Da Ali G Show

I never know whether to simply laugh out loud (which I do) or clap my hands at the sheer audacity, the self control Cohen must need to spoof so many people so well. But usually it's a moot point, since I'm laughing too hard to do anything at all! "Ali G" has an uncanny ability to push his victim's buttons, all the while acting as an incredibly ignorant and occasionally boorish interviewer. Watch him take on Pat Buchanan ("'Ow many times was you President?"), Sam Donaldson ("Does you remember the scandal when da two journalists brought down the guv'mint in the scandal of Waterworld?") or Buzz Aldrin ("Was you jealous because Louis Armstrong was the first person to walk on da sun?") He also goes on ___location to farms ("Obviously some so't of trash zoo,") hangs with the tree huggers in Oregon, and visits an anti-gay rights rally with predictable results. Like his idol George Bush, he proves to be the biggest, clumsiest bull in the most delicate of china shops, with hilarious results.

Cohen can rightly claim the throne vacated by the late Peter Sellers, with none of the frightening edge that Sellers developed in later life. As Ali G himself would say, "Total Respec!"

I would never dare tell a person what he or she should find funny but I will tell anyone who is bothering to read this comment that Da Ali G Show is an hysterical riot because of the genius of Sacha Baron Cohen. You cannot judge Da Ali G. Show by watching 1 or 2 sketches, it really is something that needs to be judged on the whole. I find 75% of his sketches range from funny to hilarious. The other 25% range from watchable to good. The joy of Da Ali G. Show is watching three separate characters, Ali G (a wannabe gangster type), Borat (a middle eastern reporter) and Bruno (a gay Austrian reporter) interact with people from the well-known to the average person. There are too many good times to be had that I won't bother to mention specifics but if you watch at least a couple of episodes, you will be rewarded with some of the funniest, laugh out loud times you can have in front of the television. For the jaded, been there, done that crowd, if you haven't seen Da Ali G. Show, you haven't been there or done that.

Network: HBO; Genre: Sketch, Comedy, Improv; Content Rating: TV-MA (for graphic sexual dialog, profanity, scatological humor and graphic nudity); Available: DVD; Perspective: Cult Classic (star range: 1 - 5);

Seasons Reviewed: Complete Series (2 seasons)

A comic performer going out into the real world, interacting with real people and annoying them to the breaking point for our amusement has been a staple of tacky infantile TV for as long as I can remember. Always-in-character British satirist Sacha Baron Cohen is several notches above the hacks you'd normally see in a sub-genre that has been co-opted by MTV and Comedy Central for so long. Under the guise of Ali G wanting to cure America of it's blues in the wake of "the attacks of 7/11", Cohen graces HBO with his presence and delivers a real treat for those like myself who have never seen his trio of characters on the original British incarnation of "Da Ali G Show", but only heard about them in television lore.

Cohen is a chameleon of a comic genius. He doesn't just do voices, he has taken the Phil Hendrie approach and created characters. Having embodied them for years he knows his characters through-and-through and while we don't get any expository background on them he has created such a world for each of them that those paying attention will be rewarded with running gags, quotable catch-phrases and details about their lives.

Our host for this anarchists' talk show is Ali G, a Brit drowning in Tommy Hilfiger and hip hop culture who genuinely believes that he is black. Hilariously, Ali G doesn't know anything about anything, can barely speak the English language through his constant mangled hip-hop slang, is always diverting the interviews to a personal problem of his own and has no appropriateness boundaries whatsoever. He uses a sex educator to try to prove a child isn't his, tries to make a drug deal with Pat Buchanan if he can ever pass the "coni" and drops an anecdote about "me Julie" to anybody. Interviews with James Lipton ("liking acting doesn't make you a queer"), Andy Rooney and Sam Donaldson are priceless. The mind boggles at how Cohen is able to get these. Watch as Ali G asks Buchanan if it is right to go to war "over BLTs" and Buchanan just rolls with it. Watch as he tries to explain political bias to Sam Donaldson. Even better, are the round-table discussions on his own graffiti-sprayed, fenced-off, chalk-outline-on-the-flood set, while "experts" sit around and just take it as Ali G asks the stupidest questions you can't possibly imagine and dodges the slightest reference to homosexuality.

Then, straight from another part of the globe is Kazakstan journalist Borat for the "Borat in U. S. and A" segment. Cohen makes Borat's segments a show within itself complete with subtitles and grainy hand-held 3rd world country video. Borat is a treasure, who crawls into the lives of his interviews because he comes off as such an innocent while at the same time espousing a hatred of Jews, gypsy's and a treatment of women as sex slaves that he supposedly learned in Kazakstan. Cohen has Borat speak with a Polish accent and plays with American's complete lack of knowledge of the country. He uses political correctness as a gun people turn on themselves, knowing that Americans are so afraid of being called racist or xenophobic that they will let Borat do just about anything to them. Borat walks around with a political candidate and, when a woman answers the door, asks if there is a voter in the house. Borat sings his own country song "Throw the Jew down the well" that catches fire in a crowded saloon. Borat goes on speed dating and tells the girl that if she cheats on him, he will "crush her". There is so much to Borat's, his 10 minute segments don't do him justice. The show is best viewed as a companion with Sacha Baron Cohen's blockbuster feature film "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit of Glorious Nation of Kazakstan" to get the full scope of Cohen's vision.

Bruno is the least developed of the 3. A fashion reporter for Australian gay TV, it appears that Cohen loves doing the accent and doing the worm on the catwalk but can't figure out what he is satirizing here. The fashion industry? Who cares? A phony celebrity-obsessed culture? That's more like it. In season 1, Cohen keeps Bruno caged inside fashion show segments. It isn't until season 2 when he lets Bruno out that the character finds itself. When Cohen casts Bruno as a fish-out-of-water interviewing wrestlers at Datona beach or interviewing a man who runs a rehabilitation center for homosexuals (Bruno's funniest interview), the show hits a Phil Hendrie/Doug Danger note that really works for it and Bruno holds up the mirror to repressed homophobia and the contrived nature of reality shows and fashion critique.

My biggest problem with "Da Ali G Show" is that it is just too short. Way to short. 12 episodes left me screaming for more. As heated as some of the interviews get, Cohen's larger joke is usually on his character. His ability to hold up the funhouse mirror and make fun of the potential stupidity of youth hip-hop culture and the potential xenophobia in areas of America not familiar with "Ali G" from the inside out is a beautiful thing. In America, the only comparison we have to it is Mike Judge who has been subversively making teenagers and office drones laugh at themselves for years. Sacha Baron Cohen is even better. He's more on the edge, more into Jonathan Swift satirical territory and "Ali G" is screamingly, obscenely funny cult classic for it.

* * * * / 5

Da Ali G show is an absolute masterpiece. Sacha Baron Cohen is perhaps one of the funniest people on the planet. He will certainly go down as a comic genius and legend. His skits are original, his writing is creative and his alter egos are just downright hilarious. I did not think that the new season would top last seasons unbelievable episodes, but it already has. The first two Borats have been out of this world and Ali G's interviews are just ridiculously funny. This is comedy that i have never seen before which is why i think that it is the best comedy on TV right now. This is coming from a big Curb your enthusiasm fan. I have a lot of respect for the big comedy series out right now such as the Simpsons, the family guy and arrested development, but i do not laugh harder than i do when i watch Ali G. I am in tears almost every episode. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it is the best show on television right now (since the Sopranos is currently in between seasons). If you haven't seen it, i strongly recommend you see it and if you don't think its funny or if you do not even chuckle the slightest bit at his antics, then you have absolutely zero sense of humor.

Ali is the best personality on television. I live in America and only found out about him from a friend but once I saw him I couldn't stop laughing. This guy is hilarious and would take America by storm if his show ever aired here. I recommend that everyone watches this guy at least once and I'll guarantee that you'll be coming for more.