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Da Ali G Show is the name for two related satirical TV programs starring British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen and featuring the character Ali G.
The first season was made by Channel 4, the second by HBO. The first was not shown in the US, the second was known as Ali G in the USAiii in countries where the first had screened. The American version has gained more popularity in US and UK.
Baron Cohen played three bumbling journalists — Ali G, Borat Sagdiyev, and Bruno — who interviewed unsuspecting people (sometimes very high-ranking officials) and made them look foolish.
On July 23, 2005 HBO announced that they have no plans to make an additional season of the show *. Some said that Baron Cohen is too well known in America, or pulled the Dom Joly, which means an unknown actor became too well known in a country.
Characters
Ali G
Ali G is the main character of Da Ali G Show. His speech and mannerisms are a mix of stereotypical and often exaggerated Jamaican and Hip-Hop culture with a bit of American ghetto and British street influences thrown in. He interviews unsuspecting guests, often telling them he is a British talk show host and wants to discuss the media and politics. Other times he tells his guests that he is teaching civics to British teens. Regardless of his method of procuring the interview, the outcome is often the same—he sits down with his guests, and then asks a string of loaded questions devised to goad them into replying with something equally ridiculous.
Borat
Borat Sagdiyev is another character featured frequently. He comes from Kazakhstan, and travels around the United Kingdom and United States interviewing people and engaging in their activities. Borat often makes his guests feel uncomfortable by introducing them to "Kazakh" customs, or by making misogynistic and anti-Semitic comments based on his unfamiliar culture.
Bruno
Bruno is the third and least used character of Da Ali G Show. He claims to be the voice of Austrian youth television, and makes others uncomfortable by flaunting his apparent homosexuality. In one episode, Bruno performs cheers with exaggerated, limp-wristed, stereotypically gay mannerisms, along with University of Alabama cheerleaders, envoking the ire of homophobic Crimson Tide fans during the 2002 Alabama-Mississippi State football game. Bruno also interviews fashion aficionados and exposes their extreme views of how unfashionable people should be treated and to show the superficiality, hypocrisy and inconsistency of the fashion world.
Korki Bucek
Korki Butchiek is a fictional character in the popular TV show Da Ali G Show who is mentioned by Borat Sagdiyev, a fictional character portrayed by Sacha Baron Cohen in the show.
According to Borat, Korki Butchiek is the number one singer in Kazakhstan and had acquired his fame with the internationally successful hit song Bing Bang. He is also claimed to host a talk show in Kazakhstan.
Korki Butchiek has appeared in advertisements for the 2005 MTV Europe Music Awards in a fictional music video clip of his song "Bing Bang" to promote Borat's hosting of the awards. Butchiek does not appear in Da Ali G Show and is only used as a plot device.
Episodes
Channel 4
HBO
Season 1
- Law
- War
- Politics
- Art
- Science
- Belief
Season 2
- Respek
- Rekognize
- Peace
- Realizee
- Jah
- Realness
Controversy
The questions and methods used by Sacha Baron Cohen through his characters do not come without occasional controversy. Some guests become upset when they learn they've been tricked, and various comments made on the show have caused outrage with viewers. In one episode, Borat went to a bar in Tucson, Arizona and sang a song about Jews, in which he said, "Throw the Jew down the well/so my country can be free/you must grab him by his horns/then we have a big party," to which the bar responded gleefully, and joined in. A prominent Jewish anti-racism group, Anti-Defamation League complained about this segment, to which complaint HBO spokesman Quentin Schaffer replied, "Through his alter-egos, he delivers an obvious satire that exposes people's ignorance and prejudice in much the way All in the Family did years ago" *. It should be noted that Baron Cohen is himself Jewish (and devoutly so). Baron Cohen, in an interview, has explained his character's racist nature by stating that the show's 'Borat' segments are a "dramatic demonstration of how racism feeds on dumb conformity, as much as rabid bigotry," rather than a display of racism by Baron Cohen himself.http://news.independent.co.uk/people/profiles/story.jsp?story=553818 In another incident, Ali G said during an opening monologue, "afta the tragic events of 7-11," in reference to the 9-11 terrorist attacks on the United States.
One upset interviewee was James Broadwater, a Republican candidate for U.S. Congress. He was interviewed by Borat, who told him that the interview would be played in Kazakhstan and other foreign countries to teach others about the American political system. Borat's questioning led Broadwater to state that Jews would go to Hell if they did not follow the Christian religion. This comment sparked upset in some Jewish communities, and prompted Broadwater to post a letter on his website denouncing Da Ali G Show. *
Differences
There are big differences between the versions of Channel 4 & HBO:
Channel 4
- Has a laugh track
- Takes place in Europe and some parts in America
- Contains scripted segments
- Some episodes were in a talk show format.
HBO
- Has no laugh track
- Takes place in America
- Unscripted performance
- Controversial (Mostly on Borat's character)
External links
"Da Ali G Show"