The world groans as Ali G enters our consciousness again

appropriation of black culture for comedic value type answers.

I think it looks very good.

He's funny because he takes the piss out of the sort of public school boys who I went to school with. I'm bored of it now, though.

Why shouldn't I read this? (I are confused)

(I assumed a blanket "it comes from the 11 oclock show" ban for you. sorry if i was presuming too much.)

It'll be rubbish.

Jimmy Savile clerarly needs publicity - or a new publicist.

I do seem to remember my friend Andrew (who is now Kevin Lygo's deputy at C5, but devised Ali G with Sacha Baron-Cohen when working at TalkBack on 11o'C show) saying they'd based him on a) 'wiggas' and b) Armand van Helden. But Ed is right - both Andrew and Sacha went to posh private schools (A, St Pauls Boys; Sacha, Haberdashers') on the outskirts of London - and there are tons of these boys Keeping It Real there, innit?

Doesn't Ali G get away with it because he's satirizing the appropriation of black culture more than simply appropriating it himself?

I think he gets away with it cos it's funny.

Yes. Some people seem to have a hard time understanding this. But if you think it's past its sell by date, fine. I thought that about South Park then I saw the movie and it was great so I'm keeping an open mind.

it's kind of interesting he scares up such a panic over who exactly he's mocking, tho, isnt it? it's what makes it powerful, isn't it, the unresolvable doubt...

eg curtis walker (black uk comedian) denounces him (as quoted in Rap Alerts) for "stupid sterotypes" of black foax, and jimmy saville says it's HIM!!

For those unaware of JS's work, this is like someone being denounced for "insulting the entire Chinese race" with his impressions AND (simultaneously) for ripping his style off Dick Clark.

the jokes also only work based on how the interview subjects (esp. during his sneak attack era, not so much now that he's a known quantity) react to his "blackness" - there's one interview where someone responds to one of his accusations of "racialism" by saying, "well you would think that, you're black". More often he exposes a more hidden "racialism" when establishment figures tolerate his ludicrous questions with a tired paternalism because this is exactly what they expect from a young "black"-identified journalist.

and it is funny.

You guys - often so sharp and sensitive - are off form. Ali G was a good idea - hilarious, I often thought - to begin with, but it went downhill a long way ago. Saying 'it's funny' etc is just too bland. By the time he had his own TV series, the act had become intoxicated with its own success, dull, self-indulgent and *un*funny.

I dunno fritz, I'm increasingly of the opinion that I would laugh at the joke no matter if he was white or black. Surely it's okay to take the sending-up of 'street' (or even 'black') 'culture' at face value no matter what the racial slant. I find the spectacle of a grown man dressing like that (and being such an innocent) funny, and any comments on 'appropriation' be damned. But perhaps I'm not allowed to say that - of course it's my kind of attitude that many would say is racist.

I would say exactly what the Pinefox has said, but I don't have to. He just did.

pinefox - friends in the UK have said the same thing to me, but over here where all we've seen is a few video compilations perhaps the effect hasn't been so blunted by overexposure. sorry, it is just funny.

sam - maybe I am reading too much into it all. sorry, it is just funny.

www.muse.ie/archive/interviews/armand.html

www.cunningasafox.f2s.com/features/index.php

Did this work?

No, it fucking didn't. Must. Stop. Surfing. deadlines...

Suzy means:

http://www.muse.ie/images/arm2_imagea.jpg

Ahhh, my gender-ambiguous tech support in excelsis. Ta, G!

I think it's misleading to say that what he’s making fun of is 'black culture.’ Assuming that the ‘wiggas’ thing isn’t his whole target, he's taking the piss (affectionately) out of a British black youth culture which, like most youth cultures, has a great deal of comic potential. Saying this film satirises 'black culture' is like saying Spinal Tap was a satire on 'white culture'.

I agree with Curtis Walker that the film could have a stereotyping effect, - but I think (and this applies equally to gangsta rap in the U.S.) this is more the fault of those who would promote a sometimes dumb, sometimes criminal subculture as 'black culture,' thereby removing it from fair criticism which is seen as being by definition racist, and causing other blacks to feel pressured to conform to ‘their’ culture.

me wanna poonanny - alan =- you is a batty boy racialist...aye!!!

I think that 1) Ali G is super smart and funny and so confident it's amazing like what kind of parents did that guy have, and 2) whether it's his intention or not, his show achieves part of its popularity by using greed, celebrity, and women's bodies to make money. As one of the poor girls who watch, sorry but it's only having a liberating effect SOMETIMES. I'm not complaining much, that's more than I can say for most stuff on TV.

So what am I saying? That he should be un-subtle, brutally moralising? Yes. I like that stuff. I liked it when he made the Cambridge don cough up that he didn't think women were intelligent. I don't like it when he has his guests introduced by black women in leotards. Sometimes he gets it wrong, as far as I'm concerned. Perhaps it's just that sometimes he doesn't go far enough. If he had his guests introduced kicking naked black women who crawled along the floor, maybe that would work. But TV just isn't radical enough for that level of satire. So my idea would be, don't go there. Don't do watered down stuff.

has anyone seen his latest music video with my favourite guy, shaggy? its got lots of skinny scanitly clad women fighting over shaggy, but poor ali only gets the fat chick at the end. did everyone get it? fat people (esp women) are SOOO FUNNY!

Di - on the same topic, usually some of the Ali G dancers are quite large. I can't help but suspect that perhaps he thinks that he's demonstrating that 'other cultures' like fat women and that somehow that's akin to a sort of feminism. (I'm aware that the concept of the show is to send up the white version of black culture, but it still seems a bit like that.)

On second thoughts, surely he IS smarter than that.

in the video he is clearly freaked out that the fat woman wants him.

Surprising news. I went to see it, and I larfed non-stop.

Oh alright, not exactly non-stop, but actually more than at The R**** T****b***s. I hope it does well in the US for some reason.

I guess this thread isn't going much anymore i see it stopped in april... but it's great to see all this commentary on Ali G. I live in the US and discovered him while I was studying in New Zealand. I thought he was so amazing and just adored him, but never heard any commentary about him because he was old news to everyone. I think his portrayl of black people is very degrading, but I take it on a satirical level, because I know he is highly intelligent and it seems more like a commentary to me. I feel like his character, as shown with Borat, could be a person of any race- he is just using a "wigga" to portray a level of innocence that he uses to his benifit. Ali G and Borat always come out on top because by playing innocent, they get seemingly intelligent people to say really stupid things. It's definatly an interesting show and character to analyze and criticize because there are so many levels occuring simultainously. But I think he is both degrading and intelligent, and if you can look at it in that way and realize that what he portrays may not be very nice, then you can enjoy it on a different level.