Ali G
F2F
Portrayed by	Sacha Baron Cohen
Duration	1996–1997 (F2F) 1998–2000 (The Eleven O'Clock Show) 2000, 2003–04 (Da Ali G Show) 2002 (Ali G Indahouse)
First appearance	F2F
Created by	Sacha Baron Cohen
Profile
Occupation	Interviewer, Singer, Rapper, Junglist
Residence	Staines
Relationships Parents Tina (mother) Sibling(s) Rory Romances Julie (fiancee) Grandparents Nana Aunts and uncles Jamal Derrick

Ali G (born Alistair Leslie Graham) is a satirical fictional character created and performed by English comedian Sacha Baron Cohen. Originally appearing on Channel 4's Eleven O'Clock show, as the title character of Channel 4's Da Ali G Show in 2000 and on HBO in 2003–2004, he is also the title character of the film Ali G Indahouse. Cohen's character Ali G, along with Borat and Brüno, has been retired.^[1]

Development of the character [link]

The character of Ali G is a stereotype of a white suburban male from Staines (now Staines-upon-Thames) who imitates rap culture as well as urban British and Jamaican culture, particularly through hip hop, reggae, drum and bass and jungle music. Ali G was part of a group called Berkshire Massif, and he ran and grew up in an area of Slough called Langley (both actual locations in the UK). He also lived part of his life in Staines. Baron Cohen has 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 and speaks in a faux Multicultural London English and Hip-Hop dialect. Ali G's middle class credentials mirror Westwood's: the latter was brought up in Lowestoft, Suffolk as a bishop's son.^[2]

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 show he presented called F2F, which ran on a satellite channel called Talk TV (owned by Granada Television). While chatting to a group of skateboarders, in character, Baron Cohen realised that people could be led to believe the character was real, and filmed a number of segments which were ordered off air by London Weekend Television.^[2]

History and appearances [link]

Ali G, a boorish, uneducated, faux-streetwise poseur with a deeply stereotypical view of the world, first came to prominence on Channel 4's The Eleven O'Clock Show as the "voice of da yoof" in 1998.^[3] He interviewed various public figures in the United Kingdom, always either embarrassing his interviewee by displaying a mixture of uninformed political incorrectness, or getting the interview 'victim' to agree to some breathtaking inaccuracy or insult. His key saying is "booyakasha".

Other examples of his bold interviewing style include getting Lindsay Urwin, the Bishop of Horsham, to admit that God created the Universe, and then asked him, "And since then, [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. In a interview with the Chairman of the Arts Council of England Gerry Robinson Ali G first question was: "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.

Ali G was also featured in the music video "Music" by Madonna as her limo driver.

Background [link]

Ali G is a fictional gang member of the "West Staines Massif", who currently 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. He also has a short stint at Vanguard College Preparatory School.

Staines, a working-class commuter town to the west of London, is far different from the inner city ghetto that Ali G claims. In the same comic vein, he also makes reference to other similar working-class towns in the area, such as Egham, Langley 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 speaks a comical patois in keeping with his delusions of being black of Jamaican ancestry and peppered with such catchphrases as "Aight" (alright), "Booyakasha", "Big up Yaself", "Wagwaan", "West Side", "Batty Boy" "Respek" (respect), "For Real", "Poonani", "Check It" and "Keep It Real". His trademark hand gesture closely resembles the "dip snap".

Family [link]

Ali was born on a Council Estate to mother Tina. He has an older sister and an older brother. He has a younger sister and other younger siblings. When Ali was fifteen he went to live with his grandmother when his mother had another baby and there was no room for him and his older brother and sister, who went to live with their father. Ali's baby brothers are called Rory, Jamie and Guy.

Criticisms of the character [link]

Although 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 a false alibi.^[4][5][6]

The comedian Felix Dexter has said that he appreciated the humour of an innocent confronting an expert with neither understanding the other, but that '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.^[7]

Notable people interviewed by Ali G [link]

• Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, former astronaut, and the second man to walk on the moon. (Ali G also called him "Buzz Lightyear").
• Alex Alonso, author, professor and founder of Streetgangs.com
• David Beckham, football player and his wife Victoria Beckham, a member of the Spice Girls.
• Tony Benn, former British Labour MP, chairman and cabinet minister
• Boutros Boutros-Ghali,^[8] 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'. In response to Ali G's perceived ignorance, Boutros-Ghali provides a detailed explanation about why Disneyland is not represented in the United Nations, and reveals which foreign languages sound comical to his ear. The interview appeared on the War episode of the Da Ali G Show.^[9]
• Rhodes Boyson, former British Conservative education minister, who agreed with Ali G that metric system should not be taught in school because 'one deals in quarters and eighths of ounces'
• Pat Buchanan, American political commentator and former presidential candidate who began laughing uncontrollably when he realized he was being fooled
• Noam Chomsky, MIT professor and linguist
• Jarvis Cocker, Pulp singer
• Linda Cohn, ESPN anchor
• Gaz Coombes, Supergrass singer
• Paul Daniels, magician
• James X. Dempsey, privacy guru and Vice President for Public Policy at the Center for Democracy and Technology
• Sam Donaldson, veteran journalist
• Mohamed Al-Fayed, former owner of Harrods and current owner of Fulham FC
• Marlin Fitzwater, former White House Press Secretary, who ended the interview after calling Ali G an idiot.
• Jerome Friedman, MIT Professor of physics and 1990 Nobel Prize winner
• John Kenneth Galbraith, economist and public intellectual
• Daryl Gates, former Los Angeles Police Chief (He was referred to as "Bill Gates" by Ali G).
• Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
• John Gray, author of Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus
• Leanna Heart, adult film star
• Neil Hamilton, former Conservative politician
• Kent Hovind, evangelist and Young Earth creationist
• Glenn Hubbard, former professional baseball player
• Reed Irvine, founder of Accuracy in Media
• Jenna Jameson, adult film star
• Ernie Johnson, Jr., sports broadcaster
• Steve Kerr, former American professional basketball player who, according to Ali G, works on "TMT"; Kerr is a basketball analyst with U.S. cable network TNT.
• C. Everett Koop, former US Surgeon General
• James Lipton, host of Bravo's Inside the Actors Studio
• John McCain, United States Senator from Arizona and 2000/2008 Presidential Candidate
• Ralph Nader, consumer activist and former US presidential candidate for the Green Party
• Thomas J. Pickard, former FBI Director
• Gail Porter, television presenter
• Sue Ramsey, Irish politician, Sinn Féin
• Sally Jessy Raphaël, former talk show host, (who congratulated him for 'being himself')
• Andy Rooney, of the CBS programme 60 Minutes, who furiously ended his interview abruptly
• Charles Schultze, former Chief Economic Advisor to President Jimmy Carter^[10]
• Brent Scowcroft, former National Security Advisor and Air Force General
• Tomasz Starzewski, fashion designer
• Dick Thornburgh, former U.S. Attorney General
• Donald Trump, real estate developer, who walks off dismissively around one minute into the interview
• Stansfield Turner, former Director Central Intelligence Agency
• Lindsay Urwin, the Bishop of Horsham
• Gore Vidal, author and essayist, (whom Ali G mistook for Vidal Sassoon)
• Christine Todd Whitman, former New Jersey governor and United States Environmental Protection Agency‎ administrator
• Kobe Bryant, NBA basketball player (whom he asks about the number of springs in a basketball)
• Sammy Wilson, Northern Irish politician, Democratic Unionist Party
• Naomi Wolf, author and feminist
• Professional basketball players Steve Nash (who was an award winning player "MP3" according to Ali G and unable to speak proper English being Canadian), Ben Wallace (who he accuses of "playa-hating"), Shaquille O'Neal (who he argued with about the meaning of the NBA, Ali thinking it stood for Nationwide Basketball Society), Tim Duncan (who he tried to get a pair of free sneakers from), Robert Horry, Dwyane Wade (who he didn't realise was an NBA player, claiming he had snuck in to "hang with mah man Shaquille O'Neal"), Richard Jefferson (whom he called Thomas Jefferson his son), Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Reggie Miller

References [link]

External links [link]

Listen to this article (info/dl)

This audio file was created from a revision of the "Ali G" article dated 2006-04-28, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. (Audio help)

More spoken articles

• Channel 4 Ali G website
• Sacha Baron Cohen interview with NPR's Robert Siegel
• An article in the Guardian
• Tricked into Silly interview with Ali G, Alex Alonso, Streetgangs.com, March 12, 2002