Season 1
Some call it revolutionary the way that Ali G/Sacha Baron Cohen has taken the tried and tested staples of BBC fare, and made it his own.
The guest interview/chat/comedy show format has been done either very well or very badly over the years. While Parky and his predecessors have been all class and polish, Ali G in one foul swoop has irreverently turned the format, if not television, on its head.
In our post-modern age Sacha Baron Cohen parades his schizophrenia with pride: as Ali G unemployable hip-hop wannabe from West London’s Staines Massive, as Borat, the Kazakstani television reporter making a mockery of customs and culture and Bruno, the Eurotrash trendoid following the fickle world of fashion.
Peppered with expletives, dark irony and ghetto lingo, whatever comes out of his mouth has one on the floor and laughing until the middle of next week. Booyakasha.
After the tears of hilarity, deep down one still can’t really know where the real Baron Cohen is - if he knows it himself.
Face to face with this creature of inventive madness, many unsuspecting guests have fallen flabbergasted for the most directly innocent of questions.
In their attempt to connect with what Ali himself calls Yoof culture, they are left floundering at the ridiculous seriousness of it all.
Take the case of politico Boutros Boutros Boutros (sic) Ghali and the simple question of whether ‘Disneyland is a part of the UN?’
No amount of diplomatic training could prepare anyone For Ali G’s interviewing techniques.
If you were to ask Ali G about the show, he’ll say: “So, if this show teach you anything, it should teach you how to respek everyone: animals, children, bitches, spazmos, mingers, lezzers, fatty boombahs, and even gaylords. So, to all you lot watching this, but mainly to the normal people, respek. West side.”
Such is Cohen’s comic genius.