make the other person think he's stupid but still be the smart one. It's awesome.

Man, I've been downloading all his episodes, where do they actually show if you're not in England?
i jus caught several episodes last night off HBO (a premium channel we yanks have to pay extra for). they said they'd b playin his new one on sunday.

he's pretty funny. he was talking to like this dea or whatever dood, and like listed off 200 or somethign words for "marijuana" and asked "is there like any other ways we can call it?"

stevegong

2004-07-17, 11:01

Man, if a fellow ali g fan could record it off the tv with his dv cam and put it on a cd and send it to me I'll pay them back for their troubles, say 30 bux.

Moogs

2004-07-17, 12:45

oh shit oh shit!!!!
He's the best. He manages to seemingly act stupid and make the other person think he's stupid but still be the smart one. It's awesome.?

Yah... not really. I watched a couple re-runs from last season last night. He's way over the top; there's nothing subtle about his approach IMO, which is where the best comedy usually lies. I mean seriously, how hard is it to make stodgy, ultra-conservative people look flustered? These people get flustered when their shirt has a wrinkle in it.

He's seems to like to target the southern conservatives a lot, and old people who don't like to talk about sex. OK. I get it... now move onto something challenging. Anyone can piss off a brain-dead southern bigot or a pent-up minister who hasn't done anything but the missionary position his whole life. Let's see him piss off Dennis Miller (or Denis Leary even), someone who is not easily duped. That would be funny.

I will say that the skit "Borat's Guide to America" was good though; far more humorous than his Ali interviews with famous politicians and such. My question is, how the fuck does this guy get the time of day from these people in high places in D.C? He must have someone official looking who sets up the appointment early on (i.e. pretending like it's a legit journalistic enterprise) and then a week later or whatever he shows up for the interview looking like Fubu Max.

Most of them surely have no idea what they're in for or they wouldn't agree to do the interview. There were about six interviews between two shows last night and the only one that was kind of humorous IMO was the one with Jim Baker where he was explaining foreign policy as "sticks and carrots", and Ali kept harping on the carrots.

"So like, bus it... would ya evah send carrots to another country... you know... during a time of famine?"

The part where he tried to convince C. Everet Coope that only 4 out of 5 people actually die, was also kind of humorous.

autodata

2004-07-17, 14:56

Ah, but moogs, you are in limbo between thinking about it too much and not thinking about it hard enough.

The great thing about it, from an intellectual perspective, is that he reveals just how ridiculous these people are, particularly the politicians, and how far out of touch they are. He pushes as far as he possibly can to see how far these people are willing to go. When they don't bat an eye at some of the over-the-top stupid shit he says, it really shows what they think about the "little people" of the world.

The Trump bit from last season was a perfect example of the opposite end of the spectrum, since he knew ali g was FOS from the beginning. Trump was great, however, because he was so matter of fact about it and not buying it, that it was great just watching Sacha Baron Cohen almost forced out of character.

With Bruno, he strips the superficial fashion world down to the point where the wackos getting interviewed come right out and make total asses of themselves. A few even end up showing that they are nothing less than insane. Seriously. Not an exaggeration at all.

The thing is, ali g and bruno are commentaries on the people being interviewed. It's like the recent Irish Bush interview. When an interviewer is not totally in line with the normal, they don't know what to do. And in this case, it really reveals who they really are how they view their respective worlds (many of which are not the same as the one you and I live in).

On the more joking side, the shit he says is undeniably funny, especially considering who he is saying it to. How can you not laugh about that shit? He's asking the perfect ridiculous questions for each person he interviews. It's not like he's tom green; this is a really smart guy doing amazingly believable yet amazingly over the top characters.

Moogs

2004-07-17, 17:19

Oh I don't question that he's smart or has a good sense of irony, etc. What I'm saying is most of the people he's getting a reaction out of, most everyone thinks is an ass to begin with. Bible-beating ministers who don't believe in ever having sex with more than one person, old farts in bow ties, rednecks calling people "faggot" on camera... I mean, common. You or I could dress up like that and ask similar questions and get the same exact reactions from these people. There's just no challenge to it at all; he's not exposing anyone for anything that we didn't already suspect they were (if that makes sense).

Which is what I like about Borat. He is a believable character and people do not suspect at all that he's just trying to make shit out of them or anything of the sort. They think he's this well-meaning, dirty-minded guy who "loves America" (Yakov Smirnov part Duex anyone?), but doesn't understand our customs. And instead of only trying to piss them off or get them to say close-minded things, he has fun with them and they have fun back, completely unaware they're going to be on a comedy show.

It's like the Ali thing is so overboard that it's really about him more than it is about exposing "respected people" in our communities or governments as clueless. Also, I really don't agree at all that he actually succeeds in making the more accomplished people look foolish. James Baker - though he was sort of in a state of disbelief - didn't flinch or show him any disdain at all. Coope was the only one who acted indignant and impatient.

autodata

2004-07-17, 18:56

Oh well. Your missing out on some great entertainment. :)

Moogs

2004-07-17, 19:06

I'll probably watch the first couple episodes this summer and see what's what, but the Ali routine is over-hyped AFAICT. Maybe I just missed the best interviews or something, but he sure had some high profile people on the shows from last night. Don't know how much higher up the chain we could realistically expect the guy to go.

But as I said if he could maybe go after some media personalities instead of just old politicians it might make the Ali bit more interesting.

stevegong

2004-07-17, 20:46

Maybe you should check out his episodes from England. IMO the ones he did in America are a bit shit.

Moogs

2004-07-17, 21:57

Mmm. I thought they were all one and the same (for HBO)?

stevegong

2004-07-17, 23:57

Mmm. I thought they were all one and the same (for HBO)?

Oh, I thought the American ones show in America.

I guess they all show. but I think the ones he did in britain were better.

Moogs

2004-07-18, 13:44

Maybe I'm confused since I'm not a grizzled Ali veteran. I figured he just had one series of shows each season, whether they individually take place in the US or the UK.

iLikeMyiMacG4

2004-07-18, 14:16

I just finished watching all the shows from episode 1 that I downloaded off http://www.lando.co.uk/. They were so funny. I can't believe that he got to talk to the Ralph Nader and the Surgeon General.

Moogs

2004-07-18, 14:51

Yah, Nader clearly wasn't fooled by any of it (was along for the ride), but he also showed why he isn't garning more attention in these elections. The guy is just majorly akward. Not that Bush is any prize in front of the cameras but he's just... goofy.

:)

HOM

2004-07-18, 14:59

Nah, Nader looked as foolish as the rest.

The whole thing with rigging the meter showed that Nader bought it hook, line, and sinker.

Well, only 6 hours 31 minutes until pure and complete comedy bliss.

:D

Moogs

2004-07-18, 15:20

Huh? The one I saw with Nader was about saving the Rain Forrest and at the end of the show Nader sent a "shout out" as the ending short. If that's not going along with the gag I don't know what is. Nader knew this guy was not interviewing him for normal purposes, and probably wanted to show he could be "hip" / shed his goofy camera presence, which of course he didn't do.

But he didn't appear at all dismayed the way Coope or some of these other conservative types did. Nader wasn't the least bit flustered AFAICT. I'm not trying to promote the guy (I won't vote for him under the circumstances) but it was pretty obvious he knew the whole thing wasn't serious.

HOM

2004-07-18, 21:02

T Minus 28 minutes, aiit!

http://artists.iuma.com/IUMA/Bands/ALI_G/images/lg-254048.jpg

I is ready!

Moogs

2004-07-18, 21:06

That episode of Six Feet Under that was just on was seriously messed up. Also got some great laughs out of it. Even though it's not a comedy it's probably the funniest show on television IMO. Turning out to be a great season / still fresh ideas each week it seems.

HOM

2004-07-18, 21:13

Moogs

2004-07-18, 21:18

What blasphemy? Watching Six Feet Under? Sarcasm I hope?

Moogs

2004-07-19, 09:38

Opinions on last night's show?

I thought it was better than the two I saw from last season for sure, but still a little predictable. I liked the intro in the beginning where he talks about respect being lost all over the place, and says if you try to find the word behind me in the dictionary (spelled "respek"), you'll see it's been taken out. That was good....

What was great -- once again -- was Borat. This time with two guys who probably are / were Klansmen ("Knights of the Vine" in Mississippi). Doing a wine tasting thing.

He's just sitting there slamming glass after glass while they're sipping. A black fellow comes in and pours more wine and he leaves. Then this:

Borat (to Knight1): "This... is your slave?"

Knight1: "No, no..."

Borat (to Knight2): "He is your slave then?"

Knight2: "No..."

Knight1: "We don't have slaves anymore. They passed a law, a rule that says you can't have them anymore... which is a good thing. It's a good thing for them, you know..."

Borat: "Ah... yes it's good for him but not so good for you, right?"

Knight1: "Well... right..."

Then Borat goes on to show them pictures of this hot tramp (probaby some porn star) in garb, and then yanking his crank, and then sitting on him... they get all wide-eyed and gracious "Ohhh, she's beauutiful!"

Hugs and kisses at the end with "it's been an honor" from one of the knights, who does nothing to avoid a kiss on the lips and a nice hug. Almost surreal.

The interview with Sam Donaldson was also pretty good; Sam was a good sport, though kind of a dork I must say.

[Since this is my 666th post, lest I tempt fate, I feel I must add a comment to the effect that the part where Cohen (in his gay garb) is egging on a Christian minister who "saves gays"... was bahhd.

"Not gon do it... making fun of ministers, Bahhhhd! Going to church, gooood!" :) Seriously, it was kind of predictable. All of his interviews with religious conservatives are the same. It's always about sex or homosexuality, pointing out what everyone already knows. What he should do is get them to talk about Iraq or Muslims or Jews... THAT would be enlightening to a great many people I suspect.

BTW, how come this guy only interviews people from the US government? I want to see an interview with an Israeli cabinet minister or something. Maybe a general in the Israeli army... surprise me, Sasha.] :devil:

HOM

2004-07-19, 09:44

I thought it was absolutely brilliant.

Ali with the ATF guys had me rolling on the floor. Same with the Cop out in 'da hood'.

"So dez gezzahs, dey were making sign for like an hour."

:lol:

Borat was riotous. My wiiiife! Oh how I missed those words.

:D

Bruno with the Christian Nut Case� was just as good. Reminded me a lot of when Bruno went to the American Freedom Convention.

I can't wait to see the Pat Buchanan interview.

Moogs

2004-07-19, 09:49

Oh that ought to be rich. Pat Buchanan? Shit... that will be one for the re-run junkies for sure. The ATF thing was funny also; I forgot about that bit. "So like, why aintcha using one a dem dolphins instead of dogs? They ain't fish by the way, theys like us. They's mamaries."

:D

stevegong

2004-07-19, 10:12

Can someone please tell me about the ATF thing? What exactly is it?

Many thanks.

HOM

2004-07-19, 10:18

ATF stands for Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms.

You can learn about them here. (http://www.atf.gov/)

Pretty much they are the sin tax enforcers.

The part where Ali asked about the dog's ability to smell drugs? Fucking amazing. The ATF guy seemed kinda into it.

"Don't worry, you're safe"

"Wha?"

"You said 'thank god.' "

"Me said that out loud?"

Oh dear god, tears were streaming down my face.

:lol:

stevegong

2004-07-19, 10:23

Man, this is such a bummer, not being able to watch the new episodes...

I's hoping they'll be on suprnova soon.

Restpec.

autodata

2004-07-19, 10:33

BTW, how come this guy only interviews people from the US government? I want to see an interview with an Israeli cabinet minister or something. Maybe a general in the Israeli army... surprise me, Sasha.] :devil:
It's because this is version of the show for americans.

Moogs

2004-07-19, 10:44

So he interviews those types of people / hits on Arab-Israeli issues on his UK show?? That's BS if HBO doesn't allow him to run the skits the same way over here... seems really odd though. HBO is pretty progressive / more or less censorship free I thought (all kinds of comedians ripping on the government, etc.), but I guess even they can't bring themselves to show anything that is anti-Israeli. It's in the US Mass Media Handbook on page one.

:rolleyes:

No one should be above reproach in this day and age. Is there anywhere we can download the UK episodes?

HOM

2004-07-19, 10:48

So he interviews those types of people on his UK show?? That's BS if HBO doesn't allow him to show all the same stuff over here. HBO is pretty much censorship free I thought, but I guess even they can't bring themselves to show anything that is anti-Israeli. It's in the US Mass Media Handbook on page 1....

:rolleyes:

No one should be above reproach in this day and age.
Um, he interviews whomever he wants that will sit down with him.

The point of the show is to be funny, not to espouse some political belief at every opportunity.

:no:

As for the UK show, I don't really know a ton about it besides that it was the same format, the same characters, but the UK equivalents.

autodata

2004-07-19, 10:49

Whoa. Slow down there. It's likely just because overall I bet americans want to see americans. This way we get to laugh at ourselves.

I've only seen some of his stuff from britain. It seemed to me he just went after well-known brits. The shows I saw were annoying because they had that stupid british laugh track that they put on everything and anything. :mad:

Moogs

2004-07-19, 10:57

The point of the show is to be funny, not to espouse some political belief at every opportunity.

Really...

That must be why almost every person he interviews is a politician, law enforcement type, a Christian do-gooder or a complete hick from the deep south. You don't see a pattern in the people he chooses to interview and the questions he asks? Sure some of it is just silly stuff made to make you laugh, but there's very definitely an agenda behind the choices he makes.

Not saying his agenda is good or bad, I'm just saying it's blatantly obvious, and that I'd like to see him rip into some different types of people. Why not go talk to some people from The Hamptons or Pakistan or Brasil or Sweden?

autodata

2004-07-19, 12:45

I don't see the agenda. Has he not gone after folks from the hamptons? That's probably coming this season. I, for one, just think it wouldn't be as funny if he went out of his way to do some sort of international political thing (although he has done a couple bits with the UN that were funny as hell).

Have you seen the one where he goes to the desert to interview the anti-nuke hippies? That shit is funny as hell. I don't remember the whole thing, but I was cracking up when he was hitting on the hippy chick. He's trying to get her to come to Staines by talking, in that soft mac way, saying, "We have a new McDonalds." One of the best. It's light years funnier than I'm explaining it here.

Moogs

2004-07-19, 13:33

All I know is, I've seen three shows (last night's and two from last season), and there were no less than three segments with born-again Christian types, four with federal politicians / DC big-whigs (five if you count Donaldson who is a political reporter mostly), two with federal law enforcement types, and either three or four segments focused on people from the deep south.

Maybe agenda is the wrong word, but he definitely has a habit of going to the same well-springs of comedy each show. The only ones that were completely different were the ones with the Nuke Protestors (as you pointed out), and... [the Hollywood agent guy].
;)

thuh Freak

2004-07-19, 14:05

i missed the beginnign of the new episode. the wine drinking was funny. he was guzzling down whole glasses, while the other guy was like barely sipping. and the ten minutes or whatever at the start of the gag where he couldn't hold the cup correctly. i don't know if it would've been that funny if i wasn't stoned off my ass at the time, but man o man that was good.

Moogs

2004-07-25, 22:00

Tonight's show was pretty good. Better than the last one I'd say. Borat went touring around with this GOP wanker running for Congress (to people's homes)... classic. Missed most of the Buchannan thing unfortunately but he did the "shout out" thing at the end. Pretty funny to watch him reading ebonic-style off the teleprompter.

Paul

2004-08-01, 22:01

Throw the jew down the well
So my country can be free...
:lol: funny shit... I love this show.

Moogs

2004-08-02, 09:15

Was that Borat? I missed last night's HBO comedy lineup (I consider Six Feet Under a comedy, dark and twisted though it may be). Will have to catch the re-runs tonight / this week.

Paul

2004-08-02, 19:35

HBO on demand is very key.
Yes it was Borat, he was learning to sing country music. The fashion character did a good piece as well, but it wasn't too surprising to see how the interviewee's reacted.

Moogs

2004-08-06, 09:23

:lol: funny shit... I love this show.

Dude... I just saw this last night. My woman was asleep so I couldn't laugh too loud, but talk about scary. What an ass he made of that group. Even had the obligatory inbred, tooth-missing freak there as well as the embittered young rough-neck hicks with their slightly shaven look.

Just rich with all sorts of irony. Here are a bunch of supposed hard-core country music lovers (they know what the genre is about!), and they're all going bonzo singing along with this HORRIBLE music, all because they get to associate the notion of freedom with throwing Jews down a well.

I wonder if they would've sang along so heartily if he had said "throw a [insert any evangelical Christian denomination here] down the well".

:| :rolleyes:

autodata

2004-08-06, 10:46

"it looks like a rubbish zoo."

:lol:

I felt so bad for that guy. He just sat there shaking his head half of the time. \

Moogs

2004-08-06, 10:51

I still cannot for the life of me figure out how this guy arranges these interviews with all these intellectual types. The hicks are easy enough bait but he must present a completely different image when he sets up the interviews vs. when he does the interviews. No one in their right mind would agree to do a television interview with someone who looks and talks like that ahead of time.

:)

Paul

2004-10-11, 14:35

The 2nd season is over, but there is more in store for Sasha, just not in the immediate future...

here is an interview with the marshal arts expert that Borat met with this season:
http://www.webgeordie.co.uk/borat/passmore.htm very cool. That whole site is about Borat and his adventures (in the UK too)...

As for how the interviews are set up... Slate has a good article on it here: http://slate.msn.com/id/2106886/fr/rss/

goldfish

2004-10-11, 16:36

Maybe I'm confused since I'm not a grizzled Ali veteran. I figured he just had one series of shows each season, whether they individually take place in the US or the UK.
I don't think we even get the new series over here. The film pretty much killed it.

The best Ali G stuff was on a programme called the 11 O'clock Show (Ricky Gervais from The Office also did his first TV stuff on the 11pm show I think). He did about 15 minutes each show, interviewing all sorts of people. Tony Benn, old timer Labour politician was just about the only one I saw actually deal with Ali G without looking like a prick.

With the George Paton, head of the Orange brigade in Northern Ireland (staunch protestant)
Ali: Would you ever marry a protestant girl?"
George: "I have, yes."
Ali: "Well that is a gesture, no, that is a long way to getting the peace."
George: "Yeah but I'm a protestant as well."
Ali: "Okay, alright, well, so if you weren't married to her, would you marrying a Catholic girl then?"
George: "Possibly because of my faith I wouldn't."
Ali: "What if she was fit really though? What then?"
George: "Because my religion is so important to me, that's going to be the overriding factor."
Ali: "But what if she had her own car, she had a, you know, sound system, whatever, she wasn't gonna be stealing money from you, whatever. Would you go with her then?"
George: "I think that, you know, I am friends with Roman Catholics, and I have Roman Catholic friends, but..."
Ali: "But would you get jiggy with them?"
George: "It would never come to that, my religion is the most important thing to me."
Ali: "Even if they was really, really fit?"
George: "Yes, yes. That's the bottom line, yes. That's hard for people to understand, but..."
<P>Ali: "Even if she was incredibly the fittest."
<P>George: "Even so, yes."
Ali: "So you is telling me honest that if, like, The Corrs, them
band The Corrs, they came in here now and said they wanted to marry you, you wouldn't just jump and say yes."
George: "Yes, I've got my views, they are important to me."
Ali: "You is telling me you would say no to The Corrs."
George: "Yes, yes..."
Ali: "All three of them?"
George: "Yes."

It's all about Peter Kay and Bo Selectah these days though...

Simon

goldfish

2004-10-11, 16:42

The point of the show is to be funny, not to espouse some political belief at every opportunity.

Nah, it is, or was anyway, political satire. Yeah, it's funny, but he's making a point too, both by taking the piss out of the Staines Massive, scrawny white kids with a weed habit who think they live in the Bronx (whereas anyone whose ever been to Staines knows it's just a bit of London surburban shithole on the edge of some of the richest locations in the country, e.g. Sunningdale, Ascot, Wentworth, Virginia Water (where Baron Cohen is from)), as well as ripping into choice political targets and allowing them to highlight their own stupidity.

Have you seen Louis Theroux? He's kind've similar, except he spends time with people in his standard bumbling posh public schoolboy thick as a brick style. He lived with the KKK for a while and let them hang themselves on camera, but he also spent time working in and around the American porn industry. Funny stuff.

Simon