Ali G (born
Alistair Leslie
Graham) was a
satirical fictional character invented and performed by
British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen. Originally appearing on
Channel 4's
Eleven O'Clock show, Ali G was the
title character of Channel 4's
Da Ali G Show, original episodes of which aired on
HBO in 2003-2004, and was the title character of the film
Ali G Indahouse.
Sacha Baron Cohen's character Ali G, alongside his
Borat and
Brüno characters, has been retired.
[ Yahoo, 21 December 2007]Development of the character
The character of Ali G plays on the stereotype of a non-black suburban male who revels in a mixture of American
Gangsta Rap and
Jamaican Black culture, particularly through
hip hop,
reggae, and
jungle music; though the actual
ethnicity of Ali G's character caused confusion, with some believing him to be a
British Asian due to a sizable Asian population in Ali's home town of
Staines, having a Muslim name (though it turned out to be short for Alistar) & references to his rival Sandy Batachouri who has an Indian name. As Baron Cohen himself is ethnically
Jewish so probably of
Middle Eastern descent this seemed plausible. However, Baron Cohen stated that
BBC Radio 1 DJ
Tim Westwood was an influence on the development of the Ali G character – Westwood, hosts Radio 1's Rap Show & speaks with in faux American
Hip-Hop dialect. Though often described as a Caribbean/Jamaican Dialect which is closer to how Ali G speaks. Ali G middle class credentials mirror
Westwood brought up in
Lowestoft,
Suffolk as a bishop's son.
[, Rolling Stone, 14 November 2006.]Prior to Ali G's appearance on
The Eleven O'Clock Show, Baron Cohen had portrayed a similar character named MC Jocelyn Cheadle-Hume on a satellite channel called Talk TV (owned by
Granada Television). While chatting to a group of skateboarders, in character, Baron Cohen realized that people could actually be led to believe the character was real, and filmed a number of segments which were ordered off air by
London Weekend Television.
History
Ali G first came to prominence on
Channel 4's
The Eleven O'Clock Show as the "voice of da yoof" in 1998. He interviewed various public figures in the
United Kingdom. Ali G is a boorish, uneducated, streetwise youth with a deeply stereotypical view of the world, who either embarrasses his interviewee by displaying a mixture of uninformed political incorrectness, or gets the interview 'victim' to agree to some breathtaking inaccuracy or insult.
Other examples of his bold interviewing style include getting the
Bishop of Horsham to admit that God created the Universe, and then asked him, "And since then, He's [God's] just chilled?" Ali G asked the Bishop about God's appearance, to which the Bishop replied, "Well, he's sort of Jesus-shaped." During an interview with
James Ferman (former director of the
British Board of Film Classification), Ali G asks whether his made-up vulgarities would restrict a film to an over-18 audience, and suggests that
film censorship be performed by younger persons who understand contemporary
slang. Ali G begins an interview with the Chairman of the
Arts Council of England Gerry Robinson with the question,
"Why is it that everything you fund is so crap?"Ali G was in a series of ads for the
2005–06 NBA season, in which he used his brand of off-kilter journalism to interview various NBA stars. The spots were directed by
Spike Lee.
Background
Ali G is a
fictional gang member of the "West Staines Massiv", who lives with his grandmother in a semi-detached house at 36 Cherry Blossom Close, in the heart of the "Staines Ghetto". He was educated at what he calls "da Matthew Arnold Skool"; the
Matthew Arnold School is a real secondary school.
Staines is a middle-class commuter town to the west of
London that has been the butt of jokes for many years, and is far different from the
inner city ghetto that Ali G claims. In the same comic vein, he also makes reference to other similar middle-class towns in the area, such as
Egham and
Englefield Green. Despite the incongruous nature of his home town, he purports to exemplify
Inner City culture. Ali's "real" name is later revealed to be
Alistair Leslie Graham (revealed in the
eponymous film).
Ali G non-standard grammar has been the point of ridicule by at least one interviewee. Claiming to be black and of
Jamaican ancestry, some of his catchphrases include "Aight" (alright), "Booyakasha", "Big up Yaself", "MaWa", "West Side", "Respek" (respect), " For Real ", " Punanee", "Check It" and "Keep It Real". His trademark hand gesture is the
dip snap. He once defined the meaning of "Boyakasha" as "Hear me now, bo, selecta, swallow back, holler, big up ya self, everything that I in, coming at ya like Cleopatra, come in a couple of bars, recognize, represent, keep it real, you gotta check ya self before ya wreck ya self, swallow back...oh yeah, and hello". Although there have been varying accounts of Ali G's young sexual conquests, Ali G claims to have lost his virginity at the age of 10 with a 28-year old Italian model.
Criticisms of the character
Though Baron Cohen has repeatedly stated that the Ali G character is a parody of suburban, privileged youth 'acting black', numerous commentators have opined that the force of the humour is derived from stereotypes of blacks, not poser whites. According to this view of the character, the suburban background written into Ali G's character serves as an alibi.
There are also issues with Ali G's
Homophobic and
Sexist comments. He often refers to rivals as 'Batty Boys' a Jamaican term refering to
Homosexual. He also commonly talks about how he is going to 'Bone ma Julie'. Another Jamaican term for sex with Julie his long suffering girlfriend. However it would be fair to say that the criticism against in these aspects could be equally levelled against a significant number of
Gangsta Rap Artists.
Ali G also seems to arguably revel in dumbing down though he is of a middle-class upbringing and his parents are pressumably hard working he is anti school. His life appears only to revolve around acquiring material wealth, taking drugs, gaining respect on the streets through violence and sleeping with lots of attractive women. Many Black and White commentators feel that what Ali G reflects is where
Black British and to some extent American youth has gone wrong and there is something wrong with a
Cambridge Graduate making fun of the whole issue.
Felix Dexter, of
The Real McCoy comedy series, said in
The Guardian he appreciated the humour of an innocent confronting an expert with neither understanding the other. But, he added: 'I feel that a lot of the humour is laughing at black street culture and it is being celebrated because it allows the liberal middle classes to laugh at that culture in a safe context where they can retain their sense of political correctness.
Ali G as a reflection of Social Change
Athough the pheomonime of White individuals 'acting Black' goes back at least as far as the
black and White Minstrels. It has certainly been acknowleged after the
WW2 in the world of Music with people often claiming to of though US Singer
Elvis Presley was Black before they saw him. The term '
Jafakans' used to describe the British singer
Sting because he was believed to be attempting to sound
Jamaican. Ali G reflected a new phenomina though with the fact that in late 90's Britain. It was acceptable for significant numbers of non-Black British youth in large towns to 'act Black' without necessarily being ridiculed or racially insulted by their peers. The reasons for this are many and probably include not just a grown in the Black population but also the
Mixed-race population which is estimated to be over half the size of the UK population of those soley of
Afro-Caribbean descent . Anidotally they appear to be far more likely to hold onto the identity of their Black parent. This has meant that the idea of being black was not based on skin colour but something less tangable. Other reasons given for the acceptability of 'acting Black' are the decline in the acceptability of racism and the growth of
Political correctness (though Ali G's often
Sexist and
Homophobic comments made him very polictically incorrect). Ali G also reflected the emergence of the culture of challenging
Racism with his term 'Is it cos I is Black' even when it's existance was questionable which it was in Ali G's case as he was not Black.
Notable people interviewed by Ali G
- Tony Benn, former British Labour MP, chairman and cabinet minister
- Boutros Boutros-Ghali, former Secretary General of the United Nations, mistakenly called 'Boutros Boutros Boutros Ghali by Ali-G. Boutros-Ghali clearly went so far as to participate in some of Ali G's notorious word games and providing the epilogue to the episode where, at Ali G's bidding, he tells youth viewers to 'enjoy the music of Bob Marley'.
- Pat Buchanan, American political commentator and former presidential candidate who began laughing uncontrollably when he realized he was being kidded
- Steve Kerr, former American professional basketball player and current President of Basketball Operations and General Manager with the Phoenix Suns (who, according to Ali G, works on "TMT"; at the time of the interview, Kerr was a basketball analyst with U.S. cable network TNT).
- Ralph Nader, consumer activist and former US presidential candidate for the Green Party
- Donald Trump, real estate developer, who walks off in disgust around one minute into the interview
