Ali G - Aiii DVD

By the time Ali G--the inspired creation of comedian Sacha Baron Cohen who debuted on the lame satirical series The 11 O'Clock Show--first got his own series, the gangsta rapper from Berkshire was already one of the biggest things on TV. Ali G--Aiiii is a compilation of the best bits from his own series, Da Ali G Show. Part chat show (Paul Daniels makes a memorably awful appearance; Gail Porter turns up and Ali dims the house lights and gets all soppy), and part saucy variety show (Ali's duet with Jarvis Cocker is fun, but no-where near as good as his improvised rap... with Mohammed Al Fayed "from Arrods"), the material here is richer and more varied than his 11 O'Clock appearances, which more or less depended on his interviewees not knowing he was stitching them up. At various points, Ali reports from the States--the Staines rapper's spiritual home, you suspect--and the bemused reactions of the unsuspecting people he meets there makes for some of the video's funniest moments ("Has anyone ever been killed by a gun?" he asks someone from the National Rifle Association).Ali G--Aiii also features Cohen's newest character Borat, a reporter from Kazakhstani television who is producing a guide to Britain for his viewers back home. Amazingly, Cohen ran into trouble with the Kazakhstani embassy in Britain over his portrait of the bumbling reporter with only the faintest grasp of English, but in fact it's the Brits he interviews who patronise Borat who come off a lot worse. (See, for example, the embarrassed silence which greets Borat's attempt at introductory small talk at a society dinner party: "My wife, she is dead"!) Like the rest of the show, there is a smart satiric edge to the comedy but it's also very, very funny. Ali introduces the compilation, keepin' it real with a promise that profits from the sale of the video will be channelled back into the Staines ghetto. --Edward Lawrenson [show more]

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