Comments on: “You’re saying he’s actually Bi?”

By: Little G

Little G — Sun, 07 May 2006 15:24:22 +0000

Yo dat is wicked like jungle ist massiv

By: PK

PK — Thu, 04 May 2006 22:50:12 +0000

My personal Ali G favourite is his interview with Martin Rees, the Astronomer Royal. At some point he asks about the Big Bang: “So, was da Big Bang louder than all the boom boxes in England?”

Sorry, can’t find the clip.

By: adam

adam — Tue, 02 May 2006 18:06:54 +0000

Man, having seen the conservative blogosphere’s reaction to Colbert’s performance at the WhiteHouse Press Dinner, I am starting to worry that my fellow fascist proletariat-opressing pig/dog constructs have no damn sense of humour.

Colbert was hilarious. At the Corner, alas, they think that he stank the place up and that Bush, with the old ‘what I speak/what I think’ gimmick, was better. With the deckchairs on the Hindenberg re-arranged, they are clearly keen to get nice and close to the captain.

By: barcode

barcode — Tue, 02 May 2006 11:55:44 +0000

Hmmm. Even Tom Lehrer’s craziest songs have some element of restraint and self-discipline and some sense of self-reflection about them. I leave his CDs feeling smarter. Can’t say the same for Ali.

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 02 May 2006 04:38:42 +0000

barcode, did you mean that question seriously? I’m not sure Baron-Cohen’s purpose is to make us examine the issues thoughtfully. I’m not sure that’s the purpose of most humor, even when it has a political bent.

By: barcode

barcode — Tue, 02 May 2006 01:25:56 +0000

What would FDR think of Ali G? What would Edward R. Murrow think of Ali G? What about Walter Cronkite? What educational purpose does Ali G serve? How does he further the goals of thoughful examination of issues?

By: damtp_dweller

damtp_dweller — Sun, 30 Apr 2006 00:52:32 +0000

"Isn't Ali G related to cognitive scientist Simon Baron-Cohen? So it's all in the family, sort of." Yes, they're related and they're both products of Cambridge too. I've always found it interesting how Cambridge, and specifically the Footlights, has produced great comedic talent, beginning way back when John Cleese and Peter Cook were there. It must be something in the (woefully hard) water around these parts.

By: MTraven

MTraven — Sat, 29 Apr 2006 03:21:34 +0000

Isn’t Ali G related to cognitive scientist Simon Baron-Cohen? So it’s all in the family, sort of.

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 22:19:15 +0000

The best Ali G was the anti-abortion rally. Here’s the clip. You have to go through an interview of John Gray (quack), and another with two pro-choice activists, but then you get great lines like,

Ali G: “Has you ever had an abortion?”
Protester: “No, I’ve never had an abortion.”
Ali G: “Surely you should try something before you say it is bad.”

By: spyder

spyder — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 21:28:03 +0000

The other day a couple of physicists (who may very well be represented in various posts on CV) were posting comments on another blog whereupon they were developing formulas for parody and the paradox of parody. Ali G is “representen” that phenomena all too well of late; all i need do is stand in the local park or wait in line at the cineplex here, and i get that same street-cred-rhetoric that he does so well.

By: borat

borat — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 19:21:56 +0000

wow lubos, if you can’t figure that one out yourself then perhaps someone should be asking similar questions about you..

for the record, ali g is a master comedian but has recently started getting lazy about the creativity of his humor. this sketch is somewhat of a testament to that…he needs to become less predictable and less reliant on old, now unfunny and overplayed lines.

By: Uncle Al

Uncle Al — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 19:17:14 +0000

The functional apotheosis of vigorous Marxist Noam Chompsky was hirsute Noam Chimpsky (1973 – 2000); Herbert S. Terrace at Columbia University. Noam Chimpsky was a desperate failure of teaching chimps to sign (Cf: Washoe) short of demanding food. One then posits the difference beween Chompsky and Chimpsky was a few years of Project Head Start, valid for conversion in either direction.

By: Cynthia

Cynthia — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 17:13:34 +0000

Oddly enough, I find myself partially siding with Lubos on this topic. Speaking as an honest liberal, I find this clip rather short on comedy. Perhaps one truly needs to be a “full-blown” Brit to appreciate the humor in this clip. Based on the vast majority of these comments, I find myself in the minority. Nevertheless, I am happy to see most of you enjoying the humor in this clip. Dan – by the way – thanks – the clip on Briane Greene was actually quite amusing: sharp and to the point! Cheers to all!

By: markT

markT — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 16:10:42 +0000

i think it was pretty funny when he interviews Boutros Boutros Gahli as well. Or, um….the the ex attorney general. He asks him what legal is, what’s illegal. and then whats barely legal.

By: adam

adam — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 15:51:30 +0000

The one where he interviewed a guy from the FBI was also quite funny.

He interviewed Rhodes Boyson (gruff corporal-punishment advocating former Tory MP who had been a Headteacher in his life before politics) once, where he was talking about getting ‘caned in school’ and (of course) Rhodes Boyson was all for it, on account of not realising that Cohen meant by getting caned. It might sound like a one-joke interview, but given how Boyson is, it was actually quite amusing at the time.

By: The Anti-Lubos

The Anti-Lubos — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 15:32:10 +0000

Well, after watching that, I thought, “Wow, Noam Chomsky has the worst sense of humor in the world.”

Then I came here and read Lubos’s comment.

By: Dan

Dan — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 15:22:24 +0000

Thanks for the link Sean! I'm not surpirsed Lubos didn't liked it. I think he passed through the same after seeing Stephen Colbert interview Brian Greene.

By: markT

markT — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 13:45:20 +0000

I dont think that was really one of his funnier interviews. Ali G is not handiccapped. hes a comedian from England, who plays different characters. if you check back on some of his previous seasons he’s interviewed some seriously important people, and some of the interviews have just been super funny. he goes to the UN during one of them. One of my all time favorites, is when he has a DEA guy on his ‘show’. While not someone famous, and I dont even do drugs, it was funny to see him make the DEA guy stumble with names, and references.

I love Borat. The country that he claims to be from when doing Borat tried to sue him for defamation. Hmmm…Anyways

By: adam

adam — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 13:45:04 +0000

Or maybe we’re running-pig-dogs.

It’s always important to get your Political Chimera Insults right.

By: adam

adam — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 13:43:53 +0000

Lubos aside, some of us fascistic proletariat-oppressing capitalist running-dog-pigs do find Ali G pretty funny.